Title Insurers Settle with New York's Attorney General.(Fidelity National Title Group Inc., First American Title Insurance Co.)

NEW YORK -- The nation's two largest title insurance companies have entered into a settlement agreement with the New York attorney general's office and the state's insurance department.

Both Fidelity National Title Group Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., and the New York subsidiary of First American Title Insurance Co., Santa Ana, Calif., agreed to a rate reduction of 15% on all purchase transactions in the state involving liability levels up to $1 million.

In addition, both will pay a $2 million penalty. The agreements stipulate that neither First American nor Fidelity has admitted any wrongdoing.

Fidelity National Title is a majority owned subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial Inc., which is in the process of a corporate reorganization that will result in FNT adopting the FNF name.

"We are pleased that the New York attorney general found no pattern or practice of any wrongdoing on the part of our company," said Peter T. Sadowski, FNT executive vice president and FNF general counsel, in a statement. "This lengthy investigation is now behind us. Measured against hundreds of thousands of transactions, the attorney general's investigators identified only isolated errors or questionable industry practices. We cooperated fully with the attorney general's office and are pleased with the satisfactory resolution of the investigation."

A statement from First American said the fines and rate reductions are not expected to have a material impact on its earnings.

These settlements are the latest in a series the industry has entered into, most notably with regulators in California and Colorado.