The insurance business is distinguished from most others in that the prices (premiums) charged for various insurance products are set without certainty of the ultimate benefit and claim costs that will emerge, or be incurred, often many years after issuance and expiration of a policy. This basic fact casts Old Republic as a risk-taking enterprise managed for the long run. Management therefore conducts the business with a primary focus on achieving favorable underwriting results over cycles, and on the maintenance of financial soundness in support of the insurance subsidiaries' long-term obligations to insurancepolicyholders and their beneficiaries. To achieve these objectives, adherence to insurance risk management principles is stressed, and asset diversification and quality are emphasized. The underwriting principles encompass:

In addition to income arising from Old Republic's basic underwriting and related services functions, significant investment income is earned from invested funds generated by those functions and from shareholders' capital.capital resources. Investment management aims for stability of income from interest and dividends, protection of capital, and for sufficiency of liquidity to meet insurance underwriting and other obligations as they become payable in the future. Securities trading and the realization of capital gains are not objectives. The investment philosophy is therefore best characterized as emphasizing value, credit quality, and relatively long-term holding periods. The Company's ability to hold both fixed maturity and equity securities for long periods of time is in turn enabled by the scheduling of maturities in contemplation of an appropriate matching of assets and liabilities, and by investments in large capitalization, highly liquid equity securities.

In light of the above factors, the Company's affairs are managed for the long-runlong run and without significant regard to the arbitrary strictures of quarterly or even annual reporting periods that American industry must observe. In Old Republic's view, such short reporting time frames do not comport well with the long-term nature of much of its business. Management therefore believes that the Company's operating results and financial condition can best be evaluated by observing underwriting and overall operating performance trends over succeeding five- or preferably ten-year intervals. A ten-year period in particular can likely encompass at least one economic and/or underwriting cycle and thereby provide an appropriate time frame for such cycle to run its course, and for premium rate changes and reserved claim costs to be quantified and emerge in financial results with greater finality and effect.

The contributions to consolidated net revenues and income before taxes, and the assets and shareholders' equity of each Old Republic segment are set forth in the following table. This information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements, the notes thereto, and the "Management Analysis of Financial Position and Results of Operations" appearing elsewhere in this report.

There are two basic types of title insurance policies: lenders' policies and owners' policies. Both are issued for a one-time premium. Most mortgages made in the United States are extended by mortgage bankers, savings and commercial banks, state and federal agencies, and life insurance companies. These financial institutions secure title insurance policies to protect their mortgagees' interest in the real property. This protection remains in effect for as long as the mortgagee has an interest in the property. A separate title insurance policy may be issued to the owner of the real estate. An owner's policy of title insurance protects an owner's interest in the title to the property.

The premiums charged for the issuance of title insurance policies vary with the policy amount and the type of policy issued. The premium is collected in full when the real estate transaction is closed, there being no recurring fee thereafter. In many areas, premiums charged on subsequent policies on the same property may be reduced depending generally upon the time elapsed between issuance of the previous policies and the nature of the transactions for which the policies are issued. Most of the charge to the customer relates to title services rendered in conjunction with the issuance of a policy rather than to the possibility of loss due to risks insured against. Accordingly, the cost of services performed by a title insurer relates for the most part to the prevention of loss rather than to the assumption of the risk of loss. Claim losses that do occur result primarily from title search and examination mistakes, fraud, forgery, incapacity, missing heirs and escrow processing errors.

In connection with its title insurance operations, Old Republic also provides escrow closing and construction disbursement services, as well as real estate information products, national default management services, and a variety of other services pertaining to real estate transfers and loan transactions.

There are two principal types of private mortgage insurance coverage: "primary" and "pool". Primary mortgage insurance provides mortgage default protection on individual loans and covers a stated percentage of the unpaid loan principal, delinquent interest, and certain expenses associated with the default and subsequent foreclosure. In lieu of paying the stated coverage percentage, the Company may pay the entire claim amount, take title to the mortgaged property, and subsequently sell the property to mitigate its loss. Pool insurance, which is written on a group of loans in negotiated transactions, provides coverage that ranges up to 100% of the net loss on each individual loan included in the pool, subject to provisions regarding deductibles, caps on individual exposures, and aggregate stop loss provisions which limit aggregate losses to a specified percentage of the total original balances of all loans in the pool.

Traditional primary insurance was issued on an individual loan basis to mortgage bankers, brokers, commercial banks and savings institutions through a network of Company-managed underwriting sites located throughout the country. Traditional primary loans were individually reviewed (except for loans insured under delegated underwriting programs) and priced according to filed premium rates. In underwriting traditional primary business, the Company generally adhered to the underwriting guidelines published by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac both of which were purchasers of many of the loans the Company insured. Delegated underwriting programs allowed approved lenders to commit the Company to insure loans provided they adhered to predetermined underwriting guidelines.

Bulk and other insurance was issued on groups of loans to mortgage banking customers through a centralized risk assessment and underwriting department. These groups of loans were priced in the aggregate on a bid or negotiated basis. Coverage for insurance issued in this manner was provided through primary insurance policies (loan level

Before insuring any loans, the Company issued to each approved customer a master policy outlining the terms and conditions under which coverage would be provided. Primary business was then produced via the issuance of a commitment/certificate for each loan submitted and approved for insurance. In the case of business providing pool coverage, a separate pool insurance policy was issued covering the particular loans applicable to each transaction.

