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Business Developments, Risks And Uncertainties, And Liquidity | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2012
Business Developments, Risks And Uncertainties, And Liquidity | Note 1: Business Developments, Risks and Uncertainties, and Liquidity Summary MBIA Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, (collectively, “MBIA” or the “Company”) operates one of the largest financial guarantee insurance businesses in the industry and is a provider of asset management advisory services. These activities are managed through three business segments: United States (“U.S.”) public finance insurance, structured finance and international insurance, and advisory services. The Company’s U.S. public finance insurance business is primarily operated through National Public Finance Guarantee Corporation and its subsidiaries (“National”), its structured finance and international insurance business is primarily operated through MBIA Insurance Corporation and its subsidiaries (“MBIA Corp.”), and its asset management advisory services business is primarily operated through Cutwater Holdings, LLC and its subsidiaries (“Cutwater”). The holding company, MBIA Inc., and certain of its subsidiaries also manage certain other business activities, the results of which are reported in its corporate, asset/liability products, and conduit segments. The corporate segment includes revenues and expenses that arise from general corporate activities. While the asset/liability products and conduit businesses represent separate business segments, they may be referred to collectively as “wind-down operations” as the funding programs managed through those businesses are in wind-down. Refer to “Note 11: Business Segments” for further information about the Company’s reporting segments. Business Developments As a result of insured losses and realized investment losses during the period from 2007 through September 30, 2012, the Company has seen ratings downgrades, a near cessation of new insurance business written by the Company, and increasing liquidity pressure. The Company has been unable to write meaningful amounts of new insurance business since 2008 and does not expect to write significant new insurance business prior to an upgrade of the credit ratings of its insurance subsidiaries. As of September 30, 2012, National was rated BBB with a developing outlook by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”) and Baa2 with a negative outlook by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”). As of September 30, 2012, MBIA Insurance Corporation was rated B with a negative outlook by S&P and B3 with a review for a possible downgrade by Moody’s. As of September 30, 2012, the liquidity position of MBIA Inc., which consists of the liquidity positions of its corporate and asset/liability products activities, was $432 million and comprised cash and liquid assets of $335 million available for general corporate liquidity purposes, excluding the amounts held in escrow under its tax sharing agreement, and $97 million not pledged directly as collateral for its asset/liability products activities. As of December 31, 2011, MBIA Inc. had $386 million of cash and liquid assets comprising $226 million available for general corporate liquidity purposes, excluding the amounts held in escrow under its tax sharing agreement, and $160 million not pledged directly as collateral for its asset/liability products activities. The Company believes this liquidity position provides MBIA Inc. with sufficient funds to cover expected obligations at least through the next twelve months. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp. continued to seek to reduce both the absolute amount and the volatility of its obligations and potential future claim payments through the execution of commutations of insurance policies. The combination of payments to reduce liabilities, claims payments and the failure of certain mortgage originators to honor contractual obligations to repurchase ineligible mortgage loans from securitizations the Company insured has increased liquidity pressure on MBIA Corp. As of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, MBIA Corp.’s cash and liquid assets were $386 million and $534 million, respectively. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp. made $1.0 billion in gross claim payments, and commuted $13.0 billion of gross insured exposure, primarily comprising structured commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) pools, commercial real estate (“CRE”) collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”), investment grade corporate CDOs, asset-backed securities (“ABS”) CDOs, and subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”) transactions, of which $12.8 billion was previously disclosed in earlier MBIA Inc.’s Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings. Claims payments primarily resulted from the failure of certain mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”) sponsors to honor contractual obligations to repurchase ineligible mortgage loans. The Company’s ability to commute insured transactions may be limited by available liquidity as determined based on management’s assessment. The Company currently evaluates different methodologies to mitigate liquidity stress, including intercompany lending arrangements and the monetization of illiquid assets. The reference herein to “ineligible” mortgage loans refers to those mortgage loans that the Company believes failed to comply with the representations and warranties made by the sellers/servicers of the securitizations to which those mortgage loans were sold (including mortgage loans that failed to comply with the related underwriting criteria), based on the Company’s assessment of such mortgage loans’ compliance with such representations and warranties, which included information provided by third-party review firms. The Company’s assessment of the ineligibility of individual mortgage loans could be challenged by the sellers/servicers of the securitizations in litigation and there is no assurance that the Company’s determinations will prevail. Risks and Uncertainties The Company’s financial statements include estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. The outcome of certain significant risks and uncertainties could cause the Company to revise its estimates and assumptions or could cause actual results to differ from the Company’s estimates. While the Company believes it continues to have sufficient capital and liquidity to meet all of its expected obligations, if one or more possible adverse outcomes were to be realized, its statutory capital, financial position, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected. Significant risks and uncertainties that could affect amounts reported in the Company’s financial statements in future periods include, but are not limited to, the following:
| • |  | MBIA Corp.’s efforts to recover losses from the second-lien securitization originators could be delayed, settled at amounts below its contractual claims or potentially settled at amounts below those recorded on its balance sheets prepared under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and statutory accounting principles (“U.S. STAT”). As of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, the Company’s estimated recoveries after income taxes calculated at the federal statutory rate of 35%, were $2.1 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively, which was 82% and 119% of the consolidated total shareholders’ equity of MBIA, excluding preferred stock of subsidiaries and noncontrolling interests. As of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, the related measures calculated under U.S. STAT were 144% and 89%, respectively, of the statutory capital of MBIA Corp. On May 14, 2012, Residential Capital, LLC (“ResCap”), and its wholly-owned subsidiary companies, Residential Funding Company, LLC (“RFC”) and GMAC Mortgage LLC (“GMAC”) each filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. MBIA has recorded put-back claims associated with RFC and GMAC. Accordingly, MBIA’s put-back claims are now subject to the ResCap bankruptcy proceeding. Refer to “Note 5: Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves” for information about the Company’s second-lien RMBS loss recoveries.
