Insurable Municipal Bond Sectors

In the primary U.S. municipal bond market, Assured Guaranty offers municipal bond insurance in all general government sectors as well as healthcare, private higher education, domestic project finance and investor-owned utilities. We insure municipal bonds issued by investment-grade obligors and secured generally by either a pledge of taxes or a dedicated, investment-grade revenue stream from an essential public service.  We also insure bonds of municipal conduits issued on behalf of not-for-profit health care and educational borrowers.

General Eligibility Criteria for Municipal Bond Insurance

At a minimum, insured transactions must meet Assured Guaranty’s internal standard for investment-grade underlying credit quality.  A public rating is not necessary, but we require one or more rating agency unpublished credit assessments for municipal bonds that do not carry public underlying ratings. Even transactions with low investment-grade ratings (equivalent to Baa at Moody’s or BBB at Standard & Poor’s) are candidates for municipal bond insurance because we evaluate each situation individually.

We consider:

• the nature and priority of the obligation and security provided (for example, a pledge of specific revenues or a pledge of taxes)
• the essential nature and exclusivity of the franchise or service
• the financial condition and liquidity of the issuer
• economic and demographic conditions and trends that will affect the issuer's ability to pay its debt.