Bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd. along with its subsidiaries Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. and Municipal Assurance Corp. are now providing indicative pricing for secondary market insurance on municipal bond issues they have pre-qualified on Bloomberg terminals. The current list of pre-qualified municipal bonds comprises approximately 8,000 issuers and 45,000 CUSIPs.
"We are pleased to have worked with Bloomberg to add this valuable feature for its subscribers," said Bill Hogan, senior managing director, public finance at Assured. "Traders, institutional investors and retail trading desks that are considering adding bond insurance to municipal bonds in the secondary market may now find indicative insurance availability and pricing information for AGM or MAC insurance on the Bloomberg All Quotes page."
The 'ALLQ' page on the terminals, which is the same page used for bond pricing information, trade history, valuations and offering levels.
"Adding municipal bond insurance in the secondary market may enhance a bond's market liquidity," said Hogan.
Hogan added that about $500 million of bonds guaranteed by Assured Guaranty companies are traded daily.
AGM and MAC are rated AA-plus by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and AA by Standard & Poor's. AGM is also rated A2 by Moody's Investors Service. All three rating agencies have a stable outlook with the ratings.