| • |  | MBIA Inc. may not have sufficient liquidity to make all payments due on its liabilities and to meet other financial requirements, such as posting collateral, primarily as a result of a deficit of invested assets to debt issued to third parties and affiliates and the lack of dividends from its principal operating subsidiaries. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, MBIA Inc.’s deficit increased as it realized losses from the sale and impairment of invested assets. In addition, it does not expect to receive dividends from its regulated insurance subsidiaries in the near term. If MBIA Inc. were required to continue to sell invested assets at their current market values in order to settle liabilities or to meet minimum required collateral amounts against liabilities, the deficit would increase further. In order to meet liquidity requirements, MBIA Inc. may also finance unencumbered assets through intercompany or third-party facilities, or use free cash or other assets, in some cases with New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYSDFS”) approval, although there can be no assurance that these strategies will be available or adequate. A failure by MBIA Inc. to settle liabilities that are also insured by MBIA Corp. could result in claims on MBIA Corp. The Company’s ability to resolve the deficit will depend on its ability to receive distributions from its operating subsidiaries and/or raise third-party capital, and there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in eliminating the deficit through these means, or that they will provide adequate liquidity. Refer to the following “Liquidity” section for additional information about MBIA Inc.’s liquidity position.
| • |  | While MBIA Corp. has commuted most of its higher risk CMBS pool exposures, a single counterparty—Bank of America and its subsidiary Merrill Lynch—holds a significant amount of MBIA Corp.’s remaining CMBS pool exposures, including a substantial majority of MBIA Corp.’s CMBS pools originally insured in 2006 and 2007 primarily referencing BBB and lower rated collateral. MBIA Corp. has also recorded its largest put-back asset against Bank of America and certain of its subsidiaries, including Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (“Countrywide”). While MBIA Corp. has estimated credit impairments or recorded loss reserves for the CMBS exposures, no material claims have been made to date. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch is also one of the two remaining plaintiffs in the litigation challenging the establishment of National (“Transformation Litigation”) (for a discussion of the Transformation Litigation, see “Note 13: Commitments and Contingencies”). As a result, the amount MBIA Corp. may ultimately collect from Bank of America/Countrywide on their put-back obligations in any litigation settlement could be impacted by potential commutation payments on these CMBS exposures and developments in the Transformation Litigation. Likewise, MBIA Corp.’s ability to commute these CMBS exposures may be impacted by developments in the put-back litigation with these entities and the Transformation Litigation. There can be no assurance that any such settlement or commutation will occur or that any such settlement or commutation, if it occurred, would be consummated within the estimates of expected recoveries or loss payments associated with these exposures that are recorded in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. In addition, due to the deterioration in MBIA Corp.’s CMBS exposures, primarily in those exposures held by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, there is an increased likelihood that MBIA Corp. will experience claims on those exposures, which could be substantial. Depending on the amount of such claims and the amounts of claims on other policies issued by MBIA Corp., MBIA Corp. may not have sufficient liquid assets to pay such claims in the absence of a settlement with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and the commutation of the CMBS exposures held by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch or in the absence of the collection of other substantial put-back recoverables.
| • |  | If commercial real estate servicer behavior does not continue to mitigate potential or actual credit losses in line with current trends, MBIA Corp. could incur substantial losses in that sector, primarily on the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch CMBS exposures described above. As of September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp. had CMBS pool and CRE CDO insured par exposure of approximately $15.7 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively, excluding approximately $2.8 billion of CRE loan pools, primarily comprising European assets. Since the end of 2007 through September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp.’s CMBS pool and CRE CDO gross par exposure has decreased by approximately $36.1 billion, of which $33.1 billion resulted from negotiated commutations and early settlements. Refer to “Note 5: Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves” for information about the Company’s estimate of CMBS credit impairments.
