NU Online News Service, Dec. 23, 9:50 a.m. EST

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it has lowered itscounterparty credit and financial strength ratings on five U.S.mortgage insurance groups and their core and dependent foreignsubsidiaries.

The rating actions were taken against:

o Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. ratings were lowered to"triple-B-minus" from "single-A-negative."

o PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and Radian Mortgage Insurance Inc.were lowered to "single-B-plus" from "double-B-minus."

o The ratings on Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp. were loweredto "triple-B-minus" from "triple-B-plus."

o The ratings on United Guaranty Mortgage Indemnity Co. werelowered to "triple-B" from "triple-B-plus."

The outlook on all of these companies is negative.

Ron Joas, Standard & Poor's credit analyst said in astatement that the downgrades reflected the rating agency's viewthat macroeconomic conditions had a significantly more "adverseimpact on mortgage insurers that we had expected in April."

Losses are expected to be reported next year and possibly into2011, but there may be some improvement for some that began in thesecond half of this year and could continue into next," hesaid.

A backlog in foreclosures due to high unemployment and theeconomic crisis has slowed claims payments, but extended loses overa longer period than initially expected.

S&P said it is continuing its reviews of CMG MortgageInsurance Co. and California Housing Loan Insurance Fund, and itexpects to resolve the Credit Watch status of the ratings on thosecompanies soon.