Genworth Financial, Inc. (GNW) Q3 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Genworth Financial's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Jennifer, and I will be your coordinator today. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, the conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Christine Jewell, Head of Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Genworth's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. The slide presentation that accompanies this call is available on the Investor Relations section of the Genworth's website, investor.genworth.com. Our earnings release and financial supplement can also be found there, and we encourage you to review these materials. Speaking today will be Thomas McInerney, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Jerome Upton, Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. In addition to our speakers, Jamala Arland, President and CEO of our Closed Block Insurance business; Greg Karawan, General Counsel; Kelly Saltzgaber, Chief Investment Officer; Samir Shah, CEO of CareScout; and Angela Simmons, CFO of our Closed Block Insurance business will also be available to take your questions. During this morning's call, 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-K as filed with the SEC. Today'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. Additionally, references to statutory results are estimates due to the timing of the statutory filings. And now I'll turn the call over to Tom.

Thank you, Christine, and thank you to everyone for joining our third quarter earnings call this morning. Before I cover our results, I wanted to take a moment to talk about my decision to retire at the end of this year. I turned 70 this year, and I've been reflecting on what I wanted to accomplish when I joined Genworth almost 14 years ago. I'm very proud of the progress we've made over that time and the team that we've built to lead the next chapter for our company. Now it feels like the right time to pass the torch to Jerome. He's been a steadfast and trusted partner in strengthening our foundation and developing our go-forward strategy, and I'm confident that he, Angela Simmons and the management team will continue making strong progress against our strategic priorities. Turning now to our performance. Genworth reported a net loss in the third quarter of $41 million and adjusted operating income, excluding the Closed Block, of $102 million. This was driven by another quarter of strong performance from Enact, which reported adjusted operating income of $132 million to Genworth, continuing to drive a strong capital position and capital returns. We continue to execute against Genworth's 3 strategic priorities in the third quarter, which together position us to create shareholder value while investing in sustainable long-term growth. First, we continue to create shareholder value through Enact's growing market value and the significant capital returns it provides to Genworth. Our approximately 81% ownership stake in Enact remains a key source of cash flows, generating $122 million in capital returns to Genworth in the third quarter. These cash flows support Genworth's balanced approach to capital allocation, which includes investing in CareScout, returning capital to shareholders and reducing debt. In September, we announced a $500 million expansion of our existing share repurchase program, reflecting our continued confidence in Genworth's financial position. We also reached an important milestone in October, surpassing $1 billion in cumulative share repurchases since the beginning of our program in 2022. Together, these actions underscore our continued commitment to returning capital to shareholders and creating long-term value. Since the start of the program through October 31, we have reduced our outstanding share count by approximately 27% from 511 million shares to 370 million shares. Moving to our next strategic priority. We continue to build CareScout into a comprehensive aging care platform designed to help families understand, find and fund the quality care they need. With 70 million baby boomers now between the ages of 62 and 80, demand for aging care continues to grow, creating a significant long-term opportunity for CareScout and Genworth. We will do this in 3 ways: first, by providing access to a suite of integrated solutions across the aging journey; second, through expert guidance informed by our data and decades of claims experience; and third, through technology-enabled human connection, delivering that expertise through trained advisers who provide personalized local support and help families navigate what is often a complex, fragmented and emotional process. We are integrating these capabilities across the platform to deliver a seamless experience and build a scalable capital-light business for long-term growth. Beginning with CareScout Services, we continue expanding the reach of the CareScout Quality Network. Our home care network now includes more than 1,200 locations with 98% coverage of the U.S. population aged 65 and over. The number of senior living communities in the network has now grown to approximately 1,200, driven in part by national partnerships with senior living providers, Atria Senior Living and Brookdale. We are building national scale for the