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Business Developments and Risks and Uncertainties
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Business Developments and Risks and Uncertainties

Note 1: Business Developments and Risks and Uncertainties

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, 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 10: 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 March 31, 2013, the Company has seen ratings downgrades, a near cessation of new insurance business, 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 National. As of March 31, 2013, National was rated BB with a developing outlook by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”) and Baa2 with a review for downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”). In May of 2013, S&P upgraded National’s rating to BBB with a credit watch positive outlook. In addition, in May of 2013, S&P upgraded MBIA Inc.’s rating to B- with a credit watch positive from B- with a negative outlook and upgraded MBIA Insurance Corporation’s rating to B with a stable outlook from CCC with a negative outlook.

Bank of America Settlement

In May of 2013, MBIA Inc., together with its subsidiaries MBIA Corp. and National, entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement and related agreements (the “BofA Settlement Agreement”) with Bank of America Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, “Bank of America”). Under the terms of the BofA Settlement Agreement, MBIA Corp. received a payment of approximately $1.7 billion, consisting of $1.6 billion in cash and $136 million principal amount of MBIA Inc.’s 5.70% Senior Notes due 2034. In exchange for such payment, MBIA Corp. agreed to dismiss the litigation commenced in September 2008 against Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (“Countrywide”), among other parties, and later amended to include claims against Bank of America, relating to breaches of representations and warranties on certain MBIA-insured securitizations sponsored by Countrywide. Bank of America and MBIA have also agreed to the commutation of all of the MBIA Corp. policies held by Bank of America, which have a notional insured amount of approximately $7.4 billion, and of which $6.1 billion are policies insuring credit default swaps (“CDS”) held by Bank of America referencing commercial real estate exposures. MBIA Corp. will have no further payment obligations under the commuted policies. The New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYSDFS”) advised MBIA Corp. that the NYSDFS did not object to the BofA Settlement Agreement.

Under the terms of the BofA Settlement Agreement, Bank of America received a five-year warrant to purchase 9.94 million shares of MBIA common stock at a price of $9.59 per share. Bank of America has also agreed to dismiss the pending litigation between the parties concerning the restructuring transactions announced by MBIA on February 18, 2009 (the “Transformation”) and the pending litigation between the parties concerning the senior debt Consent Solicitation completed by MBIA in the fourth quarter of 2012. In addition, Bank of America agreed to withdraw the purported “notice of default” it sent in connection with such Consent Solicitation.

Under the terms of the BofA Settlement Agreement, the dismissals of the litigations referenced above are initially being filed on a “without prejudice” basis. The parties will refile such dismissals on a “with prejudice” basis provided that, within the one-year period following execution of the BofA Settlement Agreement, none of the claims released pursuant to the BofA Settlement Agreement are reinstated and neither party is required to make a payment on any such released claims. The Company views the likelihood of such an event as remote, and thus expects that the litigation dismissals will be filed on a “with prejudice” basis at the expiration of such one-year period.

MBIA Corp.’s policies insuring the residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”) securitizations originated by Countrywide will continue to be in full force and effect, and MBIA Corp. will continue to make timely payments of principal and interest when due under such policies. Bank of America will have no further representation and warranty liability with respect to the origination of the mortgage loans in the MBIA-insured Countrywide and certain other securitizations.

In addition, MBIA Corp. has entered into a $500 million three-year secured revolving credit agreement with Blue Ridge Investments, L.L.C., an affiliate of Bank of America (the “BofA Secured Loan”). Borrowings may be used for general corporate purposes and will be secured by a pledge of collateral consisting of the following: (i) MBIA Corp.’s right to receive put-back recoveries related to ineligible mortgage loans included in its insured RMBS transactions; (ii) MBIA Corp.’s future recoveries on defaulted insured RMBS transactions resulting from expected excess spread generated by performing loans in such transactions; (iii) MBIA Corp.’s future installment premiums; and (iv) 65% of the voting capital stock in MBIA Corp.’s wholly-owned subsidiary, MBIA UK (Holdings) Limited. The BofA Secured Loan includes a number of provisions that govern MBIA Corp.’s ability to draw on the loan and use the proceeds from the borrowings, limit the amount MBIA Corp. can use to fund commutations without the consent of Bank of America, and require it to prepay borrowings. The loan also includes customary representations and warranties and customary affirmative, negative and financial covenants, including a requirement that MBIA Corp. maintain at least $750 million of statutory capital (defined as policyholders’ surplus plus contingency reserves).

The payment from Bank of America, including the MBIA Inc. bonds, was used to repay the remaining outstanding balance and accrued interest on MBIA Corp.’s secured loan from National (the “National Secured Loan”) in accordance with its terms. The National Secured Loan balance of $1.7 billion as of March 31, 2013 was reduced to approximately $1.6 billion prior to the Bank of America settlement as a result of the receipt of $110 million in settlement of Flagstar Bank’s put-back obligation.

The value of the settlement is consistent with amounts recorded on MBIA Corp.’s statutory balance sheet as of December 31, 2012. MBIA Corp.’s liquidity and capital risk profile has substantially improved as a result of the settlement. While the Company has updated its estimates to reflect the BofA Settlement Agreement in its financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2013, certain of the agreements will be accounted for in the second quarter of 2013 as of the settlement date.

Pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of warrants that were issued by MBIA to Warburg Pincus Private Equity X, L.P. and certain of its affiliates (“Warburg Pincus”) pursuant to an Investment Agreement, dated as of December 10, 2007, as amended and restated as of February 6, 2008, by and between MBIA and Warburg Pincus, the strike price under such warrants will be decreased and the aggregate number of shares of MBIA common stock to be issued upon exercise of such warrants will be increased, in each case as a result of the issuance of the warrant to Bank of America. The adjustments to the strike price and number of such underlying shares are not expected to have a material dilutive effect on the MBIA common stock.

Societe