Genworth Financial Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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November 9, 2023

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Genworth's Financial Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Lisa, and I will be your coordinator today. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. We will facilitate a question and answer session towards the end of the conference call. As a reminder, the conference is being recorded for replay purposes.

Operator

Also, we ask that you refrain from using cell phones, I would now like to turn the presentation over to Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to Genworth's 3rd quarter 2023 earnings call. The slide presentation that accompanies this call is available on the Investor Relations section of the Genworth website, investor. Genworth.com. Our earnings release and financial supplement can also be found there, And we encourage you to review these materials.

Speaker 1

Speaking today will be Tom McInerney, President and Chief Executive Officer and Jerome Upton, Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for a question and answer period. In addition to our speakers, Brian Hendiges, President of our U. S. Life Insurance Business and Kelly Saltzkaebre, Chief Investment Officer will also be available to take your questions.

Speaker 1

During the call this morning, We may make various forward looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from such statements. We advise you to read the cautionary notes regarding forward looking statements in our earnings release and related presentation as well as the risk factors of our most recent annual report on Form 10 ks as filed with the SEC. This morning's discussion also includes non GAAP financial measures that we believe may be meaningful to investors. In our investor materials, non GAAP measures have been reconciled to GAAP where required in accordance with SEC rules.

Speaker 1

Also references to statutory results are estimates due to the timing of the filing of the statutory statements. And now, I'll turn the call over to our President and CEO, Tom McInerney.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Brian. Good morning, And thank you for joining our Q3 earnings call. Genworth continued to make progress against our strategic priorities in the Q3 as we deliver long term growth and drive shareholder value. In the Q3, Genworth reported net income of $29,000,000 or $0.06 per diluted share And adjusted operating income of $42,000,000 or $0.09 per diluted share. And ACT again had a very strong quarter With adjusted operating income of $134,000,000 to Genworth.

Speaker 2

We are very pleased with Enac's continued strong operating performance and capital levels. LTC had an adjusted operating loss of $71,000,000 driven by a liability remeasurement loss under LDGI. Investors can refer to Slide 20 in our slide presentation and our commentary from last quarter for more details on how differences in our actual to expected experience Drive quarterly volatility in this line item. On a statutory accounting basis, pretax income for the U. S.

Speaker 2

Life insurance companies Is estimated at $30,000,000 driven by $21,000,000 of pretax earnings in LTC. Complete statutory results for our U. S. Life insurance companies Will be available when we file our Q3 statutory statements later this month. As a reminder, we believe investors should evaluate LTC results under both U.

Speaker 2

S. GAAP and U. S. Statutory accounting to have a more complete understanding of LTC results. Turning to our 3 strategic priorities, We continue to improve the financial condition of our legacy LTC business primarily through our multi year rate action plan or MIRA.

Speaker 2

The most effective tool we have to bring our legacy LTC insurance portfolio to breakeven on a go forward basis. We achieved a total of $83,000,000 of gross incremental premium approved in the 3rd quarter, resulting in a total of $227,000,000 of premium approved year to date. This brings our cumulative progress to approximately $25,000,000,000 in approvals on a net present value basis since 2012. We are very pleased with our progress year to date and now expect our total gross incremental premium improved for the full year to be at least 275,000,000 Turning to the next strategic priority, we continue to leverage Genworth's LTC expertise to develop innovative aging care solutions. CareScout Services has made significant progress on the build out of our quality care network of senior care providers with an initial launch in Texas.

Speaker 2

Texas is a large LTC insurance market and Genworth has approximately 43,000 policyholders there. We now have CaraScout quality network coverage for approximately 50% of the age 65 plus Texas population With providers that have met our quality credentialing standards and agreed to negotiated discount rates. We are pleased to share that policyholders Have begun to make their first matches with our network providers in Texas. With the discounted rates negotiated, Genworth policyholders will be able to extend their available benefits and our preliminary projections indicate that Genworth will realize claim savings over time Between $1,000,000,000 to $1,500,000,000 driving further risk mitigation for the legacy LTC block. CareScout Services offers an attractive value proposition for both policyholders and providers.