| • |  | Incurred losses from insured RMBS have declined from their peaks. However, due to the large percentage of ineligible mortgage loans included within MBIA Corp.’s insured second-lien portfolio, performance remains difficult to predict and losses could ultimately be in excess of MBIA Corp.’s current estimated loss reserves. Refer to “Note 5: Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves” for information about MBIA Corp.’s RMBS loss reserves.
| • |  | While MBIA Corp. has settled a substantial portion of its insured ABS CDO exposure at levels, on average, within MBIA Corp.’s previously established statutory loss reserves related to those exposures, further economic stress might cause increases in MBIA Corp.’s loss estimates on its remaining exposure. As of September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp.’s ABS CDO gross par outstanding was approximately $4.4 billion, and had decreased approximately $32.9 billion since 2007.
| • |  | In recent years, key components of the Company’s strategy have included commuting volatile insured exposures, purchasing instruments issued or guaranteed by the Company in order to reduce future expected economic losses and managing the liquidity requirements and risk in MBIA Inc. In order to implement this strategy, the Company put in place intercompany agreements that allocate liquidity resources among its entities in order to fund commutations and provide liquidity, where needed. The intercompany agreements with the Company’s insurance subsidiaries have required the approval of the NYSDFS. The Company’s ability to continue to draw on intercompany financing, provide other intercompany liquidity and capital support, obtain permission for contingency reserve releases, and the ability of its insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends to MBIA Inc. will in most cases require further approvals from the NYSDFS, and there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to obtain such approvals. In addition, in connection with providing such approvals, the NYSDFS may require the Company or its insurance subsidiaries to agree to take, or refrain from taking, certain actions.
| • |  | The Company’s recent financial results have been volatile, which has impacted management’s ability to accurately project future taxable income. Insurance losses incurred beyond those currently projected may cause the Company to record additional allowances against a portion or all of its deferred tax assets. Refer to “Note 10: Income Taxes” for information about the Company’s deferred tax assets.
| • |  | Litigation over the NYSDFS approval of National’s creation or additional hurdles to achieving high stable ratings may impede National’s ability to resume writing municipal bond insurance for some time, reducing its long-term ability to generate capital and cash from operations.
| • |  | Municipal and state fiscal distress in the U.S. could adversely affect the Company’s operations if it results in larger-than-expected incurred insurance losses. Additionally, the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone could have an adverse impact on insured European exposures and/or cause a global slowdown in growth, thereby adversely affecting U.S. insured exposures.
| • |  | In the event the economy and the markets to which MBIA is exposed do not improve, or decline, the unrealized losses on insured credit derivatives could increase, causing additional stress in the Company’s reported financial results. In addition, volatility in the relationship between MBIA’s credit spreads and those on underlying collateral assets of insured credit derivatives can create significant unrealized gains and losses in the Company’s reported results of operations. Refer to “Note 6: Fair Value of Financial Instruments” for information about the Company’s valuation of insured credit derivatives.
As of September 30, 2012, the Company had $2.6 billion of shareholders’ equity and MBIA Insurance Corporation and National had $1.5 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively, of statutory capital. Statutory capital, defined as policyholders’ surplus and contingency reserves, is a key measure of an insurance company’s financial condition under insurance laws and regulations. Failure to maintain adequate levels of statutory surplus and total statutory capital could lead to intervention by the Company’s insurance regulators in its operations and constitute an event of default under certain of the Company’s contracts, thereby materially and adversely affecting the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. Pursuant to approval granted by the NYSDFS in accordance with New York Insurance Law (“NYIL”), as of September 30, 2012, MBIA Insurance Corporation released to surplus an aggregate of $196 million of excessive contingency reserves. As of September 30, 2012, MBIA Insurance Corporation had a deficit of $97 million of qualifying assets required to support its contingency reserves. The deficit was caused by MBIA Insurance Corporation’s sale of liquid assets in order to make claim payments and the failure of certain mortgage originators, particularly Bank of America, to honor their contractual obligations to repurchase ineligible mortgage loans from securitizations the Company insured. The deficit is expected to grow as additional commutation and claim payments are made in the future. The Company has reported the deficit to the NYSDFS. MBIA Insurance Corporation has requested approval from the NYSDFS to release $97 million of contingency reserves as of September 30, 2012, but to date has not received approval. For risks associated with MBIA Insurance Corporation’s failure to meet its contingency reserve requirement, see Item 1A. “Risk Factors—Liquidity and Market Related Risk Factors—If the Company’s insurance subsidiaries fail to meet regulatory capital requirements they may become subject to regulatory action” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. As of September 30, 2012, MBIA Insurance Corporation exceeded its aggregate risk limits under the NYIL by $47 million. MBIA Insurance Corporation will notify the NYSDFS of the overage and will submit a plan to