As to all types of mortgage insurance products, the amount of premium charge depended on various underwriting criteria such as loan-to-value ratios, the level of coverage being provided, the borrower's credit history, the type of loan instrument (whether fixed rate/fixed payment or an adjustable rate/adjustable payment), documentation type, and whether or not the insured property is categorized as an investment or owner occupied property. Coverage is non-cancelable by the Company (except in the case of non-payment of premium or certain master policy violations) and premiums are paid under single, annual, or monthly payment plans. Single premiums are paid at the inception of coverage and provide coverage for the entire policy term. Annual and monthly premiums are renewable on their anniversary dates with the premium charge determined on the basis of the original or outstanding loan amount. The majority of the Company's direct premiums were written under monthly premium plans. Premiums may be paid by borrowers as part of their monthly mortgage payment and passed through to the Company by the servicer of the loan, or paid directly by the originator of, or investor in the mortgage loan.

As reported in earlier periods, the Company's flagship mortgage guaranty insurance carrier, Republic Mortgage Insurance Company ("RMIC"), had been operating pursuant to a waiver of minimum state regulatory capital requirements since late 2009. This waiver expired on August 31, 2011 and, as a consequence, RMIC and its sister company Republic Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation ("RMGIC") (formerly Republic Mortgage Insurance Company of North Carolina, ("RMICNC""RMICNC"), discontinued writing new business in all states and limited themselves to servicing the run-off of their existing business. They were placed under administrative supervision by the North Carolina Department of Insurance ("NCDOI") the following year and ultimately ordered to defer the payment of 40% of all settled claims as a deferred payment obligation ("DPO").

On July 1, 2014, the NCDOI issued a Final Order approving an Amended and Restated Corrective Plan (the "Amended Plan") submitted jointly on April 16, 2014, by RMIC and RMICNC.RMGIC. Under the Amended Plan, RMIC and RMICNCRMGIC were authorized to pay 100% of their DPOs accrued as of June 30, 2014, and to settle all subsequent valid claims entirely in cash, without establishing any DPOs. In anticipation of receiving this Final Order, ORI invested $125.0 million in cash and securities toin RMIC in June 2014. In mid-July 2014, in furtherance of the Final Order, RMIC and RMICNCRMGIC processed payments of their accumulated DPO balances of approximately $657.0 million relating to fully settled claims charged to periods extending between January 19, 2012 and June 30, 2014. Both subsidiaries remainThe NCDOI subsequently terminated the summary orders which placed RMIC and RMGIC under theadministrative supervision of the NCDOIeffective December 8, 2017, thereby releasing both companies from its supervision as they continue to operate in run-off mode. The approval of the Amended Plan notwithstanding, the NCDOI retains its regulatory supervisory powers to review and amend the terms of the Amended Plan in the future as circumstances may warrant.were eminently solvent.

RMIC has continually evaluated the potential long-term underwriting performance of the run-off book of business based on various modeling techniques. The resulting models take into account actual premium and paid claim experience of prior periods, together with a large number of assumptions and judgments about future outcomes that are highly sensitive to a wide range of estimates. Many of these estimates and underlying assumptions relate to matters over which the Company has no control, including: 1) The conflicted interests, as well as the varying mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices of a large number of insured lending institutions; 2) General economic and industry-specific trends and events; and 3) The evolving or future social and economic policies of the U.S. Government vis-à-vis such critical sectors as the banking, mortgage lending, and housing industries, as well as its policies for resolving the insolvencies and assigning a possible future role to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These matters notwithstanding, RMIC's standard model of forecasted results extending through 2022 continues to reflect ultimate profitability for the book of business. In this regard a long-used RMIC standard model indicates that underwriting performance of the book of business should, in the aggregate, be positive over the extended ten year run-off period assumed to end on or about December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2016,2017, it is nonetheless possible that MI operating results could be negative in the near term.

As of December 31, 2016,2017, RFIG's mortgage insurance subsidiaries were statutorily solvent. Their total statutory capital, inclusive of a contingency reserve of $340.9$395.9 million, was $420.6$475.5 million. As of the same date, RFIG's consolidated GAAP capitalization amounted to $330.6$421.6 million.

Claims are a major cost factor and changes in them reflect continually evolving pricing and risk selection together with variability in loss severity and frequency trends caused by fortuitous and other events. Changes in commercial automobile claim ratios are primarily due to fluctuations in claim severity. LossClaim ratios for workers' compensation and

The Company's property and liability insurance subsidiaries establish claim reserves which consist of estimates to settle: a) reported claims; b) claims which have been incurred as of each balance sheet date but have not as yet been reported ("IBNR") to the insurance subsidiaries; and c) the direct costs, (fees and costs which are allocable to individual claims) and indirect costs (such as salaries and rent applicable to the overall management of claim departments) to administer known and IBNR claims. Such claim reserves, except as to classification in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as to gross and reinsured portions and purchase accounting adjustments, are reported for financial and regulatory reporting purposes at amounts that are substantially the same.

