Banks get writs as bond insurer attempts to recoup losses
Bond insurer Ambac has reported a Q1 loss of £392.2m, down from $1,660.3m last year, and will sue more banks over their sales on bond insurance after starting action in London against JP Morgan, the FT reports.
Financial highlights (2008 Q1 in brackets)
- Net loss of $392.2m ($1,660.3m)
- Net premiums earned $196.8m ($186.9m)
- Normal earned premiums $155.8m ($172.9m,
Ambac’s president and chief executive, David Wallis, said: “The credit environment remains adverse, although perhaps the rate of degradation is slowing. We remain focused upon our key strategic initiatives of:
- aggressively managing our existing book of business;
- identifying strategic opportunities that take advantage of our core competencies and assets; and
- sensibly accessing outside capital to enable the launch of our public finance-only financial guarantee subsidiary, Everspan.”
“Looking forward, I believe that the resilience of our business model combined with the efforts of our entire staff positions us well in relation to the ultimate goal of restoring value for our key stakeholders.”
Last week, a UK subsidiary of Ambac filed court papers seeking $1bn in damages from JPMorgan Investment Management over assets Ambac managed in the name of Ballantyne, The FT said.
It quoted Douglas Renfield-Miller, executive vice-president at Ambac, as saying: “It will be surprising to me if you didn’t see more of these sorts of cases potentially from ourselves and others.”