achieve compliance with the limits in accordance with the NYIL. If MBIA Insurance Corporation is not in compliance with its aggregate risk limits, the NYSDFS may prevent MBIA Insurance Corporation from transacting any new financial guarantee insurance business until it no longer exceeds the limitations. Liquidity As a financial services company, MBIA has been materially adversely affected by conditions in global financial markets. Current conditions and events in these markets, in addition to the failure by the originators of RMBS to repurchase the ineligible mortgage loans in securitizations that the Company has insured, have put substantial stress on the Company’s liquidity resources. The Company has utilized a liquidity risk management framework, the primary objectives of which are to monitor liquidity positions and projections in its legal entities and guide the matching of liquidity resources to needs. The Company monitors its cash and liquid asset resources using stress-scenario testing. Members of MBIA’s senior management meet regularly to review liquidity metrics, discuss contingency plans and establish target liquidity cushions on an enterprise-wide basis. As part of the Company’s liquidity risk management framework, the Company evaluates and manages liquidity on a legal-entity basis to take into account the legal, regulatory and other limitations on available liquidity resources within the enterprise. The majority of the Company’s liquidity management efforts focus on:
| • |  | The liquidity resources of MBIA Inc., which are subject to: uncertainty in the timing and amount of cash inflows from dividends paid by National and MBIA Corp.; the necessity of having to support the liquidity needs of the asset/liability products business; and potential cross-defaults of holding company debt with other obligations in the consolidated group. The asset/liability products business of MBIA Inc. is subject to ongoing negative cash flow and has a deficit of invested assets to liabilities. In addition, the liquidity resources of MBIA Inc. are subject to collateralization requirements in connection with the liabilities it has issued to third parties and affiliates and in connection with third-party derivative contracts.
| • |  | The liquidity resources of MBIA Corp. which are subject to: an increased likelihood that MBIA Corp. will experience claims on its CMBS exposures, primarily in those exposures held by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, due to the deterioration in such exposures; delays in the collection of recoveries related to ineligible mortgage loans in certain insured RMBS transactions; payments to counterparties in consideration for the commutation of insured transactions; and payments on insured exposures that in some cases may be large bullet payments. MBIA Corp. is currently subject to negative cash flow as a result of these payments and delays in collecting recoveries.
In order to address these liquidity risks and efficiently manage liquidity across the entire enterprise, certain of the Company’s subsidiaries which are less liquidity constrained have entered into intercompany agreements that provide resources to subsidiaries that are more liquidity constrained. These resources include intercompany agreements described further below between the Company’s primary insurance subsidiaries and between these insurance subsidiaries and the asset/liability products business (through MBIA Inc.), which in each case were approved by the NYSDFS and are subject to ongoing monitoring by the NYSDFS. The Company monitors the liquidity resources of National, for which the Company has not observed material liquidity risk to date, in order to ensure it maintains sufficient liquidity to pay claims and satisfy its other obligations. National’s liquidity resources are subject to unexpected loss payments on its insured transactions, negative cash flow, and liquidity support arrangements with its affiliates. Key Intercompany Lending Agreements National Secured Loan National provided a $1.1 billion secured loan to MBIA Insurance Corporation (“National Secured Loan”) in order to enable MBIA Insurance Corporation to fund settlements and commutations of its insurance policies. This loan was approved by the NYSDFS as well as by the boards of directors of MBIA Inc., MBIA Insurance Corporation and National. The National Secured Loan has a fixed annual interest rate of 7% and a maturity date of December 2016. MBIA Insurance Corporation has the option to defer payments of interest when due by capitalizing interest amounts to the loan balance, subject to the collateral value exceeding certain thresholds. MBIA Insurance Corporation has elected to defer the interest payments due under the loan. MBIA Insurance Corporation’s obligation to repay the loan is secured by a pledge of collateral having an estimated value in excess of the notional amount of the loan as of September 30, 2012, which collateral comprised the following future receivables of MBIA Corp.: (i) its right to receive put-back recoveries related to ineligible mortgage loans included in its insured second-lien RMBS transactions; (ii) future recoveries on defaulted insured second-lien RMBS transactions resulting from expected excess spread generated by performing loans in such transactions; and (iii) future installment premiums. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, MBIA Insurance Corporation borrowed an additional $443 million under the National Secured Loan with the approval of the NYSDFS at the same terms as the original loan to fund additional commutations of its insurance policies. As of September 30, 2012, the outstanding principal amount under this loan was $1.6 billion. MBIA Insurance Corporation may seek to borrow additional amounts under the loan in the future. Any such increase or other amendment to the terms of the loan would be subject to regulatory approval by the NYSDFS. Asset Swap National maintained simultaneous repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements (“Asset Swap”) with MBIA Inc. for up to $2.0 billion based on the fair value of securities borrowed. The Asset Swap provides MBIA Inc. with eligible assets to pledge under investment agreements and derivative contracts in the asset/liability products business. As of September 30, 2012, the notional amount utilized under each of these agreements was $522 million and the fair value of collateral pledged by National and MBIA Inc. under these agreements was $535 million and $558 million, respectively. The net average interest rate on these transactions was 0.56% and 0.34% for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The NYSDFS approved the Asset Swap in connection with the re-domestication of National to New York. National has committed to the NYSDFS to use commercially reasonable efforts to reduce the amount of the Asset Swap over time. MBIA Corp. Secured Loan MBIA Corp., as lender, maintained a master repurchase agreement with MBIA Inc. (“MBIA Corp. Secured Loan”) for the benefit of MBIA Inc.’s asset/liability products business, which totaled $2.0 billion at inception and was scheduled to mature in May 2012, as amended. This loan was repaid in May 2012 and there have been no further draws. During 2012, the average interest rate on the MBIA Corp. Secured Loan was 2.51% through the repayment in May 2012. Also in May 2012, the NYSDFS approved the maturity extension of the MBIA Corp. Secured Loan to May 2013 with a maximum outstanding amount of $450 million, subject to MBIA Corp. obtaining prior regulatory approval from the NYSDFS for any draws under the facility. Conduit Repurchase Agreement MBIA Inc. maintained a repurchase agreement with Meridian Funding Company, LLC (“Conduit Repurchase Agreement”), with a maximum funded amount of $1.0 billion, subject to a pledge of collateral. The Conduit Repurchase Agreement had an average interest rate during the nine months ended September 30, 2012 of 2.48%. As of September 30, 2012, the amount drawn by MBIA Inc. under this agreement and the fair value of the collateral pledged by MBIA Inc. was $51 million and $63 million, respectively. MBIA Inc. Liquidity MBIA Inc.’s liquidity resources support the Company’s corporate and asset/liability products segments. The activities of MBIA Inc. consist of holding and managing investments, servicing outstanding corporate debt instruments, investment agreements and medium-term notes (“MTNs”) issued by the asset/liability products and conduit segments, posting collateral under financing and hedging arrangements and investment agreements, making payments and collateral postings related to interest rate and foreign exchange swaps, and paying operating expenses. The primary sources of cash within MBIA Inc. used to meet its liquidity needs include available cash and liquid assets not subject to collateral posting requirements, scheduled principal and interest on assets held in its investment portfolio, dividends from subsidiaries, payments under tax sharing agreements with these subsidiaries (once the payments become unrestricted) and the ability to issue debt and equity. There can be no assurance as to the amount and timing of any such dividends or payments under the tax sharing agreements. MBIA Inc.’s corporate debt, investment agreements, MTNs, and derivatives may be accelerated by the holders of such instruments upon the occurrence of certain events, such as a breach of covenant or representation, a bankruptcy of MBIA Inc. or the filing of an insolvency proceeding with respect to MBIA Corp. MBIA Inc.’s obligations under its loans from MBIA Global Funding, LLC (“GFL”) may be accelerated only upon the occurrence of a bankruptcy or liquidation of MBIA Inc. Refer to “Note 11: Business Segments” for a description of the GFL loans. In the event of any acceleration of the Company’s obligations, including under its corporate debt, investment agreements, MTNs, or derivatives, the Company likely would not have sufficient liquid resources to pay amounts due with respect to its corporate debt and other obligations. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, pursuant to the tax sharing agreement, National settled with MBIA Inc. its taxes related to the 2010 and 2011 tax years of $1 million and $11 million, respectively. In addition, National paid to MBIA Inc. estimated 2012 taxes of $95 million. Consistent with the tax sharing agreement, these amounts were placed in an escrow account until the expiration of National’s two-year net operating loss (“NOL”) carry-back period under U.S. tax rules. At the expiration of National’s carry-back period, any funds remaining after any reimbursement to National in respect of any NOL carry-backs would be available for general corporate purposes, including to satisfy any other obligations under the tax sharing agreement. As of September 30, 2012, $365 million remained in escrow for the 2010 through 2012 tax years. MBIA Inc. is subject to material liquidity risks and uncertainties. To mitigate these risks, the Company seeks to maintain cash and liquidity resources that are expected to be sufficient to make all payments due on its obligations and to meet other financial requirements, such as posting collateral, at least through the next twelve months. Liquidity risk within MBIA Inc. is primarily a result of the following factors:
| • |  | MBIA Inc.’s asset/liability products segment had a deficit of invested assets to liabilities issued to third parties and affiliates of $980 million as of September 30, 2012, which increased from $591 million as of December 31, 2011. This deficit is a result of selling investments and terminating interest rate swaps at losses, and may further increase as a result of selling investments and terminating interest rates swaps at losses in the future. In addition, this deficit is expected to increase as a result of ongoing expected operating losses. This deficit will need to be reversed prior to the maturity of the liabilities in order to ensure that there are sufficient funds available to fully retire the liabilities. The Company expects that MBIA Inc. will be able to eliminate the deficit prior to the maturity of the related liabilities from distributions from its operating subsidiaries and by raising third-party capital, although there can be no assurance that MBIA Inc. will be able to eliminate the deficit through such means.
