Will mulching your house cause termites?

I know at a branch bank where I worked in the 90's had a termite problem and the company who treated them said they were in the mulch around the building. Now this was a brick building with NO wood against the ground other than the mulch around the plantings next to the building. The termites found a crack in the mortar and/or the brick and did damage to the wood framing inside the walls.