Genworth Will Not Participate in the U.S. Capital Purchase Program

RICHMOND, Va., April 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) was informed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) that the deadline it set for approval by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) of Genworth's application to become a savings and loan holding company passed before OTS completed its review of Genworth's application and Treasury will not extend the deadline. Genworth will therefore not complete its intended acquisition of InterBank, fsb of Maple Grove, Minnesota, nor will it be eligible to participate in Treasury's Capital Purchase Program (CPP) established for companies that own a thrift.

"As we noted on prior occasions, CPP participation by way of a thrift acquisition was only one of the strategic levers Genworth has considered to provide another level of capital flexibility to address unforeseen events, and the nature of that program has continued to evolve," said Michael D. Fraizer, Genworth chief executive officer. "Since Genworth's initial CPP application in November, we have made significant progress enhancing our capital levels and flexibility using various strategies including reinsurance, refinements in targeted markets, dividend reductions, risk mitigation and expense streamlining. Genworth will continue to benefit from these actions. In addition, we remain comfortable with our target of a consolidated life insurance company risk-based capital ratio of 350 percent or above for year end 2009. We ended 2008 with about $2.0 billion of capital across Genworth in excess of levels required for targeted ratings or regulatory requirements. We continue to progress in our evaluation of additional strategic opportunities ranging from selected asset sales to other governmental programs that could provide additional financial flexibility, and we will pursue these where we believe it makes sense."

Genworth will report first quarter operating results in early May and will provide additional comments as appropriate at that time.

About Genworth Financial

Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is a leading Fortune 500 global financial security company. Genworth has more than $100 billion in assets and employs approximately 6,000 people with a presence in more than 25 countries. Its products and services help meet the investment, protection, retirement and lifestyle needs of more than 15 million customers. Genworth operates through three segments: Retirement and Protection, U.S. Mortgage Insurance and International. Its products and services are offered through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors and sales specialists. Genworth Financial, which traces its roots back to 1871, became a public company in 2004 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, visit Genworth.com. From time to time Genworth releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the "Investors" section of Genworth.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "will" or words of similar meaning and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the outlook for the company's future business and financial performance. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially due to global political, economic, business, competitive, market, regulatory and other factors and risks, including the following:

• Risks relating to the company's businesses, including adverse capital and credit market conditions, downturns and volatility in equity and credit markets, downgrades in the company's financial strength or credit ratings, the impact of the U.S. government's plan to purchase illiquid mortgage-backed and other securities, the company's ability to access the U.S. government's financial support programs, interest rate fluctuations, the valuation of fixed maturity, equity and trading securities, defaults, downgrades or impairments of fixed maturity securities portfolio, goodwill impairments, the soundness of other financial institutions, the inability to access the company's credit facilities, declines in risk-based capital, insufficiency of reserves, legal constraints on dividend distributions by subsidiaries, intense competition, availability and adequacy of reinsurance, defaults by counterparties, loss of key distribution partners, regulatory restrictions on the company's operations and changes in applicable laws and regulations, legal or regulatory investigations or actions, the failure or any compromise of the security of the company's computer systems and the occurrence of natural or man-made disasters or a pandemic;
• Risks relating to the company's Retirement and Protection segment, including changes in morbidity and mortality, accelerated amortization of deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits, reputational risks as a result of rate increases on certain in-force long-term care insurance products, medical advances such as genetic mapping research, unexpected changes in persistency rates, increases in statutory reserve requirements and the failure of demand for long-term care insurance to increase as expected;
• Risks relating to the company's International segment, including political and economic instability, foreign exchange rate fluctuations, unexpected changes in unemployment rates, unexpected increases in mortgage insurance default rates or severity of defaults, decreases in the volume of high loan-to-value international mortgage originations, increased competition with government-owned and government-sponsored enterprises offering mortgage insurance and changes in regulations;
• Risks relating to the company's U.S. Mortgage Insurance segment, including the company's review of strategic alternatives for the segment, increases in mortgage insurance default rates or severity of defaults, deterioration in economic conditions or a decline in home price appreciation, the effect of the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on mortgage originations, the influence of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a small number of large mortgage lenders and investors, decreases in the volume of high loan-to-value mortgage originations or increases in mortgage insurance cancellations, increases in the use of alternatives to private mortgage insurance and reductions by lenders in the level of coverage they select, increases in the use of reinsurance with reinsurance companies affiliated with the company's mortgage lending customers, increased competition with government-owned and government-sponsored enterprises offering mortgage insurance, changes in regulations, legal actions under the Real Estate Settlement Practices Act of 1974 and potential liabilities in connection with the company's U.S. contract underwriting services;
• Other risks, including the possibility that in certain circumstances we will be obligated to make payments to General Electric Company (GE) under the company's tax matters agreement with GE even if the company's corresponding tax savings are never realized and the company's payments could be accelerated in the event of certain changes in control and provisions of the company's certificate of incorporation and bylaws and the company's tax matters agreement with GE may discourage takeover attempts and business combinations that stockholders might consider in their best interests; and
• Risks relating to the company's common stock, including the suspension of dividends and stock price fluctuation.

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

SOURCE Genworth Financial