First Advantage Releases Report on Employment Application Discrepancies in the Financial Services Industry

POWAY, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Advantage, a global risk mitigation and business solutions provider, and a wholly owned subsidiary of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), today announced the release of its Screening Benchmark Report for the Financial Services Industry. The report, which is based on the results of approximately 1.1 million screening searches conducted for First Advantage's enterprise-level financial industry clients during 2008 and 2009, enables both regional and multinational financial services firms to evaluate their current employment screening practices against industry peers, understand the geographic limitations for global screening initiatives and identify best practices to improve their programs.

"Fueled by regulatory requirements, increased security concerns, the need for strict compliance and continued global expansion, financial services firms have been on the leading edge of employment screening for years, demanding a wide range of background checks and other screening services to mitigate against poor hiring decisions," said Todd Mavis, president of First Advantage. "By evaluating and updating their employment screening practices, financial services firms can capitalize on an innovative and efficient screening program that uses minimal resources, ultimately ensuring confidence in quality hiring decisions while also improving their bottom line."

Key findings of the report include:

• Employment verification continued to represent the greatest percentage of discrepancies in 2009.  Of all employment verifications completed in 2009, 19.25 percent showed some discrepancy from the information provided by the applicant. This is a marked decrease from 26.01 percent in 2008.
• Existence of criminal records among applicants was mostly unchanged from 2008 and is well below figures for all other U.S. industries.  3.22 percent of financial services candidates were reported as positive for a county criminal record in 2009, compared with 4.48 percent for the general sample population.
• "Not-clear" fingerprinting rates and resolution times both decreased substantially. The "not-clear" rate decreased to 2.96 percent in 2009, from 3.7 percent in 2008. A "not-clear" result is generated when the FBI returns criminal history information to the employer requiring adjudication. In addition, the amount of time required to resolve a "not-clear" result has declined substantially to 2.35 days in 2009, down from 4 days in 2008.

For a copy of the report, visit www.firstadvantagecorp.com/Resource-Center-Benchmark-Reports.aspx

About First Advantage

First Advantage combines industry expertise with information to create products and services that organizations worldwide use to make smarter business decisions. First Advantage is a leading provider of talent acquisition solutions including employment background screening, occupational health services, applicant tracking systems; recruiting solutions, skills and behavioral assessments, and business tax consulting services. First Advantage is headquartered in Poway, Calif., and has offices throughout the United States and abroad. More information about First Advantage can be found at www.FADV.com/employer. First Advantage is a wholly owned subsidiary of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), a FORTUNE 500® company that traces its history to 1889. First American is America's largest provider of business information, supplying businesses and consumers with valuable information products to support the major economic events of people's lives. Additional information about the First American Family of Companies can be found at www.firstam.com.

SOURCE The First American Corporation