Patrick McGee

Ted Nickel was named commissioner of the Wisconsin insurance office on Tuesday, replacing Sean Dilweg.

Despite the worst recession in seven decades, some counties’ finances are improving enough for Standard & Poor’s to expand their representation in the triple-A club.

Shares of MBIA Inc. jumped by nearly one-third in the last week as traders bet that the bond insurance holding company will win or settle a series of lawsuits.

In the municipal bond market, 2010 will be remembered as the year of the BAB. Thanks to a rush to issue Build America Bonds before the stimulus program expired on Dec. 31, volume in the final quarter was $132.5 billion, about one-third higher than the amounts issued in the previous three quarters.

Stagnant insurance laws that don’t allow for needed innovation are preventing a revival of the bond insurance industry, according to executives from the BondFactor Co. start-up.

Standard & Poor’s downgraded MBIA Inc. and its two principal bond insurer subsidiaries on Wednesday, citing new methodologies for assessing residential mortgage-backed securities.

Standard & Poor’s downgraded MBIA Inc. and its two principal bond insurer subsidiaries on Wednesday, citing new methodologies for assessing residential mortgage-backed securities.

Thanks to a last-minute rush of Build America Bond issuance, monthly taxable volume is on pace to exceed tax-exempt borrowing for the first time ever in the municipal market.

Yields in the municipal market declined again on Friday as buyers sensed a bottom in the market. That, coupled with a rebound among Treasuries, helped muni yields fall an average of four basis points to end the week.

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The New York Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that MBIA Insurance Corp. did not have any way to discover if GMAC Mortgage LLC intentionally misrepresented the true nature of mortgage-backed securities that MBIA insured.

Municipal credit analyst Philip Villaluz was recently named head of municipal research and strategy at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. in New York.

Jerry Fernandez was to celebrate his 60th year in public finance on Saturday — all that time as counsel at the same law firm, Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP in New York City.

Morgan Stanley is the latest target of MBIA Inc.'s quest to win back more than $2 billion of claims it paid on mortgage-backed securities that went bust during the financial crisis.

PFM Group announced last week that Robert W. Crispin, the former chairman and chief executive of ING Investment Management Americas, has joined its board of directors.

Christopher Melvin joined law firm Nixon Peabody LLP as a managing director of public finance with a focus on stadium and sports finance, the firm announced Monday.

Phyllis Hollis joined as managing director of the firm's taxable sales and trading department, while Osee Pierre joined as vice president of the firm's municipal finance group.

Investors holding securities wrapped by Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. recently formed a policyholder group in an effort to negotiate a restructuring and avoid the insurer’s liquidation.

M.R. Beal is the latest municipal bond underwriter to bolster their distribution network in response to increased retail demand for tax-exempt securities by forming an alliance with a brokerage house that has a broader footprint with investors.

A record amount of Build America Bond issuance helped municipal market volume gush to $41.7 billion in November, or 8.9% more than in the same month last year.