Patrick McGee

Ambac Financial Group said in a regulatory filing Monday that it may be forced to file for bankruptcy by Dec. 31 due to its inability to raise fresh capital.

NEW YORK - Ambac Financial Group, parent of the junk-rated bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corp., said in a regulatory filing Monday morning that it may be forced to file for bankruptcy by year-end because it has been unable to raise fresh capital.

Municipal market volume in the first 10 months of this year outpaced issuance from the same period of 2009, according to preliminary data from Thomson ­Reuters.

Stone & Youngberg, a private investment bank headquartered in San Francisco, is continuing to expand its Northeast operations with four new senior hires.

Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., the New York-based minority-owned underwriter that broke into the top 10 earlier this year, added two new managing directors this week to its public finance team.

The public finance market no longer has a triple-A rated bond insurer.

NEW YORK - The public finance market no longer has a triple-A rated bond insurer.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is planning to hold a conference next month to evaluate whether the current ratings methodology used for public finance credits accurately reflects all long-term risks.

Moody’s Investors Service said the proposed rehabilitation plan to deal with Ambac Assurance Corp.’s segregated account of high-risk insured assets is a credit positive and, if confirmed by the courts, will put the Wisconsin-domiciled bond insurer “one step closer to an orderly run-off.”

In the quarter when the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time charged a state with securities fraud for failing to make certain disclosures to investors, data from Thomson Reuters shows that most changes in rankings of law firms occurred among disclosure counsel.

After a two-year struggle to launch Municipal and Infrastructure Assurance Corp., a muni-only bond guarantor, key investor Macquarie Group is exiting the bond insurance business or selling its stake.

Seeing an increased appetite for munis from individual buyers, Fidelity Investments has ramped up its underwriting capabilities in recent years, saying it wants to give clients quicker access to new product with better prices and more transparency.

Wisconsin insurance commissioner Sean Dilweg Friday announced a rehabilitation plan for the riskiest assets — mostly mortgage-backed securities — insured by Ambac Assurance Corp. The plan aims to fairly compensate holders of the risky assets without depleting the insurer of its ability to pay other future claims, including insured municipal bonds.

Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities only started senior managing municipal borrowings a decade ago, but after a few years of rapid growth the firm is setting itself ambitious goals.

Municipal market issuance volume grew 3.6% in September from the same month a year ago. The advance followed a slow August in which monthly volume fell by more than one-fifth despite record low yields for borrowers.

A group of MBIA Insurance Co. policyholders Tuesday filed a motion seeking to unseal more than 1,000 confidential documents relating to the New York Insurance Department’s approval of MBIA’s contentious 2009 restructuring.

People’s United Bank announced that 22-year finance veteran Robert Reynolds has joined the firm to expand its institutional trust team and open a second office for the division.

New York-based underwriter Rice Financial Products Co. is adding 30-year veteran Emory Dawson to its growing municipal team as a senior vice president in Manhattan.

Philadelphia-based PFM Advisors announced this week that its other post-employment benefits practice crossed the $1 billion mark in assets under advisement as of Aug. 31.

Yields in the municipal market were dramatically firmer Wednesday amid light to moderate activity in the secondary market.