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Vote of Confidence for Bond Insurers

Klotz on Bonds

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<h3>James A. Klotz</h3>

James A. Klotz

Assured Guaranty (AGM) and National Public Finance Guarantee were upgraded by Standard & Poor’s yesterday afternoon.

National was raised to AA- from A with a stable outlook.

S&P said “the stable outlook on National reflects our expectation that National will gain market acceptance and become a competitive financial guarantor.”

The rating upgrade is based on S&P’s view of the company’s prospective strong business risk profile and its current extremely strong capital adequacy position.

AGM was raised from AA- to AA which means it now enjoys the same rating as Build America Mutual (BAM), the only other municipal bond insurer actively writing new business since the financial crises in 2008.

According to S&P, the AGM upgrade reflects its view that “AGM’s competitive position remains strong, relative to its peers, in the bond insurance industry.

These upgrades along with Moody’s affirming both insurers’ ratings, with a stable outlook, are a welcome sign to muni investors.
James A. Klotz

President

James A. Klotz is the President of FMSbonds, Inc.
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Mar 19, 2014

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