Robert Griffith joins Radian Group (RDN) as executive vice president and chief operating officer in its Radian Guaranty mortgage insurance subsidiary. Griffith has more than 20 years experience in mortgage banking, most recently serving as senior vice president for Bank of America (BAC), where he was responsible for a BofA’s network of loan fulfillment centers that provide underwriting, processing and loan funding services. He also served as president and CEO at Irwin Mortgage Corp. In his role as Radian COO, Griffith will lead the company’s operations, loss management and information technology functions and report to Radian Guaranty President Teresa Bryce. “Bob is well known and respected in the mortgage industry and we are delighted to welcome him to the Radian team,” Bryce said. “His experience in leading successful mortgage operations for top lenders will strengthen the functions most critical to our mortgage insurance business today.” Radian posted a $91.9m loss in Q409, bringing the net loss for 2009 to $147.9m, or $1.80 per share. But that loss was better than the mortgage insurer’s $250.4m loss in Q408. Radian subsidiary Radian Guaranty risk-to-capital ratio was 15.4:1 at the end of 2009, down from 16.1:1 at the end of Q309 and 16.4:1 at the end of 2008. This is below the 25:1 limit imposed by a number of states, and Radian Group said its prepared, subject to final regulatory and GSE approval, its 50-state licensed mortgage insurance subsidiary, Amerin Guaranty to write new business, if needed. Mortgage insurers continue to suffer losses from mounting delinquent and defaulted loans. And in the face of dwindling business, with January 2010 showing fewer new policies than any month in 2009, mortgage insurance companies are increasingly denying claims for defaulted loans that allegedly do not conform to underwriting standards, increasing costs for servicers and investors. A Radian competitor, MGIC (MGIC) ramped up its level of competition with government-backed mortgage insurance by lowering its mortgage insurance rates for good credit borrowers. Write to Austin Kilgore. The author held no relevant investments.