senior living presence of the CareScout Quality Network and broadening the range of quality care options available to families across the country as we make meaningful progress against our target of at least 2,000 communities in the network by the end of the year. Across major markets, CareScout now has over 170 local advisers across 33 states who help guide families in their search for high-quality senior living communities. CareScout earns a onetime placement fee upon a successful move-in, consistent with how the broader industry operates. Over time, we expect this to contribute to a more diversified and scalable stream of revenue for CareScout services. We've also made strong progress expanding CareScout's match footprint beyond our existing policyholder base, bolstered by senior living matches. As the network continues to scale, brand awareness grows and we're able to meet a broader range of needs, we expect to drive increased traction across the platform. We also expect a higher share of Genworth's policyholders to utilize network providers and benefit from more efficient care coordination by our team, helping to stretch their benefit dollars further while also generating claim savings for our Closed Block over time. We continue to expand the availability of our offerings by working with other insurance carriers, employers and select affinity groups. This represents an opportunity to introduce more consumers to the CareScout plan and generate additional fee-based revenues over time. In the quarter, we facilitated approximately 1,500 matches between care seekers and home care and senior living providers, an increase versus the second quarter. Year-to-date, matches have approximately doubled compared with the same period last year. The continued growth in matches reflects progress and growing interest in the full suite of integrated offerings provided by CareScout services, and we continue to expect to deliver $25 million in revenue from CareScout services in 2026. At CareScout Insurance, we continued expanding our distribution capabilities with the August launch of Care Assurance Worksite, the employer distributed version of our Care Assurance LTC product which was approved in 40 states as of the end of the third quarter. Turning to our third strategic priority. We continue to actively manage our self-sustaining, customer-centric Closed Block of LTC, life and annuity products. The Multiyear Rate Action Plan, or MYRAP, remains our most effective lever for supporting long-term sustainability and maintaining capital discipline while delivering customer-focused policyholder experiences. As of the end of the third quarter, we had achieved an aggregate of approximately $35 billion of benefit reductions and premium increases on a net present value basis since 2012. In the third quarter, we secured $44 million of gross incremental premium approvals with an average percentage increase of 34%. We expect the value of our full year 2026 premium approvals and benefit reductions to be broadly in line with 2025 levels, contributing approximately $1 billion on a net present value basis. As the MYRAP enters its later stages, we expect the relative impact of benefit reductions to increase while the impact of premium increases declines. This is a reflection of a shrinking runway of future premiums as Closed Block policyholders age. As many of you know, families across the U.S. are shouldering more of the caregiving load for loved ones. More than 59 million Americans are now caring for an adult family member or a friend, often unpaid as demand for professional caregivers outpaces the supply and makes access to affordable care increasingly challenging for many families. Recognizing this dynamic, in September, we announced our new family caregiver benefit, a voluntary election available to eligible LTC policyholders in certain states who choose a benefit reduction alternative. This new offering enables policyholders to use their benefits for qualified care provided by family members. The benefit can pay up to 75% of the median hourly cost of nonmedical care, giving families greater flexibility in how they access and pay for care. This voluntary election helps modernize our coverage to more accurately reflect how care is delivered today and it is rolling out on a state-by-state basis as we receive regulatory approvals. I'd like to conclude with a few words on the AXA and Santander litigation. In September, the U.K. Court of Appeal ruled against AXA finding that Santander was not liable for the vast majority of losses claimed by AXA. We were very disappointed in the court's decision. In October, AXA took the first step in the appeal process, seeking permission from the Court of Appeal to appeal the case to the U.K. Supreme Court. As we have consistently said throughout this litigation, we have not factored any potential recoveries into our capital allocation plans, and this decision does not change our strategy or our ability to execute against it. In closing, I'm pleased with the progress we made against our strategic priorities, supported by another quarter of strong performance at Enact. As we continue to execute our strategy, we will be well positioned to drive sustainable long-term growth and to deliver long-term value for shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jerome.

Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone. As Tom discussed, we continue to execute against our strategic priorities in the third quarter while enhancing our financial flexibility and positioning the company for long-term success. Enact delivered another quarter of strong performance, supported by its robust balance sheet and liquidity profile that continue to create value and fuel our capital allocation priorities. We also made further progress scaling CareScout and strengthening the self-sustainability of our Closed Block. I will begin with an overview of our third quarter financial results and key drivers, followed by an update on our Closed Block, including a preview of our annual assumption review. I will then discuss our investment portfolio and holding company liquidity before covering our capital allocation priorities and providing an update on our outlook for the remainder of 2026. Starting with the financial results on Slide 9. Third quarter adjusted operating income, excluding the Closed Block, was $102 million, driven by strong performance in Enact, partially offset by losses in Corporate and Other. Enact delivered another strong quarter of performance with adjusted operating income of $132 million to Genworth. Results included a pretax reserve release of $37 million, driven by continued strong cure performance. Results were down versus the prior quarter, reflecting seasonally higher losses. In Corporate and Other, we reported an adjusted operating loss of $30 million for the quarter, reflecting continued investment in CareScout and ongoing holding company debt service. Results in the prior year included a $7 million valuation allowance reduction on certain deferred tax assets. Our Closed Block segment reported an adjusted operating loss of $146 million. This was driven by a liability remeasurement loss related to actual variances from expected experience, or A/E, of $111 million pretax, primarily in LTC. Versus the prior quarter and prior year, results were also impacted by lower net investment income, primarily related to our limited partnership investments and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. Our A/E loss experience has trended above the level implied by our prior expectation of approximately $300 million for the full year, driven primarily by lower mortality, which we believe is consistent with broader nationwide trends. In the third quarter, mortality continued to follow normal seasonal trends but remain below last year's levels and the A/E loss in the quarter primarily reflected lower terminations and higher utilization. As a reminder, these GAAP fluctuations do not impact our cash flows, economic value or how we manage the business. Now taking a closer look at Enact's performance beginning on Slide 10. Higher mortgage rates drove lower new insurance written versus the prior quarter while supporting higher persistency. Though new insurance written of $14.1 billion was down, it outpaced lapses and primary insurance in force increased $1 billion sequentially and $3 billion year-over-year to $275 billion. Earned premiums were $242 million, down modestly from both the prior quarter and prior year. As shown on Slide 11, Enact's $37 million pretax reserve release drove a loss ratio of 20%. Enact's estimated PMIERs sufficiency ratio remained strong at 158% with approximately $1.8 billion above requirements. Genworth's share of Enact's book value, including AOCI, was $4.2 billion at the end of the third quarter, down from $4.4 billion at the end of the second quarter, driven primarily by movements in the market value of the investment portfolio as a result of increased interest rates. Enact has continued to deliver significant capital returns to Genworth. We received $122 million from Enact in the third quarter. During the quarter, Enact secured a new forward quota share reinsurance agreement covering the 2028 book year at favorable market terms, underscoring the business' commitment to continuing to build financial flexibility. Looking ahead, Enact's strong balance sheet, disciplined underwriting and financial flexibility position it to navigate a dynamic macroeconomic environment while continuing to create value for shareholders. Turning to our Closed Block on Slide 12. We continue to proactively manage and reduce LTC risk and improve self-sustainability through prudent in-force management, including benefit reductions and premium rate increases. As of the end of the third quarter, we had achieved approximately $35 billion of benefit reductions and premium increases on a net present value basis since 2012. As part of our Multiyear Rate Action Plan, we offer a suite of options to help policyholders manage premium increases while maintaining meaningful coverage. These benefit solutions enable us to reduce our exposure to certain higher cost features such as 5% compound benefit inflation options and large benefit pools. Cumulatively, about 62% of policyholders offered a benefit reduction have elected to take one, lowering our long-term risk. These initiatives have helped reduce our exposure to the riskiest LTC policy features. Notably, our exposure to the 5% compound benefit inflation option has decreased to 35%, down from 57% in 2014, and the percentage of our policies with lifetime benefits has decreased below 11% from 24% in 2014. As Tom referenced, as the MYRAP enters its later stages, we expect benefit reduction to become an increasingly important part of our in-force management efforts as the opportunity for future premium increases declines as our policyholders age. These benefit reductions help policyholders maintain meaningful coverage while continuing to reduce our long-term risk. As we look ahead, I'd like to discuss our approach to this year's annual assumption review, which will be completed in the fourth quarter. In LTC, our review is primarily focused on benefit utilization, mortality, claim terminations and management actions, including benefit solutions, in-force rate actions and claim savings from the CareScout Quality Network. For our life and annuity products, we are reviewing mortality, lapse rates and the potential impacts of interest rates. While this review is still ongoing, based on our early analysis, the financial impact from our U.S. GAAP assumption updates could be materially unfavorable in the aggregate, particularly in LTC due to the cost of care inflation and related utilization trends we are observing. As a reminder, for capped cohorts, any assumption changes will be recorded immediately in the P&L. For uncapped cohorts, any changes will impact the net premium ratio and therefore, have a more muted impact in the quarter. In parallel with the assumption review, we are conducting statutory cash flow testing for our life insurance companies. While this process is not yet complete, our initial assessment indicates that GLIC margins should remain positive. We will discuss the results of our assumption reviews and statutory cash flow testing on our fourth quarter earnings call. We remain committed to managing GLIC and its subsidiaries as a closed system, leveraging their existing reserves and capital to cover future claims. We will not inject capital into these companies. And given the long-tail nature of our LTC insurance