Moody's Downgrades FGIC

The insurance financial strength ratings of FGIC Corp.'s operating subsidiaries -- including Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. and FGIC UK Ltd. -- have been downgraded from Aaa to A3 by Moody's Investors Service, partly as a result of mortgage market exposure. Moody's also downgraded FGIC's senior debt rating from Aa2 to Ba1, among others. The ratings remain on review for possible further downgrade. Moody's attributed the downgrades to its assessment of FGIC's "meaningfully weakened capitalization and business profile," which it said resulted partly from FGIC's exposures to the U.S. residential mortgage market. Noting its recent downgrade of XL Capital Assurance Inc., Moody's said its ratings of MBIA and Ambac, the other primary financial guarantors, remain under review for possible downgrade. The rating agency said it believes that, in contrast to XL Capital and FGIC, MBIA and Ambac "are better positioned from a capitalization and business franchise perspective." Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.