Commercial banking

As the various demand components of the market have evolved

New Britain is reaping a rating reward from higher revenues and stronger budgetary practices, including full actuarial funding of its pensions.

Washington lawmakers delivered a balanced budget after tweaking program cuts and tax increase plans multiple times.

The coming fiscal year will have more than 10 times the state bonding as the current fiscal year.

Committees will begin Tuesday to mark up their pieces of the sweeping tax bill, with the key Ways and Means committee session tentatively set for May 12.

S&P revised the outlook for the Maryland Transportation Authority's outstanding revenue bonds to negative from stable due to the timing of the federal funding needed to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge that was damaged by a cargo freighter in March 2024.

The Democratic states sued a day after schools were required to certify the elimination of DEI programs or risk losing federal funding.

Fresh off the heels of its rebrand from Lifespan, Brown University Health is prepared to add to the size of its planned borrowing if rates are favorable.

Daily report for April 28, 2025

S&P Global Ratings dropped Los Angeles' ratings and assigned a negative outlook, citing a "weakening financial position and an emerging structural imbalance."

Baker Tilly is preparing a $7 billion merger with Moss Adams, another advisory firm. The deal will close in early June.

As Vice President, Underwriting Research and Development, Jackie Waas is involved in investigating and developing underwriting innovations, with an emphasis on concept development, research, presenting new ideas, and participating in concept validation activities.

She started her career with RGA in 2018 as Director of Underwriting Services, where she supported direct-to-consumer accelerated offerings, including assisting with the auditing of the e-underwriting program and helping develop digital health scores while supporting the Digital Health Data team.

Prior to joining RGA, Jackie was an Underwriting Business Consultant and automated underwriting systems subject matter expert with Legal & General America for four years after working in an underwriting capacity with the company for nine years. She also had five years of underwriting experience with AXA Equitable and formerly worked as a marketing manager for Steele Rubber Products.

Jackie received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in communications and a minor in psychology from Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina. She is a Certified Fellow of the Academy of Life Underwriting, a Fellow of the Life Management Institute, and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute. She is also an Associate, Reinsurance Administration; Associate, Insurance Agency Administration; and an Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance. Jackie also holds the Professional, Customer Service Institute designation, and she is a member of the Association of Home Office Underwriters.

Guizhou Hu is Vice President, VP, Head of Risk Analytics at RGA, where he supports global RGA underwriting initiatives and produces internal and external thought leadership pieces based on RGA's in-depth risk analytics. Before joining RGA in 2018, Guizhou served as Vice President, Chief Decision Analytics, for Gen Re and as a Senior Vice President for BioSignia Inc. Guizhou holds a medical degree from Beijing Medical University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University. 

Taylor Pickett is a Vice President and Actuary at RGA. Taylor currently works as part of the pricing team supporting RGA's US Mortality business, serving as the actuarial subject matter expert for Underwriting Modernization. Taylor assists clients in understanding, incorporating, and evaluating the impacts of emerging underwriting programs and new sources of evidence. His responsibilities include supporting newer underwriting paradigms through program monitoring, data analysis and assumption development. Taylor has over 10 years of life reinsurance experience including roles in valuation, experience studies, research, and pricing. Taylor holds a Master of Science degree in Actuarial Science from Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

"Easing tariffs, a slowing economy and an improved supply/demand outlook for munis in May and onward should drive muni market pricing going forward," BofA strategists said.

Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are already affecting port operations as Moody's has revised the U.S. ports sector to a negative outlook reflecting an expected 7%-12% decline in volume.

Nic Puckrin is an investment expert and passionate advocate of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. He began his career in a quantitative role at Goldman Sachs, but was attracted by decentralized and permissionless finance. Nic founded Coin Bureau in 2017, which publishes independent crypto-educational content. Today, Coin Bureau operates several media assets, including the largest crypto-focused YouTube channel in the industry, with over 2.6 million subscribers.