Bond insurance

Bond premiums decrease when a city facing flood risk adopts measures that will reduce those risks, according to a recent study.

Unsecured Creditors Committee attorney Luc Despins, said, “After five years, the results are in: the strategy has gone nowhere.” 

The two active municipal bond insurers wrapped $8.176 billion in the first quarter of 2022, a 3.25% decrease from the $8.442 billion of deals done in the first three months of 2021.

The underwriters filed a defense to the court earlier this month and analysts are skeptical of MBIA’s chances of prevailing.

Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. and Assured Guaranty Corp. both resolved their exposure to its insured Puerto Rico debts leading to the upgrade to A1.

The two active municipal bond insurers wrapped $38.7 billion in 2021, an 8.7% increase from the $35.6 billion of deals done in 2020 and the highest level since 2009.

Swain's order affects $1.9 billion of PRIFA bonds and $384 million of CCDA bonds, for which insurers and bondholders will receive minimum recoveries of 14% and 29% of par, respectively.

Morgan Fahy has joined BAM’s capital markets team from Citigroup.

Municipal bond insurers are seeing the most business since the global financial crisis of 2008 crushed the sector.

Bond insurance grew to 8.4% of total market par covered in the first half of 2021.