| • |  | Uncertainty of the timing and amount of cash inflows from dividends paid by MBIA’s principal operating subsidiaries.
| • |  | Currently, the majority of the cash and securities of MBIA Inc. is pledged against investment agreement liabilities, intercompany financing arrangements and derivatives, which limit its ability to raise liquidity through asset sales. In addition, if the market value or rating eligibility of the assets which are pledged against these obligations were to decline, the Company would be required to pledge additional eligible assets in order to meet minimum required collateral amounts against these liabilities. In such event, the Company may sell additional assets, potentially with substantial losses, finance unencumbered assets through intercompany facilities, or use free cash or other assets, in some cases with NYSDFS approval, although there can be no assurance that these strategies will be available or adequate to meet liquidity requirements.
Because the majority of MBIA Inc.’s assets is pledged against the obligations described above, the widening of credit spreads would have an adverse impact on the market value of these assets and increase collateralization requirements for the portfolio. The following table presents the estimated pre-tax change in fair value of the asset/liability products business’ assets as of September 30, 2012 from instantaneous shifts in credit spread curves. This table assumes that all credit spreads move by the same amount; however, it is more likely that the actual changes in credit spreads will vary by investment sector and individual security. The table presents hypothetical increases and decreases in credit spreads of 50 and 200 basis points. Because downward movements of these amounts in some cases would result in negative spreads, a floor was assumed for minimum spreads.
|  | Change in Credit Spreads (Asset/Liability Products Business) |
In millions |  | 200 Basis Point Decrease |  |  | 50 Basis Point Decrease |  |  | 50 Basis Point Increase |  |  | 200 Basis Point Increase |
Estimated change in fair value |  | $ | 149 |  |  | $ | 41 |  |  | $ | (37) |  |  | $ | (130) |
During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, MBIA Inc. maintained three intercompany financing facilities to provide it with additional resources to meet its liquidity requirements within the asset/liability products business: the Asset Swap, the MBIA Corp. Secured Loan and the Conduit Repurchase Agreement. Refer to the preceding “Key Intercompany Lending Agreements” section for a description of these facilities. Stressed credit market conditions could cause MBIA Inc. to have insufficient resources to cover collateral and/or other liquidity requirements. Management has identified certain actions to mitigate this risk. These contingent actions include: (1) additional sales of other invested assets exposed to credit spread stress risk, which may occur at losses and increase the deficit of invested assets to liabilities; (2) termination and settlement of interest rate swap agreements; and (3) other available advances from subsidiaries. These actions, if taken, are expected to result in either additional liquidity or reduced exposure to adverse credit spread movements. There can be no assurance that these actions will be sufficient to fully mitigate this risk. In the event that the Company cannot implement the contingent actions identified above to raise liquidity, or eliminate the deficit, it may have insufficient assets to make all payments on its obligations as they come due, which could result in a default by MBIA Inc. on its obligations and the potential for MBIA Corp., as guarantor of the investment agreements and GFL MTNs, to be called upon to satisfy obligations on those instruments as they come due. As of September 30, 2012, the liquidity position of MBIA Inc., which consists of the liquidity positions of its corporate and asset/liability products activities, was $432 million and comprised cash and liquid assets of $335 million available for general corporate liquidity purposes, excluding the amounts held in escrow under its tax sharing agreement, and $97 million not pledged directly as collateral for its asset/liability products activities. As of December 31, 2011, MBIA Inc. had $386 million of cash and liquid assets comprising $226 million available for general corporate liquidity purposes, excluding the amounts held in escrow under its tax sharing agreement, and $160 million not pledged directly as collateral for its asset/liability products activities. This liquidity position provides MBIA Inc. with sufficient funds to cover expected obligations at least through the next twelve months. MBIA Corp. Liquidity Liquidity available in the structured finance and international insurance segment is affected by the Company’s ability to collect on receivables associated with loss payments, the payment of claims on insured exposures, payments made to commute insured exposures, the repayment of the National Secured Loan, a reduction in investment income, any unanticipated expenses, or the impairment or a significant decline in the fair value of invested assets. The Company may also experience liquidity constraints as a result of NYIL requirements that the Company maintain specified, high quality assets to back the Company’s reserves and surplus. The Company’s current liquidity position of MBIA Corp. is adequate to make expected future claims payments and it expects to settle its insured CMBS exposures with no cash payments. However, the liquidity position of MBIA Corp. has been stressed due to the failure of the sellers/servicers of RMBS transactions insured by MBIA Corp. to repurchase ineligible mortgage loans in certain insured transactions and payments to counterparties in consideration for the commutation of insured transactions, which have resulted in a substantial reduction of exposure and potential loss volatility. While MBIA Corp. has made and may in the future make payments to counterparties in consideration for the commutation of insured transactions, MBIA Corp.’s ability to commute insured transactions will depend on management’s assessment of available liquidity. In addition, due to the deterioration in MBIA Corp.’s CMBS exposures, primarily in those exposures held