Title Insurers Report Higher Losses

A pair of the nation's largest title insurance underwriters -- Stewart Information Systems Corp. and LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. -- have reported increased losses in the first quarter. The Houston-based Stewart reported a net loss of $22.3 million ($1.24 per share) for the most recent period, compared with a net loss of $4.8 million ($0.26 per share) a year earlier. Its competitor, the Richmond, Va.-based LandAmerica, lost $24.2 million ($1.60 per share) for the first quarter, compared with net earnings of $4.7 million (0.26 per share) a year earlier. "Tight mortgage lending conditions from reduced liquidity in the mortgage-backed securities market were factors in keeping transactional demand at bay," said LandAmerica's chairman and chief executive, Theodore L. Chandler Jr. "These conditions, coupled with a reduction in our commercial business and some increased severity in claims, compressed margins during first-quarter 2008." The co-chief executive and chairman of Stewart, Malcolm S. Morris, said his company is "making progress in reducing our risk exposure by evaluating and potentially canceling agencies [MBS] that our models indicate are at the higher end of the risk spectrum. While we continue to add new agencies, we have increased our qualifying requirements."