Speaker 2

For providers, Joining the quality network offers preferred access to qualified care seekers, recognition for quality care and opportunities to strengthen their person centered We have strong momentum to expand the network beyond Texas with 4 providers so far across the country. We are building a regional sales organization and have hired 3 of 6 regional vice presidents in the Southwest, Southeast and Mid Atlantic regions. The field sales organization will be responsible for building the CaraScout quality network in the regions and will drive new sales of CaraScout LTC insurance products When they are introduced later in 2024. We plan to expand CareScout's customer base beyond Genworth policyholders To include other LTC insurance carriers policyholders and eventually we'll offer CareScout services and LTC insurance products to all Americans. As we've said before, we believe a successful transformation of the U.

Speaker 2

S. LTC market will address both financing and services For our customers and ultimately will help to reduce the likelihood of people needing care and lessen the care they need. To enhance the success of CareScout, we are engaging with our state regulators and working with a few highly rated reinsurers to partner with us as we bring new LTC products to the market. We will continue to provide quarterly updates to investors as we move forward in 2024. Moving to our 3rd strategic priority, capital management.

Speaker 2

We continue to allocate excess cash from Enenak to drive Genworth's long term shareholder value. We returned significant capital to shareholders via share repurchases and have repurchased a total of approximately 334,000,000 dollars of shares at an average price of $5.24 per share since the program's inception in May 2022. Including the expansion to the program we announced July 31, we have approximately $366,000,000 of outstanding repurchase authority. Cash flows from Enact have also enabled us to invest in long term growth in CareScout and we continue to expect approximately $30,000,000 of capital contributions to CareScout this year. Genworth received $26,000,000 of capital from Enact in the Q3.

Speaker 2

Since Enact's IPO, Genworth has received approximately $493,000,000 in capital from Enact through October 2023. We expect our 81.6 percent ownership of Enact to be the primary source of free cash flow moving forward. We recently increased the flexibility we have in our capital management program Through a bondholder consent solicitation, the transaction, which Jerome will discuss in more detail, resulted in an amendment to a restrictive covenant That limited our ability to repurchase our 2,066 subordinated notes. This amendment gives us more optionality to make opportunistic holding company debt repurchases while prioritizing growth investments and share repurchases. As we have said before, it is important to remember our commitment to managing the U.

Speaker 2

S. Life companies on a standalone basis. They operate as a closed system, leveraging existing reserves and capital, current premiums as well as future new premiums Under the LTC multiyear rate action plan to cover liabilities. We have no plans to put additional capital into the U. S.

Speaker 2

Life insurance companies And given the long tail of our long term care insurance policies with peak claim years still over a decade away, we also do not expect capital returns from the U. S. Life Insurance Companies. Looking ahead, Genworth's enterprise value and future potential are rooted in our 81.6 percent ownership and our strategy to grow CareScout into a profitable comprehensive provider of long term care services, insurance and other solutions, Leveraging the intellectual property, data, expertise and experience we have accumulated over 5 decades. In closing, I'm very pleased with ANAC's outstanding performance and our strong execution against our 3 strategic priorities year to date.

Speaker 2

We are working from a strong financial foundation with a significantly improved balance sheet, low annual debt service obligations and increased flexibility in how we allocate cash flows from Enact. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jerome.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased with the ongoing value creation delivered by Enact, progress on in force rate actions as well as our I'll first discuss the quarterly results and drivers in more detail And then provide a preview of our 4th quarter assumption review process. I'll also give an update on our capital position and investment portfolio. In the Q3, Genworth delivered net income of $29,000,000 or $0.06 per diluted share And adjusted operating income of $42,000,000 or $0.09 per diluted share. These results were primarily driven by EnAct, Which delivered $134,000,000 in adjusted operating income to Genworth, reflecting ongoing solid business fundamentals And favorable loss performance.

