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FSA Seguros México, the First Licensed Monoline Financial Guaranty Insurer in Mexico, Receives Triple-A Ratings from Fitch, Moody's and S&P

 

New York, New York, October 8, 2007 - Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA) announced today that its subsidiary FSA Seguros México, S.A. de C.V. has been assigned financial strength ratings of Triple-A on a global and national scale by Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. As previously announced, FSA Seguros México recently received the first license to write financial guaranty insurance under the regulations for financial guarantors adopted last year in Mexico.

All transactions guaranteed by FSA Seguros México, located in Mexico City, will be 100% reinsured by Triple-A rated FSA.

Eduardo Ramos, managing director of FSA Seguros México said: "Our primary focus is on the growing markets for infrastructure, asset-backed and structured financings, where the use of our Triple-A guaranty helps issuers to achieve lower funding rates and provides investors with a guaranty of timely payment of principal and interest, as well as greater liquidity."

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

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;
  • 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 CDS 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
  • other factors, most of which are beyond the Company's control.

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.