Genworth Announces Expense Reduction Plan; Sees $80-90M in Annual Pre-Tax Expense Savings

Genworth Financial, Inc.

today announced an expense reduction plan as it continues to work on improving the operating performance of its businesses. This plan will eliminate approximately 400 positions, including 150 open positions that will not be filled, and will reduce related information technology and program spend. When fully implemented, the company expects to realize approximately $80 to $90 million in annual pre-tax expense savings primarily related to these actions. Overall expense levels may vary for a variety of reasons, including changes in sales volume or other strategic actions the company may take. A pre-tax non-operating charge of approximately $15 to $20 million will be recorded in the second quarter of 2013 reflecting severance, outplacement and other associated costs. "These are very difficult decisions to make but the changes are essential to our ongoing work to improve the performance of our businesses and deliver value to our shareholders," said Tom McInerney, President and CEO. "Our organization will remain sharply focused on our priorities as we make further progress on operating our businesses as efficiently and effectively as possible. We'll provide support to the employees impacted and ensure they are treated with the utmost respect. We do not believe these actions significantly change our previously disclosed views on performance in 2013, but anticipate them to have a more meaningful impact in future years." About Genworth Financial Genworth Financial, Inc.

is a leading Fortune 500 insurance holding company dedicated to helping people secure their financial lives, families and futures. Genworth companies have leadership positions in offerings that assist consumers in protecting themselves, investing for the future and planning for retirement -- including life insurance, long term care insurance, financial protection coverages, and independent advisor-based wealth management -- and mortgage insurance that helps consumers achieve home ownership while assisting lenders in managing their risk and capital. Genworth has approximately 5,840 employees and operates through three divisions: U.S. Life Insurance, which includes life insurance, long term care insurance and fixed annuities; Global Mortgage Insurance, containing U.S. Mortgage Insurance and International Mortgage Insurance segments; and the Corporate and Other division, which includes the International Protection and Runoff segments and the wealth management business presented as discontinued operations. Products and services are offered through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors and sales specialists. Genworth Financial, Inc., headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, traces its roots back to 1871 and became a public company in 2004. For more information, visit genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth Financial, Inc. 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, but not limited to, the following: Risks relating to our businesses, including downturns and volatility in global economies and equity and credit markets; downgrades or potential downgrades in our financial strength or credit ratings; interest rate fluctuations and levels; adverse capital and credit market conditions; lack of credit facilities; the valuation of fixed maturity, equity and trading securities; defaults, downgrades or other events impacting the value of our fixed maturity securities portfolio; defaults on our commercial mortgage loans or the mortgage loans underlying our investments in commercial mortgage-backed securities and volatility in performance; goodwill impairments; defaults by counterparties to reinsurance arrangements or derivative instruments; an adverse change in risk-based capital and other regulatory requirements; insufficiency of reserves and required increases to reserve liabilities; legal constraints on dividend distributions by our subsidiaries; competition; availability, affordability and adequacy of reinsurance; loss of key distribution partners; regulatory restrictions on our operations and changes in applicable laws and regulations; legal or regulatory investigations or actions; the failure of or any compromise of the security of our computer systems and confidential information contained therein; the occurrence of natural or man-made disasters or a pandemic; the effect of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; changes in accounting and reporting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other standard-setting bodies and insurance regulators; impairments of or valuation allowances against our deferred tax assets; changes in expected morbidity and mortality rate; accelerated amortization of deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits; ability to increase premiums on certain in-force long-term care insurance products by enough or quickly enough, including the current rate actions and any future rate actions; medical advances, such as genetic research and diagnostic imaging, and related legislation; unexpected changes in persistency rates; ability to continue to implement actions to mitigate the impact of statutory reserve requirements; the failure of demand for long-term care insurance to increase; political and economic instability or changes in government policies; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and international securities markets; unexpected changes in unemployment rates; unexpected increases in mortgage insurance default rates or severity of defaults; the significant portion of high loan-to-value insured international mortgage loans which generally result in more and larger claims than lower loan-to-value ratios; competition with government-owned and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) offering mortgage insurance; changes in international regulations reducing demand for mortgage insurance; increases in U.S. mortgage insurance default rates; failure to meet, or have waived to the extent needed, the minimum statutory capital requirements and hazardous financial condition standards; uncertain results of continued investigations of insured U.S. mortgage loans; possible rescissions of coverage and the results of objections to our rescissions; the extent to which loan modifications and other similar programs may provide benefits to us; unexpected changes in unemployment and underemployment rates in the United States; further deterioration in economic conditions or a further decline in home prices in the United States; problems associated with foreclosure process defects in the United States that may defer claim payments; changes to the role or structure of Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac); competition with government-owned and government-sponsored enterprises offering U.S. mortgage insurance; changes in regulations that affect our U.S. mortgage insurance business; 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 in the United States; increases in the use of alternatives to private mortgage insurance in the United States and reductions by lenders in the level of coverage they select; the impact of the use of reinsurance with reinsurance companies affiliated with our U.S. mortgage lending customers; legal actions under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA); and potential liabilities in connection with our U.S. contract underwriting services; Other risks, including the risk that our strategy may not be successfully implemented; our Capital Plan may not achieve its anticipated benefits; adverse market or other conditions might delay or impede the minority sale of our mortgage insurance business in Australia; the possibility that in certain circumstances we will be obligated to make payments to General Electric Company (GE) under the tax matters agreement with GE even if our corresponding tax savings are never realized and payments could be accelerated in the event of certain changes in control; provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and the tax matters agreement with GE may discourage takeover attempts and business combinations that stockholders might consider in their best interests; we do not realize the anticipated expense reduction in the expected time period or at all; the charge associated with the expense reduction is greater than anticipated; and the impact of the expense reduction is not as anticipated; and Risks relating to our common stock, including the suspension of dividends and stock price fluctuations. 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, Inc.