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Aaa/AAA/AAA Bond Insurer FSA is First Licensed Monoline Authorized to do Business in Mexico

 

New York, New York, September 12, 2007 - FSA Seguros México, S.A. de C.V. (FSA Mexico), a subsidiary of Triple-A bond insurer Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA), became the first licensed financial guaranty insurance company authorized to do business in Mexico. Insurance regulator Comisión Nacional de Seguros y Fianzas issued the license to write financial guaranty insurance under the regulations for financial guarantors adopted last year in Mexico.

"This is an important development that will provide us with the ability to participate broadly in Mexico's public markets for infrastructure, asset-backed and structured financings. We believe that Mexico will become a significant market for financial guaranty insurance," said Séan McCarthy, president and chief operating officer of FSA.

Eduardo Ramos, managing director of FSA's new Mexican subsidiary said: "The growth of domestic capital markets in Mexico has spawned a variety of structured financings that can benefit from financial guaranty insurance. In these financings, the use of financial guaranty insurance helps issuers to achieve a more efficient funding rate and, at the same time, provides investors with a secure guaranty of timely payment of principal and interest and greater liquidity."

FSA is the principal operating subsidiary of Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd., a member of the Dexia Group. FSA and its insurance subsidiaries, including FSA Mexico, guarantee principal and interest on municipal and public infrastructure bonds and asset-backed securities issued in markets around the world.

In addition to its New York headquarters and Mexico City office, FSA has regional offices in San Francisco and Dallas; a London-based U.K. subsidiary with representative offices in Paris and Madrid; a Tokyo branch; and an affiliated office in Sydney.

Forward-Looking Statements

The Company relies on the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This safe harbor requires that the Company specify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company. Accordingly, forward-looking statements by the Company and its affiliates are qualified by reference to the following cautionary statements.

In its filings with the SEC, reports to shareholders, press releases and other written and oral communications, the Company from time to time makes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

  • projections of revenues, income (or loss), earnings (or loss) per share, dividends, market share or other financial forecasts
  • statements of plans, objectives or goals of the Company or its management, including those related to growth in adjusted book value or return on equity, and
  • expected losses on, and adequacy of loss reserves for, insured transactions.

Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends" and "plans" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements.

The Company cautions that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company. These factors include:

  • changes in capital requirements or other criteria of securities rating agencies applicable to FSA
  • competitive forces, including the conduct of other financial guaranty insurers
  • changes in domestic or foreign laws or regulations applicable to the Company, its competitors or its clients
  • changes in accounting principles or practices that may result in a decline in securitization transactions or affect the Company's reported financial results
  • an economic downturn or other economic conditions (such as a rising interest rate environment) adversely affecting transactions insured by FSA or its investment portfolio
  • inadequacy of reserves established by the Company for losses and loss adjustment expenses
  • disruptions in cash flow on FSA-insured structured transactions attributable to legal challenges to such structures
  • downgrade or default of one or more of FSA's reinsurers
  • the amount and nature of business opportunities that may be presented to the Company
  • market conditions, including the credit quality and market pricing of securities issued
  • capacity limitations that may impair investor appetite for FSA-insured obligations
  • market spreads and pricing on insured credit default swap exposures, which may result in gain or loss due to mark-to-market accounting requirements
  • prepayment speeds on FSA-insured asset-backed securities and other factors that may influence the amount of installment premiums paid to FSA, and
  • changes in the value or performance of strategic investments made by the Company.

The Company cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. In any event, such forward-looking statements made by the Company speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise such statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.