Credit Agricole's structure is a corporate governance nightmare and puts management's interests at odds with shareholders'.Credit Agricole is the most exposed to Greece of France's banks. While losses at its Greek subsidiary have been manageable for the group so far, loans there are nearly equal to
The rating agencies have unleashed the hounds on Ambac with ratings downgrades on the insurance operations. Ambac won't be writing any new business soon--maybe not ever.Ambac has the largest exposure to CDOs among all of the financial guarantors. An unexpected large loss could be brewing.Ambac's
MBIA's survival is largely dependent on court decisions relating to numerous lawsuits, both for and against the firm.The company is vulnerable to competitors underpricing it or accepting riskier terms to steal business, even after MBIA has invested significant effort to underwrite a
The rating agencies have unleashed the hounds on Ambac with ratings downgrades on the insurance operations. Ambac won't be writing any new business soon, maybe not ever.Ambac has the largest exposure to CDOs among all of the financial guarantors. An unexpected large loss could be brewing.Ambac's
The company insures a higher proportion of risky mortgages than competitors, including mortgages for borrowers with poor credit and second mortgages. The extra premium Radian charges may not offset higher expected losses.Customers are concerned about Radian's financial vulnerability. Market share
Title insurance sales rely on mortgage volume and home sales, both of which are depressed and may have difficulty recovering from a devastated housing market.The mortgage lenders First American serves are increasingly powerful, as mergers consolidate real estate financing sources. Lenders may try
Fidelity National Financial's title operations will show improvement in 2010.
The primary default rate on insured mortgages at PMI Group PMI jumped to just short of 20% in the third quarter, as consolidated losses--paid claims and adjustments--for the third quarter and first nine months increased to $337 million and $1.2 billion, respectively. The mortgage insurer, one of ...
While Old Republic ORI will file its third-quarter 10-Q report as scheduled, it announced that its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is unable to complete its review of the financial statements as it disagrees with the company's treatment of a recent reinsurance transaction. Because the amount in ...
Alt-A mortgage delinquencies are rising at an alarming rate. MGIC's Alt-A delinquency rate was more than 40% at the end of the second quarter of 2009.Foreclosures lag mortgage delinquencies by at least a year, sometimes more. MGIC has yet to experience the brunt of the housing