Speaker 3

EnAct's results are detailed on Slide 6. Primary insurance in force increased 8% year over year to a record $262,000,000,000 driven by new insurance written and continued Elevated persistency. Slide 7 shows Enact had a favorable $55,000,000 reserve release, Which drove a loss ratio of 7%. The reserve release primarily reflects favorable cure performance on 2022 And earlier delinquencies. Both the NAC's prior quarter and prior year results included favorable net reserve releases as well, totaling $63,000,000 $80,000,000 respectively.

Speaker 3

EnAct has a strong estimated PMIER sufficiency ratio of 100 and 2%, approximately $2,000,000,000 above PMIER's requirements. Enact's quarterly dividend payment of $0.16 per share generated proceeds of $21,000,000 to Genworth in September. Enact recently announced its Board approved a special cash dividend of $113,000,000 payable in December and has reiterated its commitment return a total of approximately $300,000,000 to its shareholders this year. Based on our 81.6 percent ownership position, We continue to expect to receive $245,000,000 from Enact through its quarterly dividends, share repurchases and special dividend for the full year. Sustainable cash flows from Enact will continue to fuel Genworth's strategic initiatives and capital optimization going forward.

Speaker 3

Turning to Long Term Care Insurance, starting on Slide 8. We continue to reduce the tail risk on our legacy LTC block with progress on our multi year rate action plan and legal settlements. As of the end of the quarter, we have achieved in force rate actions of approximately 20 $5,000,000,000 on a net present value basis since 2012 and seen a policyholder response rate of 49% to reduce benefits. Slides 9 and 10 show more details on the filings approved in recent quarter as well as positive trend we've seen in policyholder benefit reduction elections, Both of which demonstrate the progress we're making on our strategy. In addition to the multi year rate action plan, Recent legal settlements have further reduced LTC risk.

Speaker 3

In connection with these settlements, many policyholders have elected to reduce their benefits In order to reduce or eliminate their premiums. These are good outcomes for policyholders who are able to maintain meaningful coverage and for Genworth as we are able to reduce our tail risk on these policies and further protect our claims paying ability. Long Term Care Insurance GAAP results are covered on Slide 11. Our LTC segment reported an adjusted operating loss $71,000,000 in the 3rd quarter compared to an adjusted operating loss of $43,000,000 in the prior quarter and adjusted Operating income of $26,000,000 in the prior year. There is significant volatility in our quarterly earnings under GAAP accounting as we measure Due to expected quarterly experience on our approximately $42,000,000,000 liability for future policy benefits at the locked in discount rate.

Speaker 3

The 3rd quarter loss was driven by a liability remeasurement loss of $104,000,000 principally on our unprofitable or CAP cohorts. This reflects differences in our actual to expected experience during the quarter related to the timing of legal settlement impacts as well as higher claims and lower terminations. As a reminder, in the Q4 of 2022, Our assumption updates included an approximately $300,000,000 favorable update largely related to the PCS-one and two settlement. Despite the quarterly variation in experience, we expect this settlement to be very favorable and materially complete at the end of 2023. Actual to expected differences will continue to impact the quarterly P and L as liability remeasurement is However, it's important to remember These quarterly variations do not impact cash flows, the long term economics or the way we manage the LTC business.

Speaker 3

Now turning to our Life and Annuity segment GAAP results on Slide 12. The segment reported an adjusted operating loss $3,000,000 driven by an adjusted operating loss in life insurance of $25,000,000 partially offset by adjusted operating income of $17,000,000 from fixed annuities and $5,000,000 from variable annuities. In life insurance, mortality was favorable versus the prior year and DAC amortization to favorable fixed payout annuity mortality, partially offset by lower net spreads. Variable annuities were down versus the prior Rounding out the Q3 GAAP results, our Corporate and Other segment reported an adjusted operating loss of $18,000,000 Which included corporate interest expense and our investment in CareScout. For the full year, we continue to expect to invest about $30,000,000 in CareScout as we I'm now going to discuss statutory results for our U.

