Arch Mortgage Insurance, formerly CMG Mortgage Insurance,celebrated its 20th anniversary of writing insurance for creditunion housing finance loans this year.

The firm opened its doors as CMG Mortgage Insurance in 1994through a partnership between CUNA Mutual Group and a subsidiary ofprivate mortgage insurer PMI.

The alliance flourished until 2011 when the Arizona Departmentof Insurance took the parent PMI company into receivership, acasualty of the housing finance crisis and Great Recession.

CMG MI said it was among the first to recognize the generallyhigher quality of credit union mortgage loans.

While neither CMG MI nor the PMI subsidiary that owned the firmwere ever placed in receivership or were directly involved in theresolution of PMI's bankruptcy, the legal tangle still meant acourt had to approve of the company's sale to the U.S. subsidiaryof Arch Capital Group Ltd., a Bermuda-based multinational financialfirm.

With the court's approval, Arch Capital purchased CMG MI for roughly $300 million in early 2013.

Since then, the firm kept CMG MI's focus on credit unions andcredit union mortgage loans, maintaining familiar staff andprocedures and endeavoring to present a seamless transition to itscustomers, according to company executives who attended theAmerican Credit Union Mortgage Association's annualconference in Las Vegas in mid-September.

“We're proud to say we pioneered the credit union space formortgage insurance,” Richard Izen, EVP of sales and marketing atArch Mortgage Insurance, said. “Credit unions recognized the valuewe brought to their mortgage business and made us the leader fortwo decades. In 2014, we have a new name but our commitmentto the credit union movement is unchanged.”

Izen said Arch Mortgage Insurance will soon roll out contractunderwriting services.