The mortgage insurance unit of Genworth Financial lost $40 million in the second quarter, a marked improvement from the same period last year when it spilled $134 million of red ink.
The company credited the improved results on lower new delinquencies, improved cure rates, and increased loss mitigation savings.
But MI sales (new policies written) fell to $2.2 billion in the period, a 33% decline from the comparable period last year.
"On a sequential basis, total losses increased to $216 million from $196 million as lower new flow delinquencies were more than offset by aging of the flow delinquency inventory, lower loss mitigation savings and bulk contract settlements," the company said.
Loss mitigation activities, including workouts, presales, policy rescissions and targeted settlements, resulted in $217 million of savings in the quarter.
According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report, Genworth is the fifth largest MI in the U.S. with roughly $120 billion of policies-in-force.
All of Genworth earned $42 million in 2Q but it suffered $25 million of losses on alt-A and ABS related investments.
