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Text: We'll begin today with a brief strategic overview from Randy, Mike will review the title business, Chris will review F&G, and Tony will finish with a review of the financial highlights.
There is a significant uncertainty about the duration and extent of the impact of this pandemic.
Such statements are based on expectations as to future financial and operating results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected.
It will also be available through phone replay beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time today until March 4.
Our primary focus has been and continues to be the health and well-being of our employees while maintaining our business continuity and ensuring the needs of our customers are consistently met.
For the fourth quarter, we generated record adjusted pre-tax title earnings of $624 million compared with $355 million in the year ago quarter and a record 22.7% adjusted pre-tax title margin compared with 16.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019.
While we are very pleased with our strong financial results, we also made significant headway on our technology investments in our title business, having recently announced both the inHere platform and subsequently Close inHere.
Mike will go into more detail on this, but as we continue to drive the innovation of the title industry, we believe our significant national footprint will prove to be a real plus as further adoption of our client-facing and title automation technology expands our competitive advantage.
Turning to our acquisition of FGL Holdings.
F&G continues to execute on its growth strategy, generating retail sales growth of over 40% in the fourth quarter.
The credit rating upgrade that F&G has enjoyed as a result of the acquisition by FNF has opened additional large market opportunities.
F&G is gaining momentum in the newly entered bank and broker-dealer channel, generating $500 million of channel sales since our launch on July 1.
Additional distribution channels, including institutional products, will continue to be a strategic area of focus for F&G in 2021, including the pension risk transfer marketing.
Chris will go into more detail on F&G's fourth quarter results shortly.
Looking forward, our priority continues to be focused on long-term value creation for our shareholders through our diligent capital allocation program, while also remaining focused on investing in our business to sustain growth.
Last week, we announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.36 per share, reflecting the fourth quarter dividend increase of 9%.
Additionally, in October, we announced a 12-month $500 million share repurchase target.
And since that announcement, we have repurchased 3.8 million shares for approximately $140 million.
And for 2020 in total, we repurchased 7.5 million shares for approximately $244 million.
As Randy mentioned, the fourth quarter was a record for adjusted pre-tax title earnings and adjusted pre-tax title margin, as we continue to benefit from low interest rates driving sustained momentum in refinance volumes, strong purchase demand and the continued rebound in commercial real estate activity.
For the fourth quarter, we generated adjusted pre-tax title earnings of $624 million, a 76% increase over the fourth quarter of 2019.
Our adjusted pre-tax title margin was 22.7%, a 640 basis point increase over the prior year quarter.
We had a 40% increase in direct orders closed -- 48% increase in direct orders closed, driven by an 86% increase in daily refinance orders closed, an 18% increase in daily purchase orders closed and a 1% increase in total commercial orders closed.
Total commercial revenue was $322 million compared with the year ago quarter of $321 million due to the 1% increase in closed orders.
Total commercial fee per file was flat compared to the year ago quarter.
For the fourth quarter, total orders opened averaged 11,600 per day, with October at 11,800 and November at 11,900 in December at 11,000.
For January, total orders opened were over 13,400 per day and through the first three weeks of February were over 13,500 per day as we continue to see strong demand and purchase activity and continued strength in the refinance market.
Daily purchase orders opened were up 14% in the quarter versus the prior year.
For January, daily purchase orders opened were up 15% and versus the prior year.
And through the first three weeks of February were up 4% versus the prior year.
Refinance orders opened increased by 90% on a daily basis versus the fourth quarter of 2019.
For January, daily refinance orders opened were up 96% versus the prior year and, through the first three weeks of February, were up 40% versus the prior year.
Lastly, total commercial orders opened increased by 3% over the fourth quarter of 2019.
Commercial opened orders per day remained strong, with the fourth quarter flat sequentially from the third quarter.
For January, total commercial orders opened per day were up 5% over January 2020 and were up 2% through the first three weeks of February versus the prior year.
We remain encouraged by the order volumes we have seen in the last two quarters as open orders have rebounded across multiple geographies to the levels we saw before the outbreak of the pandemic.
As Randy briefly touched on, we made significant progress on our technology investments.
We have a long history of investing in and developing technology from title automation to data collection and order processing.
Our inHere Platform is focused on transforming the real estate transaction experience by improving the safety and simplicity needed to start and track the progress of a real estate transaction as well as notarizing and signing the necessary documents.
inHere works with our network of local trusted escrow and settlement professionals nationwide, leveraging the industry's largest footprint and the latest cloud-based technology.
In January, we launched Close inHere, our guided digital closing experience for consumers finalizing their real estate transactions.
For many, the closing of the transaction is the most overwhelming part of the process of buying or refinancing a home.
Close inHere based upon digital tools instead of the traditional paper allows our staff of closing professionals to deliver a truly digital intelligent and interactive guided approach to closing.
Today, the entire suite of inHere solutions are currently undergoing deployment throughout FNS family of companies, and this will continue throughout 2021.
To conclude, we are committed to driving innovation in the title industry and to investing in technology for the benefit of all of our customers, employees and shareholders.
The fourth quarter capped off another record year of growth at F&G.
