Note 7 - Reinsurance

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

In our insurance business, we use reinsurance as part of our risk distribution strategy, including to manage our capital position and risk profile. Premiums are primarily ceded under the Single Premium QSR Program, the QSR Program and the Excess-of-Loss Program.

The effect of all of our reinsurance programs on our net premiums written and earned is as follows:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
(In thousands)	2019			2018
Net premiums written—insurance:
Direct	$	261,031		$	256,599
Assumed (1)	2,445			1,312
Ceded (2)	(10,156		)	(19,931		)
Net premiums written—insurance	$	253,320		$	237,980

Net premiums earned—insurance:
Direct	$	280,223		$	257,431
Assumed (1)	2,450			1,318
Ceded (2)	(19,161		)	(16,199		)
Net premiums earned—insurance	$	263,512		$	242,550

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(1)	Includes premiums earned from our participation in certain Front-end and Back-end credit risk transfer programs.


(2)	Net of profit commission.

Single Premium QSR Program

In the first quarter of 2016, Radian Guaranty entered into the 2016 Single Premium QSR Agreement with a panel of third-party reinsurers. As of January 1, 2018, Radian Guaranty is no longer ceding NIW under this arrangement. RIF ceded under the 2016 Single Premium QSR Agreement was $6.1 billion and $6.8 billion as of March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

In October 2017, we entered into the 2018 Single Premium QSR Agreement with a panel of third-party reinsurers. Under the 2018 Single Premium QSR Agreement, we expect to cede 65% of our Single Premium NIW beginning with the business written in January 2018, subject to certain conditions that may affect the amount ceded, including a limitation on ceded premiums written equal to $335 million for policies issued between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019. Notwithstanding this limitation, the parties may mutually agree to amend the agreement, including with respect to any limitations on the amounts of insurance that may be ceded. RIF ceded under the 2018 Single Premium QSR Agreement was $2.1 billion and $0.4 billion as of March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Ceding commissions earned under the Single Premium QSR Program were $5.8 million and $5.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and ceded losses were $1.5 million and $0.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

QSR Program

In 2012, Radian Guaranty entered into the QSR Program with a third-party reinsurance provider. Radian Guaranty has ceded the maximum amount permitted under the QSR Program and is no longer ceding NIW under this program. RIF ceded under the QSR Program was $0.8 billion and $1.1 billion as of March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Ceding commissions earned under the QSR Program were $2.9 million and $3.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and ceded losses were $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018.

Excess-of-Loss Program

In November 2018, Radian Guaranty entered into a fully collateralized reinsurance agreement with Eagle Re 2018-1. Eagle Re 2018-1 is a VIE and is not a subsidiary or affiliate of Radian Guaranty. This reinsurance agreement provides for up to $434.0 million of aggregate excess-of-loss reinsurance coverage for the applicable percentage of mortgage insurance losses on new defaults on an existing portfolio of eligible Recurring Premium Policies issued between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017, with an initial RIF of $9.1 billion. In addition, Radian Guaranty entered into a separate excess-of-loss reinsurance agreement for up to $21.4 million of coverage, representing a pro rata share of the credit risk alongside the risk assumed by Eagle Re 2018-1 on those Recurring Premium Policies.

The aggregate excess of loss reinsurance coverage decreases over a ten-year period as the principal balances of the underlying covered mortgages decrease and as claims are paid by Eagle Re 2018-1 or the mortgage insurance is canceled. The outstanding reinsurance coverage amount will begin amortizing after an initial period in which a target level of credit enhancement is obtained and stop amortizing if certain thresholds are reached, such as if the reinsured mortgages were to experience an elevated level of delinquencies or certain credit enhancement tests were not maintained. Radian Guaranty has rights to terminate the reinsurance agreement upon the occurrence of certain events.

