FORM 3

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

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(Print or Type Responses)

1. Name and Address of Reporting Person *   GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC 2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year) 10/30-04:00/2013 3. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol Essent Group Ltd. [ESNT] (Last) (First) (Middle) 200 WEST STREET 4. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable) _____ Director _____ 10% Owner _____ Officer (give title below) _____ Other (specify below) 5. If Amendment, Date Original Filed(Month/Day/Year) (Street) NEW YORK, NY 10282 6. Individual or Joint/Group Filing(Check Applicable Line) _X_ Form filed by One Reporting Person ___ Form filed by More than One Reporting Person (City) (State) (Zip) Table I - Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned

1.Title of Security (Instr. 4) 2. Amount of Securities Beneficially Owned (Instr. 4) 3. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5) 4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5) Common Shares 7,548,863 I See footnotes (1) (2) (3)

Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.			SEC 1473 (7-02)
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Table II - Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

1. Title of Derivative Security (Instr. 4)	2. Date Exercisable and Expiration Date (Month/Day/Year)		3. Title and Amount of Securities Underlying Derivative Security (Instr. 4)		4. Conversion or Exercise Price of Derivative Security	5. Ownership Form of Derivative Security: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5)	6. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5)
	Date Exercisable	Expiration Date	Title	Amount or Number of Shares

Reporting Owners

Reporting Owner Name / Address	Relationships
	Director	10% Owner	Officer	Other
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC 200 WEST STREET NEW YORK, NY 10282	Â	Â	Â	Â

Signatures

/s/ Yvette Kosic, Attorney-in-fact		10/30-04:00/2013
**Signature of Reporting Person		Date

Explanation of Responses:

*	If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 5(b)(v).
**	Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
(1)	This statement is being filed by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ("GS Group" or the "Reporting Person"). The Reporting Person disclaims beneficial ownership of the securities reported herein except to the extent of its pecuniary interest therein, if any, and this statement shall not be deemed an admission that the Reporting Person is the beneficial owner of, or has any pecuniary interest in, such securities for purposes of Section 16 of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or for any other purpose.
(2)	GS Group may be deemed to beneficially own directly, in the aggregate,7,548,863 shares of common stock, par value $0.015 per share (the "Common Shares") of Essent Group Ltd.
(3)	Excludes an additional 7,548,863 of the Common Shares beneficially owned by Commonwealth Annuity and Life Reinsurance Company Limited ("Commonwealth"). The Reporting Person disclaims both any pecuniary interest in any such Common Shares (and the Reporting Person will not report any transactions by Commonwealth in the Common Shares) and beneficial ownership of any such Common Shares for purposes of the calculation of greater than 10% beneficial ownership.

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