policies, we also do not expect capital returns. Separately, we entered into a replacement reinsurance structure in October for a portion of our universal life products in response to mandatory industry-wide changes in statutory accounting guidance that were adopted in December of 2025 and take effect at year-end. While we expect these changes to have an unfavorable impact on our fourth quarter statutory P&L and RBC ratio, they will not affect our GAAP results and the new structure allows us to retain our significant reserve credit on these reinsured universal life products while complying with the updated guidance. Turning to Slide 13. Our investment portfolio remains resilient and conservatively positioned. The majority of our assets are investment-grade fixed maturities that support our long-duration liabilities and our private placement portfolio remains high quality with no affiliated or related party investments. New money yields continue to exceed those on sales and maturities during the quarter. Cash in our life insurance companies was invested at average yields of approximately 6.5%, including alternative investments. Our alternatives portfolio is primarily composed of diversified private equity investments and has targeted returns of approximately 12%, although results can vary from quarter-to-quarter. During the third quarter, realizations declined from recent periods, contributing to lower investment income. We expect alternative assets to remain an important component of our investment strategy given their long-term return potential, diversification benefits and alignment with our long-duration liabilities. Next, turning to the holding company on Slide 14. We ended the quarter with $320 million in cash and liquid assets. When evaluating holding company liquidity for the purpose of capital allocation and calculating the buffer to our debt service target, we excluded approximately $200 million of cash held for future obligations, including advance cash payments from our subsidiaries. Our liquidity remains supported by recurring capital returns from Enact and our disciplined approach to capital deployment. Moving to capital allocation on Slide 15. Our priorities remain unchanged. We will continue to invest in long-term growth through CareScout, return cash to shareholders through our share repurchase program when our share price trades below intrinsic value and opportunistically retire debt. During the quarter, we repurchased $80 million of shares and in October, repurchased an additional $40 million. Since the start of the program through October 31, we have repurchased over $1 billion of shares at an average price of $6.74 per share. As Tom mentioned, we're very pleased that the Board authorized an additional $500 million under our existing share repurchase program, providing us with continued flexibility to return capital to shareholders. We also retired $21 million of principal debt in the quarter at a discount, bringing our holding company debt down to $747 million. We maintained a disciplined capital structure with a cash interest coverage ratio on debt service of approximately 9x. As we have consistently said, any potential recoveries from the AXA litigation have not been factored into our capital allocation plans. The Court of Appeals ruling does not change our capital allocation priorities or our ability to execute against our strategy. I'll now turn to our outlook for the remainder of 2026 and provide an update on the guidance we previously shared. First, Enact announced yesterday that it now expects to return approximately $600 million of capital to its shareholders in 2026. Based on our approximate 81% ownership position, we now expect to receive around $485 million from Enact for the full year. As indicated previously, our intention is to keep our ownership at approximately 81%, and this may result in a modest reduction in Genworth's participation in Enact share buyback program in 2027. Second, we continue to create value for our shareholders through our share repurchase program. For the full year 2026, we now expect to allocate between $275 million and $300 million to share repurchases. As we have said before, this range may vary depending on market conditions, business performance, holding company cash and our share price. Third, turning to CareScout. In the services business, while we continue to see strong growth in matches year-over-year, current match volumes are pacing below the level that would be required to reach our previously disclosed full year target of approximately 7,500 matches. CareScout Services generated $7 million of revenue in the third quarter with $19 million year-to-date. We remain on track to achieve our $25 million revenue target from this business for the full year. We expect our investment in CareScout Services to be approximately $55 million in 2026. These investments will support the continued expansion of our technology platform, the addition of new products and growth across both consumer and B2B channels. We are also deepening carrier partnerships and enhancing operational infrastructure to support higher volumes, recurring revenue and long-term scalability. For CareScout Insurance, we currently do not expect any additional capital investments in 2026, following our $85 million investment made in 2025 to launch the business. Future capital contributions may vary based on sales volume and mix, investment performance and operating expenses. In summary, we've made good progress overall with CareScout and remain confident in its continued growth. As we have noted previously, scaling these businesses and achieving breakeven will take time. In closing, we are pleased with the results of our strategic and operational priorities in the third quarter. Enact continues to deliver strong performance and capital returns. CareScout is expanding its network, products and distribution capabilities as we build a comprehensive aging care platform. At the same time, we continue to actively manage our Closed Block and maintain our disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation. Our focus remains on driving long-term shareholder value through Enact and CareScout, returning capital to shareholders through share repurchases, opportunistically retiring debt and proactively managing our liabilities and risk. Before we open up for questions, I want to take a moment to thank Tom for his vision, leadership and partnership over the past 14 years. During that time, we returned more than $1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and reduced holding company debt by $3.5 billion. We stabilized the Closed Block legacy business and have generated approximately $35 billion of estimated net present value from LTC premium increases and benefit reductions. And finally, we have laid the foundation for future growth through CareScout. He's leaving this company in a stronger place than he entered it, and I'm grateful for the trust that he and the Board have in me, Angela and the management team in carrying our vision forward. We'll miss him, but we're excited for him, his family and his well-earned retirement. Thank you, Tom. Now let's open up the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] And we'll go first to Ryan Krueger with KBW.

