The designated escrow officer shall be responsible for the custody, safety, and correctness of entries of all required escrow records. The escrow officer retains this responsibility even though another person or persons may be assigned by the escrow officer the duties of preparation, custody, recording or disbursing.
The designated branch escrow officer shall bear responsibility for the custody, safety and correctness of entries of all transactions at the branch office. The designated escrow officer shall bear responsibility for all actions of the designated branch escrow officer.
Prior to issuing a new license reflecting a change of the designated escrow officer or branch designated escrow officer of a registered escrow agent, evidence must be submitted that the responsibility for preexisting escrows is transferred to the incoming designated escrow officer or incoming licensed branch escrow officer. Such evidence shall be a statement signed by both the outgoing designated escrow officer and the incoming designated escrow officer, listing all outstanding trust liabilities and certifying that funds in hand in the trust account maintained by the agent are adequate to meet all such trust liabilities. In the case of a change in designated branch escrow officer, the outgoing and incoming designated branch escrow officers must sign the statement.
When the director or his/her designee makes a determination that there is reason to believe that the licensee's trust accounting records may not be in compliance with the requirements of WAC
208-680E-011, the director or his/her designee may retain or instruct the licensee to retain a certified public accountant or other person acceptable to the director, to reconcile the trust account and report whether it has been maintained in compliance with WAC
208-680E-011 and report on the adequacy of the licensee's internal routine and controls prior to the acceptance of a new designated escrow officer or designated branch escrow officer.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 18.44.410. 01-08-055, § 208-680D-010, filed 4/2/01, effective 5/3/01. 96-05-018, recodified as § 208-680D-010, filed 2/12/96, effective 4/1/96. Statutory Authority: RCW 18.44.320. 94-04-050, § 308-128D-010, filed 1/31/94, effective 3/3/94; 88-19-016 (Order PM 763), § 308-128D-010, filed 9/9/88; Order RE 122, § 308-128D-010, filed 9/21/77.]