The establishment of claim reserves by the Company's insurance subsidiaries is a reasonably complex and dynamic process influenced by a large variety of factors. These factors principally include past experience applicable to the anticipated costs of various types of claims, continually evolving and changing legal theories emanating from the judicial system, recurring accounting, statistical, and actuarial studies, the professional experience and expertise of the Company's claim departments' personnel or attorneys and independent claim adjusters, ongoing changes in claim frequency or severity patterns such as those caused by natural disasters, illnesses, accidents, work-related injuries, and changes in general and industry-specific economic conditions. Consequently, the reserves established are a reflection of the opinions of a large number of persons, of the application and interpretation of historical precedent and trends, of expectations as to future developments, and of management's judgment in interpreting all such factors. At any point in time, the Company is exposed to the riskincurrence of possibly higher or lower than anticipated claim costs due to all of these factors, and to the evolution, interpretation, and expansion of tort law, as well as the effects of unexpected jury verdicts.

Early in 2001, the Federal Department of Labor revised the Federal Black Lung Program regulations. The revisions basically require a reevaluation of previously settled, denied, or new occupational disease claims in the context of newly devised, more lenient standards when such claims are resubmitted. Following a number of challenges and appeals by the insurance and coal mining industries, the revised regulations were, for the most part, upheld in June, 2002 and are to be applied prospectively. Since the final quarter of 2001, black lung claims filed or refiled pursuant to these revised regulations have increased, though the volume of new claim reports has abated in recent years.

In March 2010, federal regulations were revised once again as part of the Patient Protection and Affordability Act that reinstates two provisions that can potentially benefit claimants. In response to this most recent legislation and the above noted 2001 change, black lung claims filed or refiled have risen once again. The vast majority of claims filed to date against Old Republic pertain to business underwritten through loss sensitive programs that permit the charge of additional or refund of return premiums to wholly or partially offset changes in estimated claim costs, or to business underwritten as a service carrier on behalf of various industry-wide involuntary market (i.e. assigned risk) pools. A much smaller portion pertains to business produced on a traditional risk transfer basis. The Company has established applicable reserves for claims as they have been reported and for claims not as yet reported on the basis of its historical experience as well as assumptions relative to the effect of the revised regulations. The potential impact on reserves, gross and net of reinsurance or retrospective premium adjustments, resulting from such regulations cannot be estimated with reasonable certainty.

 

Over the years, the subject of property and liability insurance claim reserves has been written about and analyzed extensively by a large number of professionals and regulators. Accordingly, the above discussion summary should be regarded as a basic outline of the subject and not as a definitive presentation. The Company believes that its overall reserving practices have been consistently applied over many years, and that its aggregate reserves have generally resulted in reasonable approximations of the ultimate net costs of claims incurred. However, no representation is made nor is any guaranty given that ultimate net claim and related costs will not develop in future years to be greater or lower than currently established reserve estimates.

The Company's investment policies are not designed to maximize or emphasize the realization of investment gains. The combination of gains and losses from sales or impairments of securities is reflected as realized gains and losses in the income statement. Dispositions of securities result principally from scheduled maturities of bonds and notes and sales of fixed income and equity securities available for sale. Dispositions of securities at a realized gain or loss reflect such factors as ongoing assessments of issuers' business prospects, allocation to industry sectors, changes in credit quality, and tax planning considerations.

The following tables show invested assets at the end of the last two years, together with investment income for each of the last three years:

Title insurance premium and fee revenue is closely related to the level of activity in the real estate market. The volume of real estate activity is affected by the availability and cost of financing, population growth, family movements and other socio-economic factors. Also, the title insurance business is seasonal. During the winter months, new building activity is reduced and, accordingly, the Company produces less title insurance business relative to new construction during such months than during the rest of the year. The most important factors, insofar as Old Republic's title business is concerned, however, are the rates of activity in the resale and refinance markets for residential properties.

As previously noted, the Company's flagship mortgage guaranty insurance carrier had been operating pursuant to a waiver of minimum state regulatory capital requirements since late 2009. This waiver expired on August 31, 2011. As a consequence, the underwriting of new policies ceased and the existing book of business was placed in run-off operating mode. Prior to August 31, 2011, traditional primary mortgage insurance was marketed principally through a direct sales force which called on mortgage bankers, brokers, commercial banks, savings institutions and other mortgage originators. No sales commissions or other forms of remuneration were paid to the lending institutions or others for the procurement or development of business.

The personal contacts, relationships, reputations, and intellectual capital of Old Republic's key executives and other associates responsible for the production of business are a vital element in obtaining and retaining much of its business. Many of the Company's customers produce large amounts of premiums and fees and therefore warrant substantial levels

Historically, several types of insurance coverages underwritten by Old Republic, such as consumer credit indemnity, title, and mortgage guaranty insurance, have been affected in varying degrees by changes in national economic conditions. During periods when housing activity or mortgage lending are constrained by any combination of rising interest rates, tighter mortgage underwriting guidelines, falling home prices, excess housing supply and/or economic recession, operating and/or claim costs pertaining to such coverages tend to rise disproportionately to revenues and can result in underwriting losses and reduced levels of profitability.