Building on the momentum we saw in the third quarter, we achieved record sales of fixed indexed annuities, or FIAs in the fourth quarter, while maintaining our pricing discipline.
Total retail annuity sales of $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter were up 42% from the prior year, and core FIA sales were $947 million, up 19% from the prior year.
We continue to see significant growth ahead of us as we take further market share in our primary independent agent channel and gain traction in new channels.
As we previously shared, post the FNF acquisition, we successfully launched into the financial institutions channel in July.
Since then, we've generated over $500 million in new annuity sales in the channel to date, including $322 million in the fourth quarter alone.
These phenomenal sales results have surpassed our original expectations, and we continue to get very positive feedback from our new partners on our quality of service as well.
With these solid sales results, we grew average assets under management, or AAUM, to $28 billion, driven by approximately $900 million of net new business flows in the fourth quarter.
Now despite the decline in interest rates this year, our spread results have remained in line with historical trends, demonstrating our continued pricing discipline and active in-force management.
Total product net investment spread was 255 basis points in the fourth quarter, and FIA net investment spread was 302 basis points.
Adjusted net earnings for the fourth quarter were $128 million.
Strong earnings were driven by steady spread results and a favorable tax benefit recognized following the FNF acquisition.
Net favorable items in the period were $68 million, primarily as a result of this tax benefit.
Adjusted net earnings, excluding notable items, were $60 million, down from $64 million in the third quarter due to $4 million of higher strategic spend due to our faster-than-expected launch into new channels.
Next, I want to quickly touch on the topic of mortality, which many in the life and annuity industry are monitoring in the current pandemic.
In contrast to many of our peers, F&G has minimal exposure to traditional life products at only 6% of GAAP reserves after reinsurance.
In addition, mortality in our in-force life block has been within our pricing expectations despite the pandemic environment.
Most importantly, our investment portfolio continues to perform well, and credit impairments for the year were less than our product pricing assumptions.
In addition, as of year-end, the portfolio's net unrealized gain position grew to $2 billion, a sharp reversal from the net unrealized loss position experienced early in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Moreover, we came into 2020 with a strong balance sheet, which allowed us to effectively weather the volatility and economic impacts of the pandemic, while still growing the business.
As expected, we ended the year with an estimated RBC ratio of over 400% for our primary insurance operating subsidiary.
We also completed the sale of our offshore third-party reinsurance business, F&G Re, to Aspida Holdings in December.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund future growth opportunities for F&G.
And we also entered into a mutually beneficial flow reinsurance agreement with Aspida on our MYGA products beginning in the first quarter of 2021.
So in summary, our sales are growing nicely as we diversify into multiple channels following the FNF acquisition.
We continue to consistently generate stable net investment spread and earnings, and we remain confident in our investment portfolio.
We generated approximately $3.8 billion in total revenue in the fourth quarter, with the title segment producing approximately $3 billion, F&G producing $667 million and the corporate segment generating $60 million.
Fourth quarter net earnings were $801 million, which includes net recognized gains of $573 million versus net recognized gains of $131 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The net recognized gains in each period are primarily due to mark-to-market accounting treatment of equity and preferred stock securities, whether the securities were disposed of in the quarter or continued to be held in our investment portfolio.
Excluding net recognized gains, our total revenue was $3.2 billion as compared with $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations were $588 million or $2.01 per diluted share.
The title segment contributed $498 million.
F&G contributed $128 million, and the corporate and other segment had an adjusted net loss of $38 million.
Excluding net recognized gains of $290 million, our title segment generated $2.8 billion in total revenue for the fourth quarter compared with $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Direct premiums increased by 29% versus the fourth quarter of 2019.
Agency revenue grew by 33%, and escrow title-related and other fees increased by 21% versus the prior year.
Personnel costs increased by 15%, and other operating expenses decreased by 7%.
All in, the title business generated a 22.7% adjusted pre-tax title margin, representing a 640 basis point increase versus the fourth quarter of 2019.
Interest income in the title and corporate segments of $32 million declined $23 million as compared with the prior year quarter due to the reduction of short-term interest rates on our corporate cash balances and our 1031 exchange business.
FNF debt outstanding was $2.7 billion on December 31 for a debt-to-total capital ratio of 24.2%.
Our title claims paid of $54 million were $33 million lower than our provision rate of $87 million for the fourth quarter.
The carried title reserve for claim losses is currently $62 million or 4.1% above the actuary central estimate.
We continued to provide for title claims at 4.5% of total title premiums.
Finally, our title and corporate investment portfolio totaled $5.7 billion at December 31.
Included in the $5.7 billion are fixed maturity and preferred securities of $2.5 billion with an average duration of three years and an average rating of A2, equity securities of $900 million, short-term and other investments of $500 million and cash of $1.8 billion.
We ended the quarter with just under $1 billion in cash and short-term liquid investments at the holding company level.

user
compname reports q4 revenue $3.8 bln.
compname reports fourth quarter 2020 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.74 and adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.01.
compname reports fourth quarter 2020 pre-tax title margin of 29.4% and adjusted pre-tax title margin of 22.7%.
q4 adjusted earnings per share $2.01 from continuing operations.
q4 revenue $3.8 billion versus $2.4 billion.

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