If and when the U.S. Treasury Department decides to help life insurers through its Troubled Asset Relief Program, it won’t be assisting Genworth Financial.

The Richmond, Va.-based insurer was informed by the Treasury that its application to become a savings and loan was not reviewed in time for consideration by the Office of Thrift Supervision, Genworth officials announced April 9. The company added that the Treasury would not be extending the deadline for review, so it will abandon plans to acquire InterBank fsb of Maple Grove, Minn., thus making it ineligible to receive TARP funding.

Other companies, including Prudential Financial Inc. and Lincoln National Corp., have also applied for TARP funding and are expected to get federal relief.

Michael D. Frazier

In a statement, Genworth CEO Michael D. Frazier said the move was only one way the insurer considered “to provide another level of capital flexibility to address unforeseen events, and the nature of that program has continued to evolve.”

“Since Genworth’s initial CPP application in November, we have made significant progress enhancing our capital levels and flexibility using various strategies including reinsurance, refinements in targeted markets, dividend reductions, risk mitigation and expense streamlining. Genworth will continue to benefit from these actions,” Frazier said in a statement.

He added that Genworth remains “comfortable” with the target of a consolidated life insurance company risk-based capital ratio of 350% or above for the end of the year and that the insurer ended 2008 with about $2 billion of capital across the company.

“We continue to progress in our evaluation of additional strategic opportunities ranging from selected asset sales to other governmental programs that could provide additional financial flexibility, and we will pursue these where we believe it makes sense,” he said.