At least one Old Republic general insurance subsidiary is licensed to do business in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and each of the Canadian provinces. Title insurance operations are licensed to do business in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. Mortgage insurance subsidiaries are licensed in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Consolidated direct premium volume distributed among the various geographical regions shown was as follows for the past three years:

ToIn order to maintain premium production within its capacity and limit maximum losses and risks for which it might become liable under its policies, Old Republic, as is the common practice in the insurance industry, may cede all or a portion or all of its premiums and related liabilities on certain classes of insurance, individual policies, or blocks of business to other insurers and reinsurers. Although the ceding of insurance does not generallyordinarily discharge an insurer from its direct liability to a policyholder, it is industry practice to establish the reinsured part of risks as the liability of the reinsurer. Old Republic also employs retrospective premium adjustments and risk sharinga large variety of risk-sharing procedures and arrangements for parts of its business in order to minimizereduce underwriting losses for which it might become liable under its insurance policies it issues, and to afford its customers or producers a degree of participation in the risks and rewards associated with such business. Under retrospective arrangements, Old Republic collects additional premiums if losses are greater than originally anticipated and refunds a portion of original premiums if loss costs are lower. Pursuant to risk sharing arrangements, the Company adjusts production costs or premiums retroactively to likewise reflect deviations from originally expected loss costs. The amount of premium, production costs and other retrospective adjustments which may be made is either limited or unlimited depending on the Company's evaluation of risks and related contractual arrangements. To the extent that any reinsurance companies, retrospectively rated risks, or producers might be unable to meet their obligations under existing reinsurance, retrospective insurance and production agreements, Old Republic would be liable for the defaulted amounts. In these regards, however, the Company generally protects itself by withholding funds, by securing indemnity agreements, by obtaining surety bonds, or by otherwise collateralizing such obligations through irrevocable letters of credit, cash, or securities.

Reinsured liabilities of the RFIG Run-off Business, Title Insurance Group and small life and accident insurance operations are not material.

Reinsurance recoverable asset balances represent amounts due from or credited by assuming reinsurers for paid and unpaid claims and policy reserves. Such reinsurance balances that are recoverable from non-admitted foreign and certain other reinsurers such as captive insurance companies owned by assureds or business producers, as well as similar balances or credits arising from policies that are retrospectively rated or subject to assureds' high deductible retentions are substantially collateralized by letters of credit, securities, and other financial instruments. Old Republic evaluates on a regular basis the financial condition of its assuming reinsurers and assureds who purchase its retrospectively rated or high deductible policies. Estimates of unrecoverable amounts are included in the Company's net claim and claim expense reserves since reinsurance, retrospectively rated and self-insured deductible policies and contracts do not relieve Old Republic from its direct obligations to assureds or their beneficiaries.

Old Republic's reinsurance practices with respect to portions of its business also result from its desire to bring its sponsoring organizations and customers into some degree of joint venture or risk sharing relationship. The Company may, in exchange for a ceding commission, reinsure up to 100% of the underwriting risk, and the premium applicable to such risk, to insurers owned by or affiliated with lending institutions, financial and other intermediaries, and commercial institutions generally whose customers are insured by Old Republic, or individual customers who have formed captive insurance companies. The ceding commissions received compensate Old Republic for performing the direct insurer's functions of underwriting, actuarial, claim settlement, loss control, legal, reinsurance, and administrative services to comply with local and federal regulations, and for providing appropriate risk management services.

Since January 1, 2005, the Company has had maximum treaty reinsurance coverage of up to $200.0 million for its workers' compensation exposures. Pursuant to regulatory requirements, however, all workers' compensation primary insurers such as the Company remain liable for unlimited amounts in excess of reinsured limits. Other than the substantial concentration of workers' compensation losses caused by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America, to the best of the Company's knowledge there had not been a similar accumulation of claims in a single location from a single occurrence prior to that event. Nevertheless, the possibility continues to exist that non-reinsured losses could, depending on a wide range of severity and frequency assumptions, aggregate several hundred million dollars to an insurer such as the Company. Such aggregation of losses could occur in the event of a catastrophe such as an earthquake that could lead to the death or injury of a large number of persons concentrated in a single facility such as a high rise building.

As a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America, the reinsurance industry eliminated coverage from substantially all contracts for claims arising from acts of terrorism. Primary insurers like the Company thus became fully exposed to such claims. Late in 2002, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (the "TRIA") was signed into law, immediately establishing a temporary federal reinsurance program administered by the Secretary of the Treasury. The program applied to insured commercial property and casualty losses resulting from an act of terrorism, as defined in the TRIA. Congress extended and modified the program in late 2005 through the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and

The TRIA automatically voided all policy exclusions which were in effect for terrorism related losses and obligated insurers to offer terrorism coverage with most commercial property and casualty insurance lines. The TRIREA revised the definition of "property and casualty insurance" to exclude commercial automobile, burglary and theft, surety, professional liability and farm owners multi-peril insurance. TRIPRA did not make any further changes to the definition of property and casualty insurance, however, it did include domestic acts of terrorism within the scope of the program. Although insurers are permitted to charge an additional premium for terrorism coverage, insureds may reject the coverage. Under TRIPRA, the program's protection is not triggered for losses arising from an act of terrorism until the industry first suffers losses in excess of a prescribed aggregate deductible during any one year. The program deductible trigger is $140 million, $160 million, $180 million, and $200 million for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively. Once the program trigger is met, TRIPRAthe program will be responsible for a fixed percentage of the Company's terrorism losses that exceed its deductible which ranges from 85% for 2015 and declines by one percentage point per year until it reaches 80% in 2020. The Company's deductible amounts to 20% of direct earned premium on eligible property and casualty insurance coverages. The Company currently reinsures limits on a treaty basis of $195.0 million in excess of $5.0 million for claims arising from certain acts of terrorism for casualty clash and catastrophe workers' compensation liability insurance coverages. The Company also purchases facultative reinsurance on certain accounts in excess of $200.0 million to manage the Company's net exposures.

