Radian Reshuffles Mortgage Insurance Execs, Looks to Regain Momentum

In a clear effort to signal to investors that it is committed to its mortgage insurance business, Radian Group Inc. (RDN) said Monday that it had shuffled the executive leadership over its insurance subsidiary. Current executive vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary, and chief risk officer for the corporate parent, Teresa Bryce, will add another title to her resume: president of the company’s mortgage insurance subsidiary. Bryce’s appointment comes as current president of Radian Guaranty, David Applegate, has resigned from his position. The company said in a press statement he will remain with the company as a consultant. The move to place Bryce into the pole position at Radian Guaranty is only part of a larger executive reshuffling at the beaten and bruised insurance conglomerate, with the company moving assistant general counsel Ted Hoffman into Bryce’s prior role as general counsel; two other executives were moved into senior roles at the mortgage insurer as well. The move to change management comes after Radian Group said last week it would move $107 million in capital from its bond insurance unit over to its ailing mortgage insurance operation, in the form of a dividend. The move was seen as a positive by investors, since it bolstered the capital of the insurance unit without diluting the position of existing shareholders. The company has been on a press offensive as of late, saying late last week that it believed that recent declines in its stock price were “disproportionate to the fundamentals of our business.” In particular, Radian noted that claims paid on first and second mortgages insured by Radian will be less than the $230 million recorded during the second quarter — less than the company’s $240 million forecast. The company said it was underwriting mortgage insurance primarily on prime loans, which it said “will generate profitability and long-term financial strength.” The insurer also said that total first lien defaults increased during the second quarter by 8.9 percent; that comes in comparison to quarterly increases of 10 percent in the first quarter, and 17.3 percent during the second quarter. Shares in the Philadelphia-based insurer had jumped 42.16 percent in early trading Monday, to $1.45. For more information, visit http://www.radian.biz. Disclosure: The author held no positions in RDN when this story was originally published. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.