Essent recently released its 10-Q report. Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance, reinsurance, title insurance, and settlement services to mortgage lenders, borrowers, and investors in the United States. It operates through two reportable segments, Mortgage Insurance and Reinsurance, and also provides title-related services, underwriting consulting, and certain information technology and customer support services.
Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Essent said its mortgage insurance subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, is approved by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and is licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The company reported new insurance written of about $14.1 billion for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and $25.2 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared with about $12.5 billion and $22.5 billion in the same periods of 2025.
Essent Re, its Bermuda-based reinsurance subsidiary, covered about $2.1 billion of risk as of June 30, 2026 through GSE and other mortgage risk-share transactions. Essent Re also reinsures Essent Guaranty’s new insurance written under a quota share agreement, and effective January 1, 2026, it began reinsuring certain property and casualty risks.
The company said Essent Guaranty’s financial strength ratings were A2 from Moody’s, A from S&P, and A from AM Best, all with stable outlooks. Essent Re’s ratings were A from S&P and A from AM Best, also with stable outlooks.
Essent had 518 employees as of June 30, 2026. Its holding company and reinsurance business are domiciled in Bermuda, while its U.S. mortgage insurance and title insurance operations are headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
The company said mortgage interest rates remained elevated even after the Federal Reserve cut the target federal funds rate by 100 basis points in 2024 and another 75 basis points in 2025. Essent said those rates reduced home buying and refinance activity, which lowered mortgage originations, new insurance written, and title insurance and settlement transaction volumes.
At the same time, higher rates lifted net investment income and supported persistency in mortgage insurance in force. Essent said its persistency rate was 84.0% at June 30, 2026.
On the title side, Essent said title insurance operations are included in Corporate & Other. It offers title insurance directly and through agents, along with title and settlement services.
Essent also addressed the Bermuda Corporate Income Tax Act 2023, which began applying a 15% corporate income tax starting January 1, 2025 to in-scope entities. The company said its Bermuda companies are not currently in scope because they qualify for the “limited international presence” exception, which it said it currently meets for a five-year period.
Essent said the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced in April 2026 that the GSEs will begin accepting loans with the VantageScore 4.0 model for certain approved lenders and will move forward with FICO 10T. During the second quarter of 2026, Essent Guaranty began insuring loans submitted using VantageScore 4.0, but said those loans represented a de minimis amount of new insurance written, insurance in force, and risk in force at June 30, 2026. Following these announcements, the company's shares moved 4.9%, and are now trading at a price of $68.72. For the full picture, make sure to review Essent's 10-Q report.