by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, there is an increased likelihood that MBIA Corp. will experience claims on those exposures, which claims could be substantial. Depending on the amount of such claims and the amounts of claims on other policies issued by MBIA Corp., MBIA Corp. may not have sufficient liquid assets to pay such claims in the absence of a settlement with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and the commutation of the CMBS exposures held by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch or in the absence of the collection of other substantial put-back recoverables. Payment requirements for the structured finance and international financial guarantee contracts fall into three categories: (i) timely interest and ultimate principal; (ii) ultimate principal only at final maturity; and (iii) payments upon settlement of individual collateral losses as they occur after any deductible or subordination has been exhausted, which payments are unscheduled and therefore more difficult to predict, and which category applies to most of the transactions on which the Company has recorded loss reserves. Insured transactions that require payment in full of the principal insured at maturity could present liquidity risks for MBIA Corp. since payment of the principal is due at maturity but any salvage could be recovered over time after payment of the principal amount. MBIA Corp. is generally required to satisfy claims within one to three business days, and as a result seeks to identify potential claims in advance through the Company’s monitoring process. While MBIA Corp.’s financial guarantee policies generally cannot be accelerated, thereby mitigating liquidity risk, the insurance of credit default swap (“CDS”) contracts may, in certain events, including the insolvency or payment default of the insurer or the issuer of the CDS, be subject to termination by the counterparty, triggering a claim for the fair value of the contract. In order to monitor liquidity risk and maintain appropriate liquidity resources, the Company uses the same methodology as it uses to monitor credit quality and losses within its insured portfolio, including stress scenarios. Refer to “Note 5: Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves” for a discussion of the Company’s loss and loss adjustment expense (“LAE”) process. The Company’s structured finance and international insurance segment also requires cash for the payment of operating expenses, as well as principal and interest related to its surplus notes. Pursuant to Section 1307 of the NYIL and the Fiscal Agency Agreement governing MBIA Corp.’s surplus notes, any payment on the notes may be made only with the prior approval of the Superintendent of the NYSDFS “whenever, in his judgment, the financial condition of [MBIA Corp.] warrants” and payment may be made only out of MBIA Corp.’s “free and divisible surplus”. If these conditions are not met, MBIA Corp. would not be obligated to make any applicable interest payment and no default or event of default would occur under the Fiscal Agency Agreement or any of the Company’s other agreements. While the NYSDFS has approved the note interest payments in the past, its approval of the most recent note interest payment on July 16, 2012 was not received until after the date on which the Fiscal Agency Agreement required MBIA Corp. to notify the registered holders of the notes and the Fiscal Agent of the failure to obtain such approval, as the Company disclosed on a Form 8-K filed on July 10, 2012. There can be no assurance that the NYSDFS will approve the next scheduled note interest payment on January 15, 2013 or any subsequent payments, or that it will approve any payment by the scheduled interest payment date or by the date on which the notice is required to be delivered to the registered holders and the Fiscal Agent, nor can there be any assurance that the NYSDFS will approve any optional redemption payment that MBIA Corp. may seek to make on or after January 15, 2013. Since the fourth quarter of 2007 through September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp. has made $11.6 billion of cash payments, before reinsurance and collections and excluding LAE (including payments made to debt holders of consolidated variable interest entities (“VIEs”)), associated with second-lien RMBS securitizations and with commutations and claim payments relating to CDS contracts. These cash payments include loss payments of $893 million made on behalf of MBIA Corp.’s consolidated VIEs. Of the $11.6 billion, MBIA Corp. has paid $6.6 billion of gross claims (before reinsurance and collections and excluding LAE) on policies insuring second-lien RMBS securitizations, driven primarily by an extensive number of ineligible mortgage loans being placed in the securitizations in breach of the representations and warranties of the sellers/servicers. In addition, MBIA Corp. has paid $5.0 billion of gross settlement and claim payments (before reinsurance and collections and excluding LAE) on insured credit derivatives. Also, since the fourth quarter of 2007 through September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp. has collected $185 million on excess spread before reinsurance. MBIA Corp. is seeking to enforce its rights to have mortgage sellers/servicers cure, replace or repurchase ineligible mortgage loans from securitizations and has recorded a total of $3.2 billion of related expected recoveries on its consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2012, including expected recoveries recorded in the Company’s consolidated VIEs. These put-back claims have been disputed by the loan sellers/servicers and are the subject of certain litigations discussed more fully in “Note 13: Commitments and Contingencies.” On May 14, 2012, ResCap and its wholly-owned subsidiary companies, RFC and GMAC each filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Additionally, there is some risk that the sellers/servicers or other responsible parties might not be able to fully satisfy any judgment the Company secures in litigation and ResCap’s bankruptcy filing. Further, there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful or that the Company will not be delayed in realizing these recoveries. Such risks are