Patrick McGee

NEW YORK - Standard & Poor’s late Wednesday raised the counterparty credit rating of Ambac Assurance Corp. to CC from SD, selective default. The agency also affirmed Ambac’s financial strength rating of CC and changed its outlook on the guarantor to developing from negative.

Assured Guaranty Ltd., the holding company of the two principal players in the bond insurance industry, announced late Monday night that it would sell 23,924,000 common shares in a public offering Thursday.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., currently ranked 15th senior manager in the country, according to Thomson Reuters, announced Monday that veteran banker Alan W. Murphy has joined the firm to oversee its competitive underwriting efforts.

In spite of a recent warning by Ambac Financial Group Inc. that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection as early as the first quarter of 2011, the Wisconsin commissioner of insurance, the company’s regulator, said it has sufficient expertise to handle any eventuality and has also rejected the notion that the company should be allowed to split its books.

Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded to BB from BBB-minus the financial strength, financial enhancement, and corporate credit ratings of bond insurer Radian Asset Assurance Inc. Radian will remain on negative watch.

NEW YORK - Standard & Poor’s today downgraded to BB from BBB-minus the financial strength, financial enhancement, and corporate credit ratings of bond insurer Radian Asset Assurance Inc. Radian will remain on negative watch.

Susan Comparato was appointed chief executive officer and president of Syncora Holdings Ltd., the Bermuda-based parent of beleaguered bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc., the company announced late last week. Also last week, the bond insurer posted a net income loss of $1.4 billion in the nine months ending Sept. 30.

When Ambac Financial Group Inc. missed the deadline to file its statutory capital to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, analysts assumed the bond insurer had gone into deficit. Far from it. The company’s principal operating subsidiary nearly tripled its surplus in the third quarter, and in the current quarter it expects to benefit from a hefty government bailout.

NEW YORK - Ambac Financial Group Inc. reported approximately $856 million in statutory capital at the end of the third quarter in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning.

Assured Guaranty Ltd., which runs a default monopoly for new policies in the bond insurance market due to the collapse of its competitors, said in an earnings call Tuesday it expects business to thrive in the coming quarters.

Assured Guaranty Ltd., parent of the dominant bond insurers in the public finance market, announced late Monday a third-quarter loss of $35 million, or 22 cents per share, consistent with preliminary estimates released Tuesday.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded bond insurer Assured Guaranty Corp. one notch to Aa3 from Aa2 late Thursday, but Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., formerly Financial Security Assurance, retained its Aa3 rating.

Terry Atkinson is retired no more. After stepping down on June 1, 2007, from a 19-year stint as head of the municipals group at UBS Securities LLC, the veteran banker is returning to the market to join Morgan Stanley.

Terry Atkinson is retired no more. After stepping down in June 2007 from a 19-year stint as head of the municipals group at UBS Securities LLC, the veteran banker is returning to the market to join Morgan Stanley.

Moody’s Investors Service late Wednesday downgraded to Ca from Caa2 the insurance financial strength ratings of CIFG Guaranty, CIFG Europe and CIFG Assurance North America Inc. The decision, which concludes a review initiated in August, reflects increased loss estimates on some of the company’s collateralized debt obligations.

Credit-risk management company ­Radian Group Inc., the parent company of bond insurer Radian Asset Assurance Inc., continues to be hurt by delinquencies in the housing market, according to its third quarter 10Q filing.

Ambac Financial Group, parent of bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corp., warned that its liquidity could dry up before the second quarter of 2011 and that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection, according to its third-quarter 10Q filing. The company said current liquidity is “currently insufficient to fund its needs beyond the near term.”

After releasing a disappointing earnings statement on Monday, MBIA Corp. executives Tuesday said the bond insurer is confident its business would rebound as the broader economy recovers from the worst financial crisis in seven decades.

Bond insurer MBIA Inc. failed to match earnings expectations in the third quarter on Monday. The Armonk, N.Y.-based company reported a net loss to common shareholders of $727.8 million from July to September, or $3.50 per share.

Rochester, N.Y.-based law firm Harris Beach PLLC has plucked Eric P. Taylor from Winston & Strawn LLP to become a partner in its public finance and economic development practice group.