Speaker 3

S. Life insurance companies. As we have said before, we believe statutory results better represent the underlying performance of the life companies and the way we manage the business. Slide 13 illustrates the continued benefit the in force rate actions and legal settlements have on our LTC business, As shown through the $1,100,000,000 benefit, the statutory income on a pretax basis recognized year to date. Overall, statutory earnings in LTC were $88,000,000 through the 1st 9 months of the year, which are down significantly from the $315,000,000 during Same period of 2022, driven by higher claims as the block ages, lower variable investment income and block runoff, Partially offset by growth in the impact of in force rate actions and legal settlements.

Speaker 3

Our primary focus For the LTC Block remains to continue pursuing premium increases and reducing risk through benefit reductions, The combination of which gets us closer to economic breakeven. Slide 14 shows that paid claims are increasing as the blocks age and Temporary trends through the pandemic subside. Paid claims will continue to increase as peak claim years on our largest blocks, Choice 12 are over a decade away. This trend is expected and incorporated in our long term assumptions and reserve methodology. We will continue to monitor new claims growth and benefit utilization trends as experience emerges.

Speaker 3

Slide 15 shows our Q3 total pretax statutory income for the U. S. Life insurance companies. This is estimated at $30,000,000 driven by pretax earnings of $21,000,000 in LTC as a result of continued benefits from in force rate actions And the related settlements as well as in fixed annuities from favorable mortality. This was partially offset by a pre tax loss in the life insurance products, Including a $45,000,000 negative impact from recaptured previously ceded reinsurance.

Speaker 3

This was primarily related to the Scottish recapture, whereby we wrote off assets and liabilities associated with the reinsurance through the P and L as required under statutory accounting. However, this did not significantly impact Blick's capital position as the non admitted and unauthorized reinsurance were previously captured in surplus This had an immaterial impact on our GAAP results. The consolidated risk based capital ratio for Genworth Life Insurance Company, or GLIC, is estimated at 2 91% at the end of September. Glick's consolidated balance sheet remains sound with capital and surplus as of September 30 estimated at 3,200,000,000 Our final statutory results will be available on our investor website with our Q3 filings later this month. Looking ahead, I'd like to discuss our approach to this year's annual assumption review, which will be completed in the Q4.

Speaker 3

Although our reviews are not complete, we have been monitoring emerging trends and wanted to provide an update on our observations. Under GAAP accounting, the impact of LTC assumption updates for both healthy and disabled lives will be reflected as remeasurement gains or losses on the income statement with key differences based on cohorts. For unprofitable, capped cohorts, Any assumption changes from current best estimates would be reported immediately in the P and L. For profitable uncapped cohorts, Any changes would primarily impact the net premium ratio and therefore would have a more muted impact on results in the quarter. We will update assumptions for the Choice 2 legal settlement in the 4th quarter.

Speaker 3

Because the Choice 2 settlement primarily impacts uncapped cohorts, Any changes would have a muted income statement impact in the Q4. This is in contrast to the large favorable impact I mentioned in the Q4 of 2022 when we updated assumptions largely for the PCS-one and 2 settlement, Which primarily impacted CAAP cohorts. While GAAP assumption updates are accounted for differently in CAAPT Versus uncapped cohorts, both legal settlements are expected to significantly reduce Genworth's LTC tail risk and therefore be a net positive Over the long term. Other long term assumptions that we are reviewing for LTC include lapses, Benefit utilization, mortality and in force rate actions. We're also evaluating potential short term impacts emerging after the pandemic and aligning near term projections with recent experience.