Well, first, I want to wish Tom the best of luck in retirement, and thank you for all the engagement over the years. In terms of my question, first one was just a quick one. On the $320 million of holding company liquidity, I noticed that there's $200 million of that, that's earmarked for future obligations, which is higher than normal. Can you give any detail on what that relates to?

Ryan, this is Jerome. It's great to hear from you. And yes, I would highlight the $200 million is a little bit north of where we normally end up. And really, one of the biggest drivers of that is related to taxes. So we get tax receipts from our subsidiaries as they roll up into us, but we also got a tax refund during the quarter. And so that's probably around $80 million. And if you take the $80 million away from the $200 million, you get to a much more normal level. And we set aside that $80 million because the reinsurance restructure that's coming through with GLIC that I highlighted in my prepared remarks will create tax losses. And to the extent you have tax losses at the subsidiary level, we compensate them for that. So that's the reason you have a heavy obligation that we've set aside in holding company cash.

And Ryan, I also want to thank you for your well wishes. I appreciate that, and it's been a pleasure working with you and all the investors and analysts who follow us over the years.

One quick follow-up. Can you hear me?

We sure can, Ryan.

Sorry about that. Just on the appeal, I guess, the appeal of -- the appeal with AXA, when do you expect a decision to be made on if that will be allowed to proceed?

Ryan, thanks for that question. It's Greg Karawan. The AXA's first request for permission to appeal was filed October 13 with the Court of Appeal. There is no set deadline or time frame within which the Court of Appeal has to respond, but the best estimate is approximately 1 to 3 months.

[Operator Instructions] It appears that there are no questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now turn the call back over to Mr. McInerney for closing comments.

Thank you all very much for joining the call today. This will be my last earnings call as Genworth's President and CEO. I'd like to thank our investors and analysts for their time, curiosity and consideration over the years. It's been an honor to lead this company. Thank you for your continued trust and belief in Genworth. I'll now turn the call back over to Jennifer.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes Genworth Financial's Third Quarter Conference Call. Thank you for your participation. At this time, the call will end.