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Alternative investment An alternative investment (also called an alternative asset) is an investment in any asset class excluding stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles (art, wine, antiques, cars, coins, musical instruments, or stamps) and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and tax receivable agreements.
Comparison of DNS blacklists The following table lists technical information for assumed reputable DNS blacklists used for blocking spam.\n\n\n== Notes ==\n"Collateral listings"—Deliberately listing non-offending IP addresses, in order to coerce ISPs to take action against spammers under their control.
Anthropogenic hazard Anthropogenic hazards are hazards caused by human action or inaction. They are contrasted with natural hazards.
Good Environmental Status Good Environmental Status is a qualitative description of the state of the seas that the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires its Member States to achieve or maintain by the year 2020. \nGood Environmental Status is described by 11 Descriptors:\n\nDescriptor 1.
Nicotine Nicotine is a naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and Duboisia hopwoodii) and is widely used recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As a pharmaceutical drug, it is used for smoking cessation to relieve withdrawal symptoms.
Financial condition report In accounting, a financial condition report (FCR) is a report on the solvency condition of an insurance company that takes into account both the current financial status, as reflected in the balance sheet, and an assessment of the ability of the company to survive future risk scenarios. Risk assessment in an FCR involves dynamic solvency testing, a type of dynamic financial analysis that simulates management response to risk scenarios, to test whether a company could remain solvent in the face of deteriorating economic conditions or major disasters.
Financial ratio A financial ratio or accounting ratio is a relative magnitude of two selected numerical values taken from an enterprise's financial statements. Often used in accounting, there are many standard ratios used to try to evaluate the overall financial condition of a corporation or other organization.
Financial analysis Financial analysis (also referred to as financial statement analysis or accounting analysis or Analysis of finance) refers to an assessment of the viability, stability, and profitability of a business, sub-business or project. \nIt is performed by professionals who prepare reports using ratios and other techniques, that make use of information taken from financial statements and other reports.
Special Activities Center The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert operations and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015.
Operations research Operations research (British English: operational research), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of advanced analytical methods to improve decision-making. It is sometimes considered to be a subfield of mathematical sciences.
Surgery Surgery is a medical or dental specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pathological condition such as a disease or injury, to help improve bodily function, appearance, or to repair unwanted ruptured areas.\nThe act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply "surgery".
Insurance Securitization is the financial practice of pooling various types of contractual debt such as residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto loans or credit card debt obligations (or other non-debt assets which generate receivables) and selling their related cash flows to third party investors as securities, which may be described as bonds, pass-through securities, or collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Investors are repaid from the principal and interest cash flows collected from the underlying debt and redistributed through the capital structure of the new financing.
Fidelity National Financial Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), a Fortune 500 company, is a provider of title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries.
Title search In real estate business and law, a title search or property title search is the process of examining public records and retrieving documents on the history of a piece of real property to determine and confirm property's legal ownership, and find out what claims or liens are on the property. A title search is also performed when an owner wishes to sell mortgage property and the bank requires the owner to insure this transaction.
Mergers and acquisitions In corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred or consolidated with other entities. As an aspect of strategic management, M&A can allow enterprises to grow or downsize, and change the nature of their business or competitive position.
Life Insurance Corporation Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian statutory insurance and investment corporation headquartered in the city of Mumbai, India. It is under the ownership of Government of India.
Monopolistic competition Monopolistic competition is a type of imperfect competition such that there are many producers competing against each other, but selling products that are differentiated from one another (e.g. by branding or quality) and hence are not perfect substitutes.
Cournot competition Cournot competition is an economic model used to describe an industry structure in which companies compete on the amount of output they will produce, which they decide on independently of each other and at the same time. It is named after Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801–1877) who was inspired by observing competition in a spring water duopoly.
Cincinnati Financial Cincinnati Financial Corporation offers property and casualty insurance, its main business, through The Cincinnati Insurance Company, The Cincinnati Indemnity Company and The Cincinnati Casualty Company. The company has 1.01% of the domestic property and casualty insurance premiums, which ranks it as the 20th largest insurance company by market share in the U.S.The Cincinnati Insurance Company was founded in 1950 by four agents, including brothers John Jack Schiff and Robert Cleveland Schiff.The Cincinnati Life Insurance Company markets life and disability income insurance and annuities.
Alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested, untestable or proven ineffective. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings that describe various ways alternative medicine is combined with mainstream medicine.
Cross product In mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here \n \n \n \n E\n \n \n {\displaystyle E}\n ), and is denoted by the symbol \n \n \n \n ×\n \n \n {\displaystyle \times }\n . Given two linearly independent vectors a and b, the cross product, a × b (read "a cross b"), is a vector that is perpendicular to both a and b, and thus normal to the plane containing them.
Technology Technology is the result of accumulated knowledge and application of skills, methods, and processes used in industrial production and scientific research. Technology is embedded in the operation of all machines, with or without detailed knowledge of their function, for the intended purpose of an organization.
