Another default by bankrupt Detroit would add capital pressure to U.S. bond insurers, but Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said yesterday that it does not currently expect such a default to lead to ratings actions on the companies, Reuters reported yesterday. Of the five insurers that S&P rates, those with the greatest exposure to Detroit’s bonds are Assured Guaranty Ltd. and National Public Finance Guarantee Corp., with $2.2 billion and $2.3 billion of net par exposure, respectively. Even before Detroit filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, the insurers had high capital charges from exposure to Detroit’s bonds. S&P had already included those charges in its latest analysis of the insurers.
