Wisconsin's insurance commissioner yesterday said that he asked a state judge for permission to pay out about $800 million to policyholders of a unit of bankrupt bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc., Reuters reported yesterday. Theodore Nickel, the insurance commissioner, oversees a "segregated account" that contains many risky mortgage obligations of Ambac Assurance Corp. He said that upon receiving court permission, he will "in the near term" begin paying 25 percent of each of the $3.2 billion of policy claims submitted so far, and 25 percent of each policy claim submitted in the future. Nickel is also seeking court approval for Ambac Assurance to pay about $278 million in cash for $939 million principal amount of surplus notes it had issued in June 2010.