contemplated in the scenarios the Company utilizes to calculate these recoveries, which are recognized on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. The Company believes that it has adequate liquidity resources to provide for anticipated cash outflows; however, if the Company does not realize or is delayed in realizing these expected recoveries, the Company may not have adequate liquidity to fully execute the strategy to reduce future potential economic losses by commuting policies and purchasing instruments issued or guaranteed by the Company, or to repay any intercompany borrowings. A portion of the commutation payments made since the fourth quarter of 2011 were financed through the National Secured Loan. MBIA Insurance Corporation’s ability to repay the loan and any accrued interest will be primarily predicated on MBIA Corp.’s ability to collect on its future receivables, including its ability to successfully enforce its rights to have the mortgage sellers/servicers cure, replace or repurchase ineligible mortgage loans from insured securitizations. MBIA Corp. also insures third-party holders of the Company’s asset/liability products segment’s obligations. If the Company was unable to meet payment or collateral requirements associated with these obligations, the holders thereof could make claims under the MBIA Corp. insurance policies. In 2008, to provide additional liquidity to the asset/liability products business, MBIA Corp. lent $2.0 billion to the segment on a secured basis under the MBIA Corp. Secured Loan. As of September 30, 2012, the outstanding balance of the MBIA Corp. Secured Loan was repaid in full. In May 2012, the NYSDFS approved the maturity extension of the MBIA Corp. Secured Loan to May 2013 with a maximum outstanding amount of $450 million, subject to MBIA Corp. obtaining prior regulatory approval from the NYSDFS for any draws under the facility. As of September 30, 2012, MBIA Corp. held cash and available-for-sale investments of $1.4 billion, of which $386 million comprised cash and highly liquid assets. As of December 31, 2011, MBIA Corp. held cash and available-for-sale investments of $1.5 billion, of which $534 million comprised cash and highly liquid assets. The Company believes that MBIA Corp.’s liquidity resources, including expected cash inflows, will adequately provide for anticipated cash outflows. In the event of unexpected liquidity requirements, the Company may have insufficient resources to meet its obligations or insufficient qualifying assets to support its surplus and reserves, and may seek to increase its cash holdings position by selling or financing assets, or raising external capital, and there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to draw on these additional sources of liquidity. National Liquidity Despite continued adverse macroeconomic conditions in the U.S., the incidence of default among U.S. public finance issuers remains extremely low and the Company believes that the liquidity position of its U.S. public finance insurance segment is sufficient to meet cash requirements in the ordinary course of business. Liquidity risk arises in the Company’s U.S. public finance insurance segment primarily from the following:
| • |  | The insurance policies issued or reinsured by National, the entity from which the Company conducts its U.S. public finance insurance business, provide unconditional and irrevocable guarantees of payments of the principal of, and interest or other amounts owing on, insured obligations when due or, in the event that the insurance company has the right, at its discretion, to accelerate insured obligations upon default or otherwise, upon the insurance company’s election to accelerate. In the event of a default in payment of principal, interest or other insured amounts by an issuer, National generally promises to make funds available in the insured amount within one to three business days following notification. In some cases, the amount due can be substantial, particularly if the default occurs on a transaction to which National has a large notional exposure or on a transaction structured with large, bullet-type principal maturities. The fact that the U.S. public finance insurance segment’s financial guarantee contracts generally cannot be accelerated by a party other than the insurer helps to mitigate liquidity risk in this segment.
| • |  | National has entered into certain intercompany transactions to support the liquidity needs of its affiliates. These transactions include the National Secured Loan to MBIA Insurance Corporation and the Asset Swap through which National provides liquid assets to the Company’s asset/liability products business. As a result of these transactions, National is subject to repayment risk, which may adversely affect its liquidity. The repayment of the National Secured Loan will primarily be predicated on MBIA Corp.’s ability to successfully enforce its rights to have mortgage sellers/servicers cure, replace or repurchase ineligible mortgage loans from securitizations it insured. In addition, changes in the market value of securities sold to National under its Asset Swap with the asset/liability products business may adversely affect its liquidity position if the asset/liability business were unable to pledge additional eligible assets in order to meet minimum required collateral amounts.
National held cash and short-term investments of $356 million as of September 30, 2012, of which $318 million was highly liquid and consisted predominantly of highly rated municipal, U.S. agency and corporate bonds. As of December 31, 2011, National held cash and short-term investments of $771 million, of which $703 million was highly liquid and consisted predominantly of highly rated municipal, U.S. agency and corporate bonds. With the exception of its loan to MBIA Insurance Corporation, most of National’s investments, including those encumbered by the Asset Swap, are liquid and highly rated.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings). + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6927468&loc=d3e6003-108592 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Number 94-6 -Paragraph 10 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. + Details
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