XML 26 R9.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.25.0.1
Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation
Essent Group Ltd. (“Essent Group”) is a Bermuda-based holding company, which, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, offers private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Mortgage insurance facilitates the sale of low down payment (generally less than 20%) mortgage loans into the secondary mortgage market, primarily to two government-sponsored enterprises ("GSEs"), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The U.S. mortgage insurance operations are conducted through Essent Guaranty, Inc. ("Essent Guaranty"), which is domiciled in the state of Pennsylvania. Essent Guaranty is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania and maintains an operations center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Essent Guaranty is approved as a qualified mortgage insurer by the GSEs and is licensed to write mortgage insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Essent Guaranty reinsures new insurance written ("NIW") to Essent Reinsurance Ltd. (“Essent Re”), an affiliated Bermuda-domiciled Class 3B Insurer licensed pursuant to Section 4 of the Bermuda Insurance Act 1978 that provides insurance and reinsurance coverage of mortgage credit risk. In April 2021, Essent Guaranty and Essent Re agreed to increase the quota share reinsurance coverage provided by Essent Re from 25% to 35% effective January 1, 2021. The quota share reinsurance coverage provided for Essent Guaranty's NIW prior to January 1, 2021 will continue to be 25%, the quota share percentage in effect at the time NIW was first ceded. Essent Re also provides insurance and reinsurance to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. In 2016, Essent Re formed Essent Agency (Bermuda) Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary, which provides underwriting consulting services to third-party reinsurers. Prior to December 31, 2024, Essent Guaranty also reinsured that portion of the risk that is in excess of 25% of the mortgage balance with respect to any loan insured prior to April 1, 2019, after consideration of other reinsurance, to Essent Guaranty of PA, Inc. (“Essent PA”), an affiliate domiciled in the state of Pennsylvania. On December 31, 2024, Essent Guaranty and Essent PA entered into a commutation and release agreement in which all outstanding risk in force assumed by Essent PA was commuted back to Essent Guaranty in exchange for cash. Upon the commutation and release, Essent PA surrendered its insurance license and is no longer an insurance subsidiary of Essent Group Ltd. as of December 31, 2024.
In addition to offering mortgage insurance, we provide contract underwriting services on a limited basis through CUW Solutions, LLC ("CUW Solutions"), a Delaware limited liability company, that provides, among other things, mortgage contract underwriting services to lenders and mortgage insurance underwriting services to affiliates. CUW Solutions is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania and it maintains an operations center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that is subleased from Essent Guaranty.
As a result of our acquisitions of Agents National Title Insurance Company (renamed Essent Title Insurance, Inc. effective January 1, 2025) and Boston National Holdings LLC on July 1, 2023, we now offer title insurance products and title and settlement services. Our title insurance operations are headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, with additional locations in Charlotte, North Carolina and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
We have one reportable business segment: Mortgage Insurance. Our Mortgage Insurance segment offers private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. We provide private mortgage insurance on residential first-lien mortgage loans (“U.S. mortgage insurance”) through our U.S. mortgage insurance subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, and also offer other credit risk management solutions, including contract underwriting, to our customers. Through our Bermuda-based reinsurance subsidiary, Essent Re, we reinsure U.S. mortgage risk primarily through the GSE credit risk transfer market (“GSE and other risk share”) and provide underwriting consulting services to third-party reinsurers.
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and include the accounts of Essent Group and its consolidated subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
Certain amounts in prior years have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.