Radian Group, of Philadelphia, had an explosively strong fourth quarter in 2014 thanks to a reduction of its risk profile as a result of the pending
The private mortgage insurance and risk management company raised its income by 1,077% from the same period last year, to $428.3 million for the last three months of 2014.
Radian Asset Assurance, the financial guaranty insurer, is being carried on the balance sheet as a discontinued operation and that reduced earnings by $450 million.
New mortgage insurance written increased 7.5% to $10 billion, with 69% of the insurance written consisting of monthly insurance premiums, and 31% with single premiums.
Radian says it led the mortgage insurance industry with $171.8 billion in total primary mortgage insurance in force, up 6.5% from the same time last year. The company reported that it kept 83.4% of its policies on the books over the course of the year, up 2.3% from the same point last year.
Mortgage insurance provision for losses dropped approximately 42% to $83.6 million.
Earnings per share for the company were $1.78, up $1.57 from the same period the year before.
"We made significant progress in 2014 with full-year profitability and by reducing Radian's overall risk profile," chief executive officer S.A. Ibrahim said in a press release.
