The Association of Financial Guaranty Insurers, a trade organization representing the insurers and reinsurers of municipal bonds and asset-backed securities, announced last week that Sean McCarthy, the president and chief operating officer of Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd. and its main subsidiary, Financial Security Assurance Inc., has been elected to a two-year term as chairman of the group’s board of directors.
McCarthy follows Neil Budnick, the president of MBIA Insurance Corp., who had held the AFGI chair since 2004.
“This is a very interesting time for the financial guaranty industry, as the role of bond insurance in the municipal and asset-backed markets continue to grow in volume, geographic scope, and application to new types of financings,” McCarthy said in a statement. “Overall, AFGI members have an extraordinary record of assisting issuers in lowering their funding costs and providing security and liquidity to investors in insured public infrastructure and asset backed bonds.”
McCarthy has been president and COO at the parent company of FSA since January 2002. He has been president of FSA since November 2000.
Other AFGI members include ACA Financial Guaranty Corp., Ambac Assurance Corp., Assured Guaranty Corp., BluePoint Re Ltd., CIFG Guaranty, Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., FSA, MBIA, Radian Asset Assurance Inc., RAM Reinsurance Co., and XL Capital Assurance Inc.
Joining McCarthy on the board for two-year terms are Vernon Endo, president and chief executive officer of RAM Reinsurance, who was elected vice chairman; Ed Hubbard, president and COO of XLCA, who was elected treasurer; and Kate McDonough, senior managing director of Ambac, who was elected secretary.