 

For certain types of coverages, including loan credit indemnity and mortgage guaranty insurance, the Company has historically competed in varying degrees with the Federal Housing Administration ("FHA") and the Veterans Administration ("VA"). Mortgage insurance companies also compete by providing contract underwriting services to lenders, enabling the latter to improve the efficiency of their operations by outsourcing all or part of their mortgage loan underwriting processes. As already noted, the Company ceased underwriting new mortgage guaranty insurance effective August 31, 2011. The underwriting of new CCI business ceased during 2008.

The Company believes its experience and expertise have enabled it to develop a variety of specialized insurance programs and related services for its customers, and to secure state insurance departments' approval of these programs.

Risk factors are uncertainties and events over which the Company has limited or no control, and which can have a materially adverse effect on its business, results of operations or financial condition. The Company and its business segments are subject to a variety of such risk factors and, within individual segments, each type of insurance coverage may be exposed to risk factors specific to them. The following sections set forth management's evaluation of material risk factors for the Company as a whole and for each business segment. There may be risks which management does not presently consider to be material that may later prove to be material risk factors as well.

The Company is an insurance holding company with no operations of its own. Substantially all of its assets consist of the business conducted by its insurance subsidiaries. It relies upon dividends from such subsidiaries in order to pay the interest and principal on its debt obligations, dividends to its shareholders, and corporate expenses. The extent to which the insurance subsidiaries are able to declare and pay dividends is subject to regulations under the laws of their states or foreign jurisdictions of domicile. The regulations limit dividends based on the amount of statutory adjusted unassigned surplus or statutory earnings, and require the insurance subsidiaries to maintain minimum amounts of capital, surplus and reserves. Dividends in excess of the ordinary limitations can only be declared and paid with prior regulatory approval, of which there can be no assurance. The inability of the insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends in an amount sufficient to meet the Company's debt service and cash dividends on stock, as well as other cash requirements could result in liquidity issues.

Although the Company's business segments encompass different types of insurance, the greatest risk factor common to all insurance coverages is excessive losses due to unanticipated claims frequency, severity or a combination of both. Many of the factors affecting the frequency and severity of claims depend upon the type of insurance coverage, but others are shared in common. Severity and frequency can be affected by changes in national economic conditions, unexpectedly adverse outcomes in claims litigation, often as a result of unanticipated jury verdicts, changes in court made law, adverse court interpretations of insurance policy provisions resulting in increased liability or new judicial theories of liability, together with unexpectedly high costs of defending claims.

Reserves are the amounts that an insurance company sets aside for its anticipated policy liabilities. Claim reserves are an estimate of liability for unpaid claims and claims defense and adjustment expenses, and cover both reported as well as incurred but not reported ("IBNR") claims. It is not possible to calculate precisely what these liabilities will amount to in advance and, therefore, the reserves represent a best estimate at any point in time. Such estimates are based upon known historical loss data, certain assumptions and expectations of future trends in claim frequency and severity, inflation and other economic considerations. The latter are affected by a variety of factors over which insurers have little or no control and which can be quite volatile.

Reserve estimates are periodically reviewed in light of known developments and, where necessary, they are adjusted and refined as circumstances may warrant. Nevertheless, the reserve setting process is inherently uncertain. If for any of these reasons reserve estimates prove to be inadequate, the Company's subsidiaries can be forced to increase their reported liabilities; such an occurrence could result in a materially adverse impact on their results of operations and financial condition.

Premium rates are generally determined on the basis of historical data for claim frequency and severity as well as related production and other expense patterns. In the event ultimate claims and expenses exceed historically projected levels, premium rates are likely to prove insufficient. Premium rate inadequacy may not become evident quickly, may require time to correct, and, much like excessive losses can affect adversely the Company's business, operating results and financial condition.

As indicated above, the Company manages its fixed-maturity investments with a view toward matching the maturities of those investments with the anticipated liquidity needs of its subsidiaries for the payment of claims and expenses. If a subsidiary suddenly experienced greater-than-anticipated liquidity needs for any reason, it could require an injection of funds that might not necessarily be available to meet its obligations at a point in time. Alternatively, invested securities may need to be sold at a loss and thus impact adversely both financial condition and operating results.

The Company's insurance businesses are subject to extensive governmental regulation under state laws in the U.S. and the laws of each of the few other jurisdictions outside the U.S. in which they operate. These regulations relate to such matters as licensing requirements, types of insurance products that may be sold, premium rates, marketing practices, capital and surplus requirements, investment limitations, underwriting limitations, dividend payment limitations, transactions with affiliates, accounting practices, taxation and other matters. While most of the regulation is at the state level in the U.S., the federal government has increasingly expressed an interest in regulating the insurance business and has injected itself through the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act, the Patriot Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and

Apart from the rising costs of compliance, as existing regulations evolve through administrative and court interpretations, and as new regulations are adopted, there is no basis for predicting the impact that changes could have on the Company's businesses in the future. The impact could have a material adverse effect on the manner in which the company's subsidiaries do business, and or their ability to compete, to continue offering their existing products, or to pursue acquisitions and growth opportunities.

Each of the Company's lines of continuing insurance business is highly competitive and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Moreover, existing competitors and the capital markets have from time to time brought an influx of capital and newly-organized entrants into the industry, and changes in laws have enabled financial institutions, like banks

The competitive positions of insurance companies in general have come to depend increasingly on independent ratings of their financial strength and claims-paying ability. The rating agencies base their ratings on criteria they establish regarding an insurer's financial strength, operating performance, strategic position and ability to meet its obligations to policyholders. A significant downgrade in the ratings of any of the Company's major policy-issuing subsidiaries could have a materially adverse effect on their ability to compete for new business and retain existing business and, as a result, their operating results and financial condition.

The Company's subsidiaries have significant business relationships with financial institutions, particularly national banks. The subsidiaries are the beneficiaries of a considerable amount of security in the form of letters of credit and trusteed funds and investments which they hold as collateral securing the obligations of insureds and certain reinsurers. Some of the banks themselves have subsidiaries that reinsure the Company's business. Other banks are depositories holding large sums of money in escrow accounts established by the Company's title subsidiaries. There is thus a risk of concentrated financial exposures in one or more such banking institutions. If any of these institutions fail or are unable to honor their credit obligations, or if escrowed funds become lost or tied up due to the failure of a bank, the result could have a materially adverse effect on the Company's business, results of operations and financial condition.

The Company has established processes and procedures designed to identify, measure, analyze, monitor and report the types of risk the Company and its subsidiaries are subject to, including operational risk, market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, investment risk, interest rate risk, legal risk and reputational risk, among others. There are inherent limitations in such processes and procedures, and as a result, there is always the possibility that the Company has not adequately identified or anticipated risks. Such inadequacies could lead to future unexpected losses or expenses.

The Company and certain of its subsidiaries are from time to time named defendants or otherwise involved in various legal proceedings, including class actions and other litigation or arbitration proceedings with third parties, as well as proceedings by regulatory agencies. Any of these actions could result in judgments, settlements, fines or penalties which could materially adversely affect the Company's or its subsidiaries' business, financial condition or results of operations.

The Company has from time to time grown its business by acquisition and is likely to consider acquisitions in the future. There can never be any assurance that such acquisitions will have positive accretive results. Integration of an acquired business can be costly and complex. The integration of acquisitions already completed, as well as any that may be completed in the future could result in significant unanticipated costs or losses of one sort or another.

The Company's and its subsidiaries' employees at all levels are among their most important assets. Should the Company and its subsidiaries for any reason be unable to attract and retain qualified employees, their performance could be materially adversely affected.

In addition to the foregoing, the following are risk factors that are particular to each of the Company's three major business segments.

While the Company limits the property exposures it assumes, the casualty or liability insurance it underwrites creates an exposure to claims arising out of catastrophes. The two principal catastrophe exposures are earthquakes and acts of terrorism in areas where there are large concentrations of employees of an insured employer or other individuals who

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, the reinsurance industry eliminated coverage from substantially all reinsurance contracts for claims arising from acts of terrorism. As discussed elsewhere in this report, the U.S. Congress subsequently passed TRIA, TRIREA, and TRIPRA legislation that required primary insurers to offer coverage for certified acts of terrorism under most commercial property and casualty insurance policies. Although these programs established a temporary federal reinsurance program through December 31, 2020, primary insurers like the Company's general insurance subsidiaries retain significant exposure for terrorist act-related losses.

Coverage for general liability is considered long-tailed coverage. Written in most cases on an "occurrence" basis, it often takes longer for covered claims to be reported and become known, adjusted and settled than it does for property claims, for example, which are generally considered short-tailed. The extremely long-tailed aspect of such claims as pollution, asbestos, silicosis, manganism (welding rod fume exposure), black lung, lead paint and other toxic tort claims, coupled with uncertain and sometimes variable judicial rulings on coverage and policy allocation issues along with the possibility of legislative actions, makes reserving for these exposures highly uncertain. While the Company believes that it has reasonably estimated its liabilities for such exposures to date, and that its exposures are relatively modest, there is a risk of materially adverse developments in both known and as-yet-unknown claims.

Workers' compensation coverage is the largest line of insurance written by the Company's insurance subsidiaries. The frequency and severity of claims, and the adequacy of reserves for workers' compensation claims and expenses can all be significantly influenced by such risk factors as future wage inflation in states that index benefits, the speed with which injured employees are able to return to work in some capacity, the cost and rate of inflation in medical treatments, the types of medical procedures and treatments, the cost of prescription medications, the frequency with which closed claims reopen for additional or related medical issues, the mortality of injured workers with lifetime benefits and medical treatments, the use of health insurance to cover some of the expenses, the assumption of some of the expenses by states' second injury funds, the use of cost containment practices like preferred provider networks, and the opportunities to recover against third parties through subrogation. Adverse developments in any of these factors, if significant, could have a materially adverse effect on the Company's operating results and financial condition.

Reinsurance is a contractual arrangement whereby one insurer (the reinsurer) assumes some or all of the risk exposure written by another insurer (the reinsured). The Company depends on reinsurance to manage its risks both in terms of the amount of coverage it is able to write, the amount it is able to retain for its own account, and the price at which it is able to write it. The availability of reinsurance and its price, however, are generally determined in the reinsurance market by conditions beyond the Company's control.

Reinsurance does not relieve the reinsured company of its primary liability to its insureds in the event of a loss. It merely reimburses the reinsured company. The ability and willingness of reinsurers to honor their counterparty obligations to the Company represent credit risks. Old Republic has no practical basis for evaluating the risks assumed by a reinsurer from sources other than its own. Those risks could result in a significant deterioration of the reinsurer's ability to honor its obligations to the Company, thereby exacerbating credit risk exposure.

Old Republic addresses these risks by limiting its reinsurance placements to those reinsurers it considers the best credit risks. In recent years, however, there has been an ever decreasing number of reinsurers so considered. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to find the desired or even adequate amounts of reinsurance at favorable rates from acceptable reinsurers in the future. If unable to do so, the Company would be forced to reduce the volume of business it writes or retain increased amounts of liability exposure. Because of the declining number of acceptable reinsurers, there is a risk that too much reinsurance risk may become concentrated in too few reinsurers. These concentrations of risk could adversely affect the Company's business, results of operations, and financial condition.

A significant amount of Old Republic's liability and workers' compensation business, particularly for large commercial insureds, is written on the basis of risk sharing underwriting methods utilizing large deductibles, captive insurance risk retentions, or other arrangements whereby the insureds effectively retain and fund varying and at times significant amounts of their losses. Their financial strength and ability to pay are carefully evaluated as part of the underwriting process and monitored periodically thereafter, and their retained exposures are estimated and collateralized based on pertinent credit analysis and evaluation. Because the Company is primarily liable for losses incurred under its policies, the possible failure or inability of insureds to honor their retained liability represents a credit risk. Any subsequently developing shortage in the amount of collateral held would also be a risk, as would the failure or inability of a bank to honor a draw on a collateral trust or a letter of credit issued as collateral. These risk factors could have a materially adverse impact on the Company's results of operations and financial condition.

In nearly all states, licensed property and casualty insurers are required to participate in guaranty funds through assessments covering a portion of insurance claims against impaired or insolvent property and casualty insurers. Any increase in the number or size of impaired companies would likely result in an increase in the Company's share of such assessments.

Many states have established second injury funds that compensate injured employees for aggravation of prior injuries or conditions. These second injury funds are funded by assessments or premium surcharges.

Residual market or pooling arrangements exist in many states to provide various types of insurance coverage to those that are otherwise unable to find private insurers willing to insure them. All licensed property and casualty insurers writing such coverage voluntarily are required to participate in these residual market or pooling mechanisms.

A material increase in any of these assessments or charges could adversely affect the Company's results of operations and financial condition.

Most of the lines of insurance coverages underwritten by the Company are subject to prior regulatory approval of premium rates in a majority of the states. The process of securing regulatory approval can be time consuming and can impair the Company's ability to effect necessary rate increases in an expeditious manner. Furthermore, there is a risk that the regulators will not approve a requested increase, particularly in regard to workers' compensation insurance with respect to which rate increases often confront strong opposition from local business, organized labor, and political interests.

The tightening and collapse of credit markets, the collapse of the housing market, the general decline in the value of real property, the rise in unemployment, and the uncertainty and negative trends in general economic conditions that began in 2006 created a difficult operating environment for the Company's title insurance subsidiaries. While these conditions have since improved to varying degrees, any return of these recessionary conditions could have a materially adverse effect on these subsidiaries' financial condition and results of operation over the near and longer terms. The impact of these conditions was somewhat mitigated both by lower mortgage interest rates, which lead to an increase in mortgage refinancings and by a rise in the number of agents producing business for the Companies' title insurance subsidiaries. Future rises in mortgage interest rates, however, could result in a decline in refinancing activity which, in turn, may result in reduced title insurance business.

Regulation is also a risk factor for title insurers. The title insurance industry has recently been, and continues to be, under regulatory scrutiny in a number of states with respect to pricing practices, and alleged RESPA violations and

From time to time the Company's title insurance subsidiaries are named as defendants or are otherwise involved in various legal proceedings, including class actions and other litigated disputes with third parties, and proceedings or civil investigations brought by regulatory agencies. Any resulting adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties or other rulings could have, directly or indirectly, a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations or business reputation. Litigation or other disputes between the Company’s mortgage insurance subsidiaries and insured mortgage lenders could also have an adverse effect on the Company’s title insurance subsidiaries if, as a result, the lenders threatened to or discontinued accepting title insurance or title related services from the Company’s title insurers.

Inadequate title searches are among the risk factors faced by the entire industry. When the search is less than thorough or complete, title defects can go undetected and claims result.

Fraud is also a risk factor for all title companies -- sometimes in the form of an agent's or an employee's defalcation of escrowed funds, sometimes in the form of fraudulently issued title insurance policies.

The material increases in mortgage guaranty insurance claims and loss payments that began in 2007 gradually depleted RMIC's statutory capital base and forced it to discontinue writing new business in 2011. The insurance laws of 16 jurisdictions, including RMICRMIC's and RMICNC’sRMGIC’s domiciliary state of North Carolina, require a mortgage insurer to maintain a minimum amount of statutory capital relative to risk in force (or a similar measure) in order to continue to write new business. The formulations currently allow for a maximum risk-to-capital ratio of 25 to 1, or alternatively stated, a “minimum policyholder position” (“MPP”) of one-twenty-fifth of the total risk in force. The failure to maintain the prescribed minimum capital level in a particular state generally requires a mortgage insurer to immediately stop writing new business until it reestablishes the required level of capital or receives a waiver of the requirement from a state's insurance regulatory authority. RMIC breached the minimum capital requirement during the third quarter of 2010. RMIC had previously requested and, subsequently received waivers or forbearance of the minimum policyholder position requirements from the regulatory authorities in substantially all affected states. Following several brief extensions, the waiver from its domiciliary state of North Carolina expired on August 31, 2011, and RMIC and its sister company RMICNC, discontinued writing new business in all states and limited themselves to servicing the run-off of their existing business. TheyRMGIC were placed under administrative supervision by the North Carolina Department of Insurance ("NCDOI") the following yearin 2012 and ultimately ordered to defer the payment of 40% of all settled claims as a deferred payment obligation ("DPO").

On July 1, 2014, the NCDOI issued a Final Order approving an Amended and Restated Corrective Plan (the "Amended Plan") submitted jointly on April 16, 2014, by RMIC and RMICNC.RMGIC. Under the Amended Plan, RMIC and RMICNCRMGIC were authorized to pay 100% of their DPOs accrued as of June 30, 2014, and to settle all subsequent valid claims entirely in cash, without establishing any DPOs. In anticipation of receiving this Final Order, ORI invested $125.0 million in cash and securities toin RMIC in June 2014. In mid-July 2014, in furtherance of the Final Order, RMIC and RMICNCRMGIC processed payments of their accumulated DPO balances of approximately $657.0 million relating to fully settled claims charged to periods extending between January 19, 2012 and June 30, 2014. Both subsidiaries remainThe NCDOI subsequently terminated the summary orders which placed RMIC and RMGIC under theadministrative supervision of the NCDOIeffective December 8, 2017, thereby releasing both companies from its supervision as they continue to operate in run-off mode. The approval of the Amended Plan notwithstanding, the NCDOI retains its regulatory supervisory powers to review and amend the terms of the Amended Plan in the future as circumstances may warrant.were eminently solvent.

RMIC has continually evaluated the potential long-term underwriting performance of the run-off book of business based on various modeling techniques. The resulting models take into account actual premium and paid claim experience of prior periods, together with a large number of assumptions and judgments about future outcomes that are highly sensitive to a wide range of estimates. Many of these estimates and underlying assumptions relate to matters over which the Company has no control, including: 1) The conflicted interests, as well as the varying mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices of a large number of insured lending institutions; 2) General economic and industry-specific trends and events; and 3) The evolving or future social and economic policies of the U.S. Government vis-à-vis such critical sectors as the banking, mortgage lending, and housing industries, as well as its policies for resolving the insolvencies and assigning a possible future role to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Mortgage insurers such as the Company issue long duration, guaranteed renewable policies covering multi-year periods during which exposure to loss exists. Loss exposures typically manifest themselves as recurring losses usually concentrated between the second and fifth year following issuance of any one year's new policies. Additionally, the

The Company's mortgage guaranty premiums stem principally from monthly installment policies. Substantially all suchSuch premiums are generally written and earned in the month coverage is effective. Recognition of claim costs, however, occurs only after an insured mortgage loan has missed two or more consecutive monthly payments. Accordingly, GAAP revenue recognition is not appropriately matched to the risk exposure and the consequent recognition of both normal and, most significantly,

The Company establishes reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses for its mortgage and consumer credit indemnity insurance coverages based upon loans reported to be in default, as well as estimates of those in default but not yet reported. The reserves are best estimates by management and take into consideration its judgments and assumptions regarding the housing and mortgage markets, unemployment rates and economic trends in general. During the ongoing sustained economic downturn, loss reserve estimates have become subject to even greater uncertainty and volatility. The rate and severity of actual losses could prove to be greater than expected and require the Company to effect substantial increases in its loss reserves. Depending upon the magnitude, such increases could have a materially adverse impact on the Company's mortgage insurance and consumer credit indemnity insurance run-off business and the Company's consolidated results of operations and financial condition. There can be no assurance that the actual losses for the mortgage insurance and consumer credit indemnity coverages will not be materially greater than previously established loss reserves.

The Company may rescind its mortgage guaranty and consumer credit indemnity coverages whenever it finds evidence that a loan did not qualify for insurance coverage in the first instance, or that a material misrepresentation had been made in the loan application by the borrower, the lender, and/or its agent. Between 2008 and 2010 the number and rate of coverage rescissions and claim denials rose dramatically. As a result, rescissions reduced materially the percentage of approved claims, and loss reserving estimates have reflected assumptions about the levels of rescission activity. Since 2010 the number and rate of rescissions and denials has continued to decline.

Certain policyholders who have experienced high rates of coverage rescission and instituted litigation or arbitration proceedings challenging the Company's position on rescissions. Whether the current rescission rates continue or decline, it is possible that further litigation or arbitral challenges to the Company's rescissions of coverage could arise. If any of the challenges are successful, they could have a materially adverse effect on the Company's mortgage guaranty and/or consumer credit indemnity run-off insurance business and consolidated operating results and financial position. Even if such challenges should prove unsuccessful, the costs of addressing them through litigation could be substantial.