"We achieved our most important goals in the quarter by improving Radian's liquidity position and effectively managing our capital," said Chief Executive Officer S. A. Ibrahim. "As a result of a series of strategic actions and better-than-expected operating results that reduced our estimated inter-company tax obligation for 2010, we now anticipate having excess liquidity through 2012. In addition, by actively managing our risk-to-capital ratio to 15.4 to 1, we have improved our foundation to continue writing new, high-quality mortgage insurance business."

Ibrahim added, "Our results illustrate the challenging macroeconomic environment affecting our company. However, we are encouraged by signs of improvement in our mortgage insurance business, including a lower rate of new delinquencies, both sequentially and year-over-year, in a quarter that is traditionally prone to seasonal increases."

FOURTH QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Radian Guaranty Inc.'s risk-to-capital ratio was 15.4:1 at December 31, 2009, compared to a ratio of 16.1:1 at September 30, 2009, and 16.4:1 at December 31, 2008. While Radian Guaranty remains below the 25:1 risk-to-capital limit imposed by some states, the company has prepared, subject to final regulatory and GSE approval, its 50-state licensed mortgage insurance subsidiary, Amerin Guaranty, to write new business in those states if needed. Radian expects to continue writing high-quality mortgage insurance business, uninterrupted, for the foreseeable future.
• The mortgage insurance provision for losses of $459.9 million in the fourth quarter and $1.3 billion for the full year 2009 reflects higher delinquency counts and the continued aging of delinquencies, in addition to ongoing benefits associated with the company's various loss mitigation activities. As a result of the steady slowing of new delinquencies, Radian expects the delinquency level to stabilize throughout 2010, and decrease by the end of 2010.
• Consistent with its strategy of actively managing the legacy portfolio and reducing non-core risk, Radian completed a series of transactions in the quarter that reduced the company's risk in force in pool and modified pool insurance as well as NIMs, second-lien, international mortgage risk and financial guaranty credit default swaps (CDS).
• Total mortgage insurance claims paid were $426.8 million for the fourth quarter and $970.1 million for the full-year 2009. For the fourth quarter, excluding a $197.7 million impact from first-lien terminations and net of proceeds received from captive terminations of $25.2 million, claims paid were $254.3 million, which consisted of $239.5 million of first-liens and $14.8 million of second-liens. For the full-year 2009, excluding the impact of first- and second-lien terminations as well as proceeds received from captive terminations, claims paid were $818.0 million, compared to $916.1 million in 2008. For 2010, the company expects mortgage insurance claims paid to be approximately $1.5 billion.

• As a result of reduced mortgage industry origination volume and mortgage insurance penetration, new mortgage insurance written (NIW) was $2.4 billion in the quarter and $17.0 billion for the year. NIW in the quarter continued to consist of loans with excellent risk characteristics, and the company maintained market share for the quarter and also for the year of more than 20 percent.
• Radian Asset Assurance Inc., the company's principal financial guaranty subsidiary, continues to serve as an important source of capital support for Radian Guaranty, the company's mortgage insurance subsidiary, and is expected to continue to provide Radian Guaranty with cash infusions over time.
  • As of December 31, 2009, Radian Asset had approximately $1.1 billion in statutory surplus with an additional $1.5 billion in claims-paying resources.
  • In October, Radian Asset transferred $143 million of contingency reserves to surplus, which strengthened Radian Guaranty's statutory capital and positively impacted the company's risk-to-capital ratio.

CONFERENCE CALL

Radian will discuss each of these items in its conference call today, Tuesday, February 23, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet at http://www.ir.radian.biz/phoenix.zhtml?c=112301&p=irol-audioarchives or at www.radian.biz. The call may also be accessed by dialing 800-230-1059 inside the U.S., or 612-288-0340 for international callers, using passcode 145249 or by referencing Radian.

A replay of the webcast will be available on the Radian website approximately two hours after the live broadcast ends for a period of one year. A replay of the conference call will be available two and a half hours after the call ends for one week, using the following dial-in numbers and passcode: 800-475-6701 inside the U.S., or 320-365-3844 for international callers, passcode 145249.

In addition to the information provided in the company's earnings news release, other statistical and financial information, which is expected to be referred to during the conference call, will be available on Radian's Web site under Investors >Quarterly Results, or by clicking on http://www.ir.radian.biz/phoenix.zhtml?c=112301&p=irol-earnings.

About Radian

Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN), headquartered in Philadelphia, provides private mortgage insurance and related risk mitigation products and services to mortgage lenders nationwide through its principal operating subsidiary, Radian Guaranty Inc. These services help promote and preserve homeownership opportunities for homebuyers, while protecting lenders from default-related losses on residential first mortgages and facilitating the sale of low-downpayment mortgages in the secondary market. Additional information may be found at www.radian.biz.

Financial Results and Supplemental Information Contents (Unaudited)

For trend information on all schedules, refer to Radian's quarterly financial statistics at http://www.radian.biz/investors/financial/corporate.aspx.

For Trend Information, refer to our Quarterly Financial Statistics on Radian's (RDN) website.