Genworth Financial
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Headquarters | Richmond, Virginia , United States |
Area served | United States, Canada, Australia |
Key people | Thomas McInerney (CEO) |
| Products | Life insurance, long-term care insurance, mortgage insurance, annuities |
| Website | www |
Genworth Financial, based in Richmond, Virginia, is a U.S. company specializing in financial services, including offerings such as life insurance, long-term care insurance, mortgage insurance, and annuities.
History
Originally established in 1871 as The Life Insurance Company of Virginia in Petersburg, Virginia, the firm expanded beyond the Southern region within ten years and subsequently moved its headquarters to Richmond.
The company commenced its annuities operations in 1928 and later broadened its portfolio to incorporate mortgage insurance, lifestyle protection, and long-term care insurance products.
In 1986, Life of Virginia was purchased by Combined Insurance for $557 million, becoming part of Aon the following year in 1987. GE Capital then acquired the company in 1996.
The entity was rebranded as Genworth Financial, Inc. in 2003 and proceeded with an initial public offering in 2004. GE divested its remaining shares in February 2006 for $2.8 billion.
June 2006 saw Genworth’s acquisition of AssetMark Investment Services for $230 million. The subsequent year, GE Capital's First Colony Life Insurance merged with Genworth’s life insurance division.
In May 2007, Genworth divested its employee benefits segment to Sun Life Financial. Two months later, it acquired Liberty Reverse Mortgage for $50 million, which was later sold to Ocwen for $22 million in April 2013.
Genworth sold its wealth management business to private equity firms Aquiline Capital Partners and Genstar Capital Management for $412.5 million in September 2007.
The Canadian subsidiary, Genworth MI Canada, launched an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in June 2009, raising $850 million.
In June 2011, Genworth sold Continental Life Insurance’s Medigap policies to Aetna for $290 million. The financial advisory division was transferred to Cetera Financial Group in September 2012.
Thomas McInerney assumed the role of CEO in December 2012.
In April 2013, Genworth restructured by establishing a holding company that separated its U.S. mortgage insurance subsidiaries.
The Lifestyle Protection Insurance business was sold to Axa for €465 million in December 2015, while portions of the company were acquired by Protective Life for $661 million in January 2016.
Genworth halted sales of annuities and life insurance products in February 2016 and subsequently sold its term life platform to Pacific Life in June of the same year.
An agreement was reached with China Oceanwide Holdings Group to acquire Genworth for $2.7 billion in October 2016; however, this transaction was terminated in April 2021 due to Oceanwide's failure to finalize the deal.
In May 2020, Genworth’s Australian mortgage insurance arm Helia lost a contract with National Australia Bank.
Genworth MI Canada underwent a rebranding to Sagen MI Canada in October 2020; by April 2021, Brookfield Business Partners had completed full acquisition of Sagen’s shares.
September 2021 marked the completion of the initial public offering for Enact Holdings, Genworth’s private mortgage insurance subsidiary, which debuted on Nasdaq with a valuation of $3.26 billion.
In March 2016, Genworth resolved shareholder litigation by agreeing to a $219 million settlement. The lawsuits claimed that from October 2013 through November 2014, the company had misrepresented the sufficiency of its long-term care claim reserves. Subsequently, Genworth recorded a $531 million charge to strengthen its long-term care segment, which led to a notable decline in the market value of its securities.
Genworth settled a class action lawsuit in October 2022 by paying $25 million concerning universal life insurance premium increases ranging between 40% and 140%, which were found to be excessive and unlawful.
MOVEit security breach
On June 6, 2023, a flaw in the MOVEit Transfer software utilized by Genworth’s third-party provider, PBI Research Services, was exploited by the Russian-affiliated extortion group known as 'C|0p'. This incident compromised sensitive information of roughly 2.5 to 2.7 million Genworth customers, including personal identifiers such as names, dates of birth, and social security numbers. The software is designed to monitor deaths within member organizations to assist with beneficiary disbursements. Although PBI reported the vulnerability, there was criticism regarding the delay in revealing the full scope of the breach. On June 22, 2023, Genworth submitted a notification to the Securities and Exchange Commission confirming the data exposure.