Genworth Financial Granted Mexico's First Mortgage Insurance License

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Genworth Financial, Inc. has received the first authorization to incorporate a mortgage insurance company in Mexico. Under the authorization, granted by Mexico's Ministry of Finance, Genworth expects to begin writing mortgage insurance directly in the country by the second quarter of 2007, after incorporating and receiving final approval from Mexico's Insurance Commission and Ministry of Finance.

"Mexico's housing and mortgage markets are poised for growth in both scale and products," said Alejandro Rivero, chief executive officer of Genworth Financial Mexico. "With this license, Genworth will play an important role in the development of both.

"The financial and insurance authorities in Mexico have done a great job drafting and passing the necessary legislation and regulations to create this new line of business in Mexico," Rivero added. "It will help many Mexicans buy their first homes, and we're looking forward to providing the products and services that will help make that possible."

To meet increasing housing demand, the Mexican government has a stated goal of increasing the rate of new home construction to 1,000,000 homes per year in coming years, up from current levels of 750,000 per year. By protecting against the risk of borrower default, mortgage insurance will make it possible for lenders to prudently expand their mortgage product offerings to include low down payment loans at competitive interest rates to meet that demand.

Genworth Financial Mexico will make an initial investment of 330 million pesos ($30 million) to start its mortgage insurance operation, headquartered in Mexico City.

"This is a very important step for us in Mexico. With this license, we will be able to offer our services to more lenders, which will benefit a greater number of Mexicans," Rivero said. "With mortgage insurance, they will be able to buy homes -- some with no down payment at all -- to achieve the dream of homeownership."

Genworth is the leading global provider of mortgage insurance, with operations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and 10 countries in Europe. As in Mexico, the company has been the first private provider of mortgage insurance in many international markets, expanding home ownership by helping to create or build the low down-payment home mortgage market.

"Customers around the world already benefit from our ability to share products, technology and best practices across national boundaries. We're very happy that now we're bringing them to Mexico," said Brian Hurley, president of Genworth Financial's international mortgage insurance operations.

In Mexico, Genworth also offers Payment Protection Insurance to meet monthly repayments of a financial commitment in the event of unemployment, accident/sickness or death. Genworth Financial won the tender to provide payment protection insurance to mortgage borrowers from Infonavit, Mexico's largest mortgage provider. Genworth also offers automobile, property & casualty, life and personal accident insurance through Genworth Seguros SA de CV, which is headquartered in the City of Leon.

About Genworth

Genworth is a leading insurance holding company, serving the lifestyle protection, retirement income, investment and mortgage insurance needs of more than 15 million customers, and has operations in 24 countries. For more information, visit http://www.genworth.com/