Speaker 3

While work is ongoing, the LTC assumption updates could be negative in the aggregate As experience has been mixed. For our life and annuity products, we expect to review lapse assumptions Universal Life Policies with Secondary Guarantees or ULSG as well as mortality assumptions, including mortality improvement. At approximately $4,000,000,000 our ULSG block is relatively small compared to others in the industry and is a closed block That has not issued new business since 2016. Therefore, any impact would likely be smaller than what we've seen from others in the industry with larger blocks. We will assess near term trends together with our review of LTC mortality and emerging post pandemic trends as we continue to gather data to better understand the long term implications of COVID.

Speaker 3

Again, Work is ongoing, but the assumption updates for life and annuities we are considering in aggregate could pressure our results in the 4th quarter. In parallel with the product assumption reviews, we will also complete statutory cash flow testing for our life insurance companies in the 4th quarter. As a reminder, there are significant differences in the way assumption updates are reflected on a statutory basis compared to GAAP, Including the concepts of regular unlocking of assumptions and cohorting under LDTI, which do not exist under statutory accounting. Another key difference is that under GAAP, changes to all LTC assumptions are reflected in income, while on a statutory basis, generally, Only changes to our best estimate disabled life reserve assumptions are reflected in income. Assumptions impacting healthy lives Are included in our cash flow testing margin review, which only impacts income if the margin falls below 0.

Speaker 3

While our process is not yet complete and significant work remains, our early assessment is that GLIC's margin should remain positive. Certain of our ULSG products are subject to additional reserves on a statutory basis using the regulatory Drive reinvestment rate from July 2022 to June 2023. Given the increasing rates during this period, We currently anticipate a favorable benefit from the reinvestment rate. From a statutory income perspective, we believe the reinvestment rate benefit will help We will discuss the results of our assumption reviews and statutory cash flow testing on our Q4 earnings call. Next, moving to our investment portfolio.

Speaker 3

We remain confident in our conservative positioning and believe we have the right strategy to remain resilient and navigate a challenging macro environment. Our portfolio holdings are summarized on Slide 16. The high interest rate environment continues to allow us to invest in attractive new money rates, which will benefit the portfolio over time. Average new money rates in the 3rd quarter, including investments in alternatives, We're approximately 6.5% to 7%. The majority of our assets remain in investment grade fixed maturities that are listed as available for sale.

Speaker 3

We generally buy and hold the bonds to support the U. S. Life insurance companies' liabilities with unrealized gains and losses impacting equity Changes in other comprehensive income. Because the liabilities are very long duration, especially for LTC, We have very limited liquidity risk. Our commercial real estate holdings are concentrated in high quality investment grade assets And continue to perform very well.

Speaker 3

In addition, we've continued to reduce our exposure to small and medium sized regional banks since the end of Q1. Turning to the holding company on Slide 17. We continue to return significant capital to shareholders via share repurchases in the Q3, repurchasing $80,000,000 at an average Price of $5.69 per share and another $10,000,000 in the month of October. We ended the Q3 with $232,000,000 of cash And liquid assets, we received $26,000,000 of capital from Enact $59,000,000 from intercompany tax payments in the quarter. We expect to receive a total of approximately $190,000,000 to $210,000,000 of net intercompany tax payments for the year.

Speaker 3

We expect to fully utilize our available foreign tax credits this year dependent on the taxable income generated by our subsidiaries. We expect to become a federal taxpayer this year. Tom described our capital allocation strategy, and I'll reiterate that our top Priorities remain to invest in long term growth through CareScout Services, return cash to shareholders through our expanded share repurchase program When below intrinsic value and opportunistically pay down debt when attractive to us. We're pleased with the value created for shareholders through our Share repurchase program. Through October, we've completed most of the initial $350,000,000 program that began in May 2022, And we expect to complete the remaining amount by the end of this year, subject to our share price relative to our assessment of intrinsic value.

Speaker 3

The expansion to the program that we announced last quarter allows us to continue to return capital to shareholders as we head into 2024. We will also consider opportunistically retiring debt when it's attractive relative to our other uses of capital. After reaching our holding company target last September, we strive to maintain a debt to capital ratio of 25% or below, Attributing no equity value to U. S. Life insurance companies.

