Statutory Information

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019



NOTE 14		Statutory Information

STATUTORY ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES

The statutory financial statements of our insurance companies are presented on the basis of accounting principles prescribed, or practices permitted, by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Wisconsin (the "OCI"), which has adopted the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC") Statements of Statutory Accounting Principles ("SSAP") as the basis of its statutory accounting principles. In converting from statutory to GAAP, typical adjustments

include deferral of policy acquisition costs, the inclusion of net unrealized holding gains or losses in shareholders' equity relating to fixed income securities, and the inclusion of statutory non-admitted assets.

In addition to the typical adjustments from statutory to GAAP, mortgage insurance companies are required to maintain contingency loss reserves equal to 50% of premiums earned under SSAP and principles prescribed by the OCI, and such amounts cannot be withdrawn for a period of ten years except as permitted by insurance regulations. With regulatory approval, a mortgage guaranty insurance company may make early withdrawals from the contingency reserve when incurred losses exceed 35% of net premiums earned in a calendar year. For the year ended 2019, MGIC's losses incurred were 12% of net premiums earned. Changes in contingency loss reserves impact the statutory statement of operations. Contingency loss reserves are not reflected as liabilities under GAAP and changes in contingency loss reserves do not impact the GAAP statements of operations.

As a mortgage guaranty insurer, we are eligible for a tax deduction, subject to certain limitations, under Section 832(e) of the IRC for amounts required by state law or regulation to be set aside in statutory contingency reserves. The deduction is allowed only to the extent that we purchase tax and loss bonds (“T&L Bonds”) in an amount equal to the tax benefit derived from deducting any portion of our statutory contingency reserves. Under statutory accounting practices, purchases of T&L Bonds are accounted for as investments. Under GAAP, purchases of T&L Bonds are accounted for as a payment of current taxes.

The statutory net income loss, policyholders' surplus and contingency reserve liability of the insurance subsidiaries of our holding company are show in table 14.1 below. The surplus amounts included in the following table are the combined policyholders' surplus of our insurance operations as utilized in our risk-to-capital calculations.



Statutory financial information of holding company and insurance subsidiaries
Table	14.1
		As of and for the Years Ended December 31,
(In thousands)		2019		2018		2017
Statutory net income		$	305,857	$	375,484	$	310,776
Statutory policyholders' surplus		1,619,069		1,683,058		1,622,115
Contingency reserve		3,021,055		2,442,996		1,896,701

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017 there were no surplus contributions made to MGIC or distributions from other insurance subsidiaries to us. Dividends paid by MGIC are shown in table 14.2 below.



Surplus contributions and dividends of insurance subsidiaries
Table	14.2
		Years Ended December 31,
(In thousands)		2019		2018	2017
Dividends paid by MGIC to the parent company		$	280,000	220,000	140,000

STATUTORY CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS

The insurance laws of 16 jurisdictions, including Wisconsin, our domiciliary state, require a mortgage insurer to maintain a minimum amount of statutory capital relative to the RIF (or a similar measure) in order for the mortgage insurer to continue to write new business. We refer to these requirements as the “State Capital Requirements” and, together with the GSE Financial Requirements, the “Financial Requirements.” While they vary among jurisdictions, the most common State Capital Requirements allow for a maximum risk-to-capital ratio of 25 to 1. A risk-to-capital ratio will increase if (i) the percentage decrease in capital exceeds the percentage decrease in insured risk, or (ii) the percentage increase in capital is less than the percentage increase in insured risk. Wisconsin does not regulate capital by using a risk-to-capital measure but instead requires a minimum policyholder position ("MPP"). The “policyholder position” of a mortgage insurer is its net worth or surplus, contingency reserve, and a portion of the reserves for unearned premiums.

At December 31, 2019, MGIC’s risk-to-capital ratio was 9.7 to 1, below the maximum allowed by the jurisdictions with State Capital Requirements and its policyholder position was $3.0 billion above the required MPP of $1.7 billion. The calculation of our risk-to-capital ratio and MPP reflect credit for the risk ceded under our QSR Transactions and Home Re Transactions with a group of unaffiliated reinsurers. It is possible that under the revised State Capital Requirements discussed below, MGIC will not be allowed full credit for the risk ceded to the reinsurers. If MGIC is not allowed an agreed level of credit under either the State Capital Requirements or the PMIERs, MGIC may terminate the reinsurance agreements, without penalty. At this time, we expect MGIC to continue to comply with the current State Capital Requirements; however, you should read the rest of these financial statement footnotes for information about matters that could negatively affect such compliance.

At December 31, 2019, the risk-to-capital ratio of our combined insurance operations (which includes a reinsurance affiliate) was 9.6 to 1. In the first quarter of 2020, we received the appropriate approvals for MGIC to

pay our holding company a special dividend of $320 million. The $320 million special dividend will reduce the statutory policyholder's position of MGIC, which will result in an increase to the risk-to-capital.

The NAIC has previously announced plans to revise the minimum capital and surplus requirements for mortgage insurers that are provided for in its Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Model Act. In December 2019, a working group of state regulators released an exposure draft of a revised Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Model Act and a risk-based capital framework to establish capital requirements for mortgage insurers, although no date has been established by which the NAIC must propose revisions to the capital requirements and certain items have not yet been completely addressed by the framework, including the treatment of ceded risk and minimum capital floors. Currently we believe that the PMIERs contain more restrictive capital requirements than the draft Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Model Act in most circumstances.

While MGIC currently meets the State Capital Requirements of Wisconsin and all other jurisdictions, it could be prevented from writing new business in the future in all jurisdictions if it fails to meet the State Capital Requirements of Wisconsin, or it could be prevented from writing new business in a particular jurisdiction if it fails to meet the State Capital Requirements of that jurisdiction and in each case MGIC does not obtain a waiver of such requirements. It is possible that regulatory action by one or more jurisdictions, including those that do not have specific State Capital Requirements, may prevent MGIC from continuing to write new insurance in such jurisdictions. If we are unable to write business in all jurisdictions, lenders may be unwilling to procure insurance from us anywhere. In addition, a lender’s assessment of the future ability of our insurance operations to meet the State Capital Requirements or the PMIERs may affect its willingness to procure insurance from us. A possible future failure by MGIC to meet the State Capital Requirements or the PMIERs will not necessarily mean that MGIC lacks sufficient resources to pay claims on its insurance liabilities. While we believe MGIC has sufficient claims paying resources to meet its claim obligations on its IIF on a timely basis, you should read the rest of these financial statement footnotes for information about matters that could negatively affect MGIC’s claims paying resources.

DIVIDEND RESTRICTIONS

In 2019, MGIC paid a total of $280 million in dividends to our holding company. We received the appropriate approvals for MGIC to pay our holding company, in the first quarter of 2020, a special dividend of $320 million and a quarterly dividend of $70 million. We expect MGIC to continue to pay dividends of at least $280 million per year.

MGIC is subject to statutory regulations as to payment of dividends. The maximum amount of dividends that MGIC may pay in any twelve-month period without regulatory approval by the OCI is the lesser of adjusted statutory net income or 10% of statutory policyholders' surplus as of the preceding calendar year end. Adjusted statutory net income is defined for this purpose to be the greater of statutory net income, net of realized investment gains, for the calendar year preceding the date of the dividend or statutory net income, net of realized investment gains, for the three calendar years preceding the date of the dividend less dividends paid within the first two of the preceding three calendar years. Before making any dividend payments in 2020, we will notify the OCI to ensure it does not object.

The OCI recognizes only statutory accounting principles prescribed, or practices permitted, by the State of Wisconsin for determining and reporting the financial condition and results of operations of an insurance company. The OCI has adopted certain prescribed accounting practices that differ from those found in other states. Specifically, Wisconsin domiciled companies record changes in the contingency reserves through the income statement as a change in underwriting deduction. As a result, in periods in which MGIC is increasing contingency reserves, statutory net income is reduced. For the year ended December 31, 2019, MGIC’s increase in contingency reserves was $556 million and statutory net income was $273 million. As of December 31, 2019, MGIC's statutory policyholders' surplus was $1,619 million.