Eagle Re 2018-1 financed its coverage by issuing mortgage insurance-linked notes in an aggregate amount of $434.0 million to eligible third-party capital markets investors in an unregistered private offering. Although there is no recourse to Radian Guaranty by the holders of the mortgage insurance-linked notes, reinsurance does not relieve us of our obligations to our policyholders. In the event the VIE is unable to meet its obligations to us, our insurance subsidiaries would be liable to make claims payments to our policyholders. In the event that all of the assets in the reinsurance trust (consisting of U.S. government money market funds, cash or U.S. Treasury securities) have become worthless and the VIE is unable to make its payments to us, our maximum potential loss would be the amount of mortgage insurance claim payments for losses on the insured policies, net of the aggregate reinsurance payments already received, up to the full $434.0 million aggregate excess-of-loss reinsurance coverage amount. In the same scenario, the related embedded derivative of $1.7 million, currently recorded in other assets, would no longer have value.

Eagle Re 2018-1 represents our only VIE as of March 31, 2019. The following table presents the total assets of Eagle Re 2018-1 as well as Radian Guaranty’s maximum exposure to loss associated with Eagle Re 2018-1, as of the dates indicated.



	At March 31, 2019
			Maximum Exposure to Loss
(In thousands)	Total VIE Assets (1)		On - Balance Sheet			Off - Balance Sheet (2)		Total
Eagle Re 2018-1	$	434,034	$	1,683	(3)	$	434,034	435,717
Total	$	434,034	$	1,683		$	434,034	435,717

	At December 31, 2018
			Maximum Exposure to Loss
(In thousands)	Total VIE Assets (1)		On - Balance Sheet			Off - Balance Sheet (2)		Total
Eagle Re 2018-1	$	434,034	$	1,114	(3)	$	434,034	435,148
Total	$	434,034	$	1,114		$	434,034	435,148

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(1)	Assets of Eagle Re 2018-1 are required to be invested in U.S. government money market funds, cash or U.S. Treasury securities. Liabilities of Eagle Re 2018-1 consist of its mortgage insurance-linked notes of $434.0 million, as described above.

(2)

Represents the maximum amount that would be payable in the future by Radian Guaranty to its policyholders on claims, without the benefit of any corresponding reinsurance recoverables, in the event of the combination of two events: (i) all of the assets in the reinsurance trust (consisting of U.S. government money market funds, cash or U.S. Treasury securities) have become worthless and (ii) $660.4 million of claims have been paid on the reinsured RIF.


(3)	Represents the fair value of the related embedded derivative, included in other assets in our condensed consolidated balance sheets.

There were no ceding commissions earned or ceded losses under the Excess-of-Loss Program for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

Activity Subsequent to March 31, 2019

In April 2019, Radian Guaranty entered into a fully collateralized reinsurance agreement with Eagle Re 2019-1. Eagle Re 2019-1 is a VIE and is not a subsidiary or affiliate of Radian Guaranty. This reinsurance agreement provides for up to $562.0 million of aggregate excess-of-loss reinsurance coverage for the mortgage insurance losses on new defaults on an existing portfolio of eligible Recurring Premium Policies issued between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018, with an initial RIF of $10.7 billion. Eagle Re 2019-1 financed its coverage by issuing mortgage insurance-linked notes in an aggregate amount of $562.0 million to eligible third-party capital markets investors in an unregistered private offering.

Collateral

Although we use reinsurance as one of our risk management tools, reinsurance does not relieve us of our obligations to our policyholders. In the event the reinsurers are unable to meet their obligations to us, our insurance subsidiaries would be liable for any defaulted amounts. However, in all of our reinsurance transactions, the reinsurers have established a trust to help secure our potential cash recoveries. In addition, for the Single Premium QSR Program, Radian Guaranty holds amounts received from ceded premiums written to collateralize the reinsurers’ obligations, which is reported in reinsurance funds withheld on our condensed consolidated balance sheets. Any loss recoveries and profit commissions to Radian Guaranty related to the Single Premium QSR Program are expected to be realized from this account.

Other

In our title insurance business, we also use reinsurance as part of our risk distribution strategy. EnTitle Insurance’s reinsurance agreement with a third-party reinsurer provides for coverage of 100% of losses in excess of $1.0 million ultimate net loss on a per claim basis, subject to certain aggregate limits. For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2018, the effect of this agreement was immaterial to our results of operations. In addition, on March 27, 2018, EnTitle Insurance entered into a loss portfolio transfer reinsurance transaction in which all policies issued by EnTitle Insurance and outstanding at the time, subject to certain limitations, became reinsured by a third party.

See Note 8 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in our 2018 Form 10-K for more information about our reinsurance transactions.