New MI Firm Gets Approvals

Essent Guaranty, Inc., Radnor, PA, a new mortgage insurer, has received approval from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to write mortgage insurance. Essent is the first private mortgage insurer established in the United States since the start of the current financial crisis. Essent also announced that it has been approved by a working group of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to participate in an expedited licensing pilot project, and is currently seeking approvals from other state insurance departments. Essent anticipates that it will become a licensed mortgage insurance company throughout the United States in the near future. As part of its expedited licensing pilot, the NAIC seeks to streamline state-specific application requirements, including the need for hard copies of forms and supplemental information involved in Uniform Certificate of Authority Applications. This is intended to facilitate the efficient regulatory review of new entrants in insurance industry sectors deemed of national importance.