The requirements of this chapter do not apply to:

(1) A person who is employed exclusively or regularly by one employer and performs investigations solely in connection with the affairs of that employer, if the employer is not a private investigator agency;

(2) An officer or employee of the United States or of this state or a political subdivision thereof, while engaged in the performance of the officer's official duties;

(3) A person engaged exclusively in the business of obtaining and furnishing information about the financial rating of persons;

(4) An attorney-at-law while performing the attorney's duties as an attorney;

(5) A licensed collection agency or its employee, while acting within the scope of that person's employment and making an investigation incidental to the business of the agency;

(6) Insurers, agents, and insurance brokers licensed by the state, while performing duties in connection with insurance transacted by them;

(7) A bank subject to the jurisdiction of the department of financial institutions or the comptroller of currency of the United States, or a savings and loan association subject to the jurisdiction of this state or the federal home loan bank board;

(8) A licensed insurance adjuster performing the adjuster's duties within the scope of the adjuster's license;

(9) A secured creditor engaged in the repossession of the creditor's collateral, or a lessor engaged in the repossession of leased property in which it claims an interest;

(10) A person who is a forensic scientist, accident reconstructionist, or other person who performs similar functions and does not hold himself or herself out to be an investigator in any other capacity;

(11) A person solely engaged in the business of securing information about persons or property from public records; or

(12) A certified public accountant regulated under chapter 18.04 RCW or the employee of a certified public accountant performing duties within the scope of public accountancy.