PMI Reports $87.9m Loss in Q309

The PMI Group (PMI: 2.12 -0.93%) reported an $87.9m net loss, or $1.06 per share, in Q309, compared to a loss of $149.3m for the same period last year.

In PMI’s US Mortgage Insurance Operations segment, reserves for losses increased by $134m to $2.7bn through Q309. The losses were primarily due to additional defaults and a higher average rate of claims, offset by a lower average in primary claim sizes and the continued effect from rescission activity.

Consolidated net premiums written in Q309 totaled $167.4m, compared to $176.5m in the year-ago quarter. Through the first nine months of 2009, PMI wrote $521.9m in consolidated net premiums, dropping from $591.4m in the same period last year.

The PMI Group had $3.7bn in available funds, consisting of cash, cash equivalents and investments of $3.7bn and a total shareholders’ equity of $1bn. PMI Mortgage Insurance had $3.4bn in available funds.

During Q309, Arizona and California adopted legislation granting regulators the discretion to decide if a mortgage insurer can continue writing new business if it does no meet a required minimum risk-to-capital minimum level – which is generally 25 to 1.

In the event that MIC is unable to write new mortgage insurance in a imited number of states, the Company is working on a plan to enable the writing of new mortgage insurance in those states through the existing subsidiary, currently known as Commercial Loan Insurance Corporation (CLIC), to be renamed PMI Mortgage Assurance Co. (PMAC).

Write to Jon Prior.