Genworth Financial’s (GNW) mortgage insurance operation lost $134m in Q209 amid an environment of high mortgage defaults, and revenue from the rest of the company’s insurance operations could not make up for the loss. Overall, the firm lost $50m in the quarter ($0.11 per share), a relative improvement over the company’s $109m loss in Q208. Genworth’s US mortgage insurance sector took a hard hit as it continued to incur losses, despite increasing loss mitigation efforts, which saved the company $188m. “Our US mortgage insurance business continued to execute its self-contained capital plan despite the challenging housing market, and benefited from increased loss mitigation savings while seeing new business with strong profitability,” said Michael Fraizer, Genworth chairman and CEO. Despite the struggles, Genworth’s not slowing down. The company issued new insurance at prices 35% higher than in Q208. Genworth’s retirement and protection division made $127m and its international division made $87m. Its corporate insurance division lost $71m. Write to Austin Kilgore.

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