Speaker 3

As of the Q3, our debt to capital ratio was below this target, Which we view as optimal given our low debt service relative to our size. Through the recent bondholder consent which closed in October, we were able to amend a restrictive covenant that prevented us from paying down our 2,06 hybrid, Loading rate notes unless the balance on the 2034s was below $100,000,000 Under the amended covenant, we can now repay, redeem For repurchase $2,000 of principal amount of 2,066 notes for each $1,000 principal amount of 2,034 debt repaid. In connection with this transaction, we repurchased $13,500,000 principal amount of the 2,034 notes at 90% of par value. This gives us access to repurchase $27,000,000 of the 2,066 notes at market value. We are pleased with the additional flexibility Created by the amendment.

Speaker 3

After growth investments and share buybacks, we view opportunistic debt paydown as another available lever to drive shareholder value by purchasing the debt below par and further reducing Genworth's annual debt service obligations over time. In closing, we are delivering on our strategic priorities while proactively managing our liabilities and risk, The multi year rate action plan and the additional benefit from the 3 LTC legal settlements are enhancing our ability to honor policyholder commitments And stabilize the legacy LTC block. We see tremendous value in Enact as evidenced by its strong capital returns And our ability to grow CareScout over time and in our ability to drive shareholder value through capital returns. Now let's open up the line for questions.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the Q and A portion of the call. And we'll move to our first question. Gaudron George with Ardent Financial has our first question. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi. Yes. So I have like 2 questions that I wanted to ask. 1 is around like the, pollholder So one other question that I wanted to ask was around the negative finance and Of course, as you guys already continue the year end, I think the balance was around $849,000,000 As you're saying that, due to this balance, you can't really have dividend or money being achieved from some of your life insurance companies. So I want you to ask how far where does that balance stand at the moment?

Speaker 4

And are you addressing any Can we expect to see any changes around like the letters being passed on from those companies in the country?

Speaker 2

So you are breaking up a little bit, so I'm not sure I got all of the question. But So our plan at this point for excess cash is to invest in our CareScout Business to grow that and we're making good progress on that and to buy back shares. At this point, we do not We don't pay a regular dividend nor do we anticipate doing that in the near future, Given that when we talk to our shareholders, the overwhelming majority of them Would prefer that we return excess cash and share repurchases versus dividends. So that's why we've chosen to return capital through the buyback program.

Speaker 4

Okay. Okay, thanks. And then, yes, my second question was just around the negative unassigned surplus. Last year, year end, it was around R849,000,000. You have an update in terms of like waste and the demand?

Speaker 3

So, Guteron, this is Jerome Upton. Good morning and thank you for the question.

Operator

Our

Speaker 3

unassigned surplus in our GLIC, which is our Consolidating life insurance company is not positive, it's negative and it's roughly around $700,000,000 And as you probably know, When you have negative unassigned surplus, it's very difficult to get any type of dividend out of those regulated entities. And I think I would just highlight for you in Tom's prepared remarks, he actually indicated that we would not put capital in the U. S. Light business nor extract capital out of the U. S.

Speaker 3

Light business. So, the numbers that I have are the unassigned surplus is actually negative 700,000,000

Speaker 4

All right. All right. Thank you. Yes, those are my two questions. I appreciate the responses.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, I will now turn the call back over to Mr. McInerny for closing comments.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much, Lisa, and thanks to all of you for joining the call today. In closing, We are very pleased with the NAC's strong operating performance, our progress with CareScout, the progress we've made on January's 3 strategic priorities And we are confident in our long term strategy. I want to thank all of our investors and others on the call for your interest and support of Genworth And we'll see you next quarter. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Lisa to close the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, This concludes Genworth Financial's 3rd quarter conference call. Thank you for your participation. At this time, the call will end.

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