Standard & Poor's said its latest models now incorporate lending vehicles that the rating agency never saw before, which led to increased risk exposures by mortgage insurers and the current credit crisis in the housing market.

During a telephone conference call yesterday, James Brender and Rodney Clark, two analysts with the New York-based rating agency, explained the reasoning behind the downgrading of four mortgage insurers, and what the future indicators are for mortgage insurers in general.

Yesterday, S&P downgraded the insurance financial strength of MGIC Investment Corp., Old Republic International Corp., PMI Group Inc. and Radian Group Inc.

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.