Genworth: A Fearful Market Demands Capital Strength

As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined his vision for the next phase of the Troubled Asset Recovery Program Tuesday, now renamed the Financial Stability Plan, he didn't specifically address whether insurance companies would be allowed to participate.

Among other changes, Geithner said participants in the program will need to show how Treasury Department assistance will preserve or generate new lending.

Insurers can do that, said Michael D. Frazier, chief executive officer of Genworth Financial Group (GNW), in an interview Tuesday.

Last year, Genworth, applied for a thrift charter to qualify for the capital-purchase program. The application is pending. No insurers have yet received Treasury funds, and it is unclear if they will.

Frazier said that his company has argued to legislators that allowing insurers to participate in Treasury capital investments will benefit Main Street, through expanding companies' retirement and protection business and by allowing their mortgage-insurance business to guarantee more loans.

He said Genworth can meet its capital needs without Treasury funds, "but in this type of new world we live in, we look at options for additional capital flexibility. It is an uncertain world."

Getting the capital would reassure investors, Frazier said.

"In a fear-based market, the market says show me," he said. "People need to see big capital buffers."

That could be said for most of the big life insurers, which reported weak earnings and rising investment losses for the fourth quarter, putting a drag on capital levels for all.

Other insurers that have said they are in the running for Treasury capital are Principal Financial Group (PFG), Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) and Hartford Financial Corp. (HIG).

All the insurers reported fourth-quarter earnings that were dragged down by continuing investment losses and weaker results in their variable annuity businesses.

Financial-services companies traded down Tuesday after Geithner's remarks failed to rally investors. Life insurers that are in the running for Treasury capital were among the biggest losers.

Principal traded down 32% near the close of trading Tuesday. Hartford was down 14% and Lincoln National was down 18%.

Genworth traded down 15%, recently, losing an earlier gain after trading higher earlier. Genworth reported a fourth-quarter loss, but reported risk-based capital ratios above expectations, which caused the insurer's shares to rise in early trading, but the gains disappeared amid a general downturn in insurance share prices Tuesday.

-By Lavonne Kuykendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750 4141; [e-mail]

(Shirleen Dorman and Donna Kardos contributerd to this reort.)