Skip to content

News

November 26, 2012

BAM Announces Expansion of State Licensing

Build America Mutual Assurance Company (BAM or the Company) today announced that since receiving its initial license in the State of New York, the Company has secured licenses in an additional 11 states and expects approval in a number of others before year-end. BAM is now licensed in Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Robert P. Cochran, Chairman of BAM, said: “The states that we have been licensed in represent a significant portion of new municipal offerings nationwide and provide BAM with the opportunity to begin to ramp up our underwriting.

“Our goal, of course, is to be licensed nationwide, and with our acceptance in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) coordinated licensing application review program (REACAP), we expect continued approval of licenses.”

BAM has filed applications in all states and the District of Columbia. While pursuing these licenses, BAM is permitted to write business in many states that have enacted statutes that, subject to fulfilling certain conditions, may permit an insurer to write business prior to being licensed. These states include Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

“We are pleased with the progress we have made since our launch earlier this year and believe there is significant demand for BAM’s financial guaranty, particularly among small to medium size issuers of general obligation and essential public purpose revenue bonds, Mr. Cochran added. “The progress we are making on the licensing front should enhance the growth of the company in 2013.”

Domiciled in New York, BAM is a mutual, monoline bond insurer of municipal bonds exclusively. The first mutual bond insurance company, BAM is operated for the benefit of its issuer members –the cities, states and other municipal entities—that use BAM’s financial guaranty to lower their cost of borrowing. BAM is rated AA/Stable by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and is sponsored by the National League of Cities.

For more information, contact:

Betsy Castenir

Head of Corporate Communications 212-257-6148 bcastenir@buildamerica.com

Richard G. Holzinger

Head of Investor Relations 212-235-2518 rholzinger@buildamerica.com