Technological singularity The technological singularity—or simply the singularity—is a hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable changes to human civilization. According to the most popular version of the singularity hypothesis, called intelligence explosion, an upgradable intelligent agent will eventually enter a "runaway reaction" of self-improvement cycles, each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing an "explosion" in intelligence and resulting in a powerful superintelligence that qualitatively far surpasses all human intelligence.
Technologic Technology is the result of accumulated knowledge and application of skills, methods, and processes used in industrial production and scientific research. Technology is embedded in the operation of all machines, with or without detailed knowledge of their function, for the intended purpose of an organization.
Assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called funds under management, measures the total market value of all the financial assets which an individual or financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institution—or a decentralized network protocol controls, typically on behalf of a client. These funds may be managed for clients/users or for themselves in the case of a financial institution which has mutual funds or holds its own venture capital.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is a regulatory body under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance , Government of India and is tasked with regulating and licensing the insurance and re-insurance industries in India. It was constituted by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999, an Act of Parliament passed by the Government of India.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) was created in 2002 from the merger of two other entities to provide both windstorm coverage and general property insurance for home-owners who could not obtain insurance elsewhere. It was established by the Florida Legislature in Chapter 627.351(6) Florida Statutes as a not-for-profit insurer of last resort, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, and quickly became the largest insurer in the state.
Radio regulation Radio regulation refers to the regulation and licensing of radio in international law, by individual governments, and by municipalities.\n\n\n== International regulation ==\nThe International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is responsible for issues that concern information and communication technologies.
Formula One regulations The numerous Formula One regulations, made and enforced by the FIA and later the FISA, have changed dramatically since the first Formula One World Championship in 1950. This article covers the current state of F1 technical and sporting regulations, as well as the history of the technical regulations since 1950.
Regulation of therapeutic goods The regulation of therapeutic goods, defined as drugs and therapeutic devices, varies by jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the United States, they are regulated at the national level by a single agency.
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations The New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) contains New York state rules and regulations. The NYCRR is officially compiled by the New York State Department of State's Division of Administrative Rules.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC also known as GTCO PLC is a multinational financial services group, that offers retail and investment banking, pension management, asset management and payments services, headquartered in Victoria Island, Lagos. GTCO Plc was created in July 2021 following the corporate reorganization of Guaranty Trust Bank PLC into a Holding Company GTCO Plc's reorganisation means it will now offer more services beyond banking; with a payments business being top of mind for the group.
Property and casualty insurance guaranty funds Property and casualty insurance guaranty funds are part of the property and casualty guaranty fund system, a non-profit, state-based, statutorily-created insurance consumer protection system that protects policyholders if an insurer goes bankrupt.Property and casualty guaranty funds step in to pay the covered claims (which would otherwise go partially or entirely unpaid) of policyholders of an insolvent insurer at levels determined by state law. This ensures policyholders and claimants at greatest risk are protected from the most severe consequences of an insurer's failure.Colorado's guaranty fund statute summarizes the purpose of guaranty funds.
Prudential (Guaranty) Building The Guaranty Building, formerly called the Prudential Building, is an early skyscraper in Buffalo, New York. It was designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler and completed in 1896.
First Guaranty Bank First Guaranty Bank (FGB) is a bank based in Hammond, Louisiana. It is the primary subsidiary of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc., a bank holding company.
Guaranty Bank & Trust Guaranty Bank & Trust, a subsidiary of Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. founded in 1913, is a Texas-based commercial bank that offers personal and business banking services.Tyson Abston serves as President, CEO and chairman of both Guaranty Bank & Trust and Guaranty Bancshares.Guaranty Bank & Trust has locations in Bryan, Paris, Texarkana, Sulphur Springs, Bogata, Commerce, Pittsburg, New Boston, Mount Pleasant, Mount Vernon, Longview, Hallsville, College Station, Royse City, Denton, Houston, Conroe, Katy, Austin, Fort Worth, Rockwall and North Dallas.
Risk Factors
STEWART INFORMATION SERVICES CORP Item 1A Risk Factors You should consider the following risk factors, as well as the other information presented in this report and our other filings with the SEC, in evaluating our business and any investment in our business
These risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations
In that event, the trading price of our Common Stock could decline materially
- 4 - _________________________________________________________________ [60]Table of Contents If adverse changes in the levels of real estate activity occur, our revenues will decline
Our results of operations and financial condition are affected by changes in economic conditions, particularly mortgage interest rates
The demand for our title insurance and real estate information services depends in large part on the volume of residential and commercial real estate transactions
The volume of these transactions historically has been influenced by factors such as mortgage interest rates and the state of the overall economy
Typically, when interest rates are increasing or when the economy is experiencing a downturn, real estate activity declines
Increases in interest rates also may have an adverse impact on our bond portfolio and interest on our bank debt
We have benefited from a low mortgage interest rate environment and an increase in home prices in recent years
A reversal of these trends could adversely affect our revenues and earnings absent increases in market share, which cannot be assured
Competition in the title insurance industry affects our revenues
Competition in the title insurance industry is strong, particularly with respect to price, service and expertise
Larger commercial customers and mortgage originators also look to the size and financial strength of the title insurer
Although we are one of the leading title insurance underwriters based on market share, Fidelity National Financial, Inc, The First American Corporation and LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc
are each substantially larger than we are
Their holding companies have significantly greater capital than we do
Although we are not aware of any current initiatives to reduce regulatory barriers to entering our industry, any such reduction could result in new competitors, including financial institutions, entering the title insurance business
Competition among the major title insurance companies and any new entrants could lower our premium and fee revenues
From time to time, new entrants enter the marketplace with alternative products to traditional title insurance although many of these alternative products have been disallowed by title insurance regulators
These alternative products, if permitted by regulators, could adversely affect our revenues and earnings
Rapid technological changes in our industry require timely and cost-effective responses
Our earnings may be adversely affected if we are unable to effectively use technology to increase productivity
Technological advances occur rapidly in the title insurance industry as industry standards evolve and title insurers frequently introduce new products and services
We believe that our future success depends on our ability to anticipate technological changes and to offer products and services that meet evolving standards on a timely and cost-effective basis
Successful implementation and customer acceptance of our technology-based services, such as SureClose, will be crucial to our future profitability, as will increasing our productivity to recover our costs of developing our technology-based services
There is a risk that products and services introduced by our competitors, or advances in technology, could reduce the usefulness of our products and render them obsolete
Our claims experience may require us to increase our provision for title losses or to record additional reserves, either of which would adversely affect our earnings
Estimating future loss payments is difficult, and our assumptions about future losses may prove inaccurate
Claims are often complex and involve uncertainties as to the dollar amount and timing of individual payments
From time to time, we experience large losses from title policies that have been issued, which require us to increase our title loss reserves
These events are unpredictable and adversely affect our earnings
Our growth strategy will depend in part on our ability to acquire and integrate complementary businesses
As part of our overall growth strategy, we selectively acquire businesses and technologies that will allow us to enter new markets, provide services that we currently do not offer or advance our existing technology
Our ability to continue this acquisition strategy will depend on our success in identifying and consummating acquisitions of businesses on favorable economic terms
The success of this strategy will also depend on our ability to integrate the operations, products and personnel of any acquired business, retain key personnel, introduce new products and services on a timely basis and increase the strength of our existing management team
Although we actively seek acquisition candidates, we may be unsuccessful in these efforts
If we are unable to acquire appropriate businesses on favorable economic terms, or at all, or are unable to introduce new products and services successfully, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected
- 5 - _________________________________________________________________ [61]Table of Contents We rely on dividends from our insurance underwriting subsidiaries
Significant restrictions on dividends from our subsidiaries could adversely affect our ability to make acquisitions
We are a holding company and our principal assets are the securities of our insurance underwriting subsidiaries
Because of this structure, we depend primarily on receiving sufficient dividends from our insurance subsidiaries to meet our debt service obligations, to pay our operating expenses and to pay dividends
The insurance statutes and regulations of some states require us to maintain a minimum amount of statutory capital and restrict the amount of dividends that our insurance subsidiaries may pay to us
Guaranty is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart and the principal source of our cash flow
In this regard, the ability of Guaranty to pay dividends to us is dependent on the acknowledgement of the Texas Insurance Commissioner
At December 31, 2005, under Texas insurance law, Guaranty could pay dividends or make distributions of up to dlra97dtta6 million in 2006 without approval of the Texas Insurance Commissioner
However, Guaranty voluntarily restricts dividends to us so that it can grow its statutory surplus and maintain liquidity at competitive levels
A title insurer’s ability to pay claims can significantly affect the decision of lenders and other customers when buying a policy from a particular insurer
These restrictions could limit our ability to fund our acquisition program with cash and to fulfill other cash needs
Our insurance subsidiaries must comply with extensive government regulations
These regulations could adversely affect our ability to increase our revenues and operating results
State authorities regulate our insurance subsidiaries in the various states in which they do business
These regulations generally are intended for the protection of policyholders rather than shareholders
The nature and extent of these regulations vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but typically involve: • approval or setting of insurance premium rates; • standards of solvency and minimum amounts of statutory capital and surplus that must be maintained; • limitations on types and amounts of investments; • establishing reserves, including statutory premium reserves, for losses and loss adjustment expenses; • regulation of dividend payments and other transactions among affiliates; • prior approval of the acquisition and control of an insurance company or of any company controlling an insurance company; • licensing of insurers and agencies; • regulation of reinsurance; • restrictions on the size of risks that may be insured by a single company; • regulation of underwriting and marketing practices; • deposits of securities for the benefit of policyholders; • approval of policy forms; • methods of accounting; and • filing of annual and other reports with respect to financial condition and other matters
These regulations may impede or impose burdensome conditions on rate increases or other actions that we might want to take to enhance our operating results
Changes in these regulations may also adversely affect us
In addition, state regulatory examiners perform periodic examinations of insurance companies, which could result in increased compliance or litigation expenses
Litigation risks include claims by large classes of claimants
We are periodically involved in litigation arising in the ordinary course of business
In addition, we are currently, and have been in the past, subject to claims and litigation from large classes of claimants seeking substantial damages not arising in the ordinary course of business
Material pending legal proceedings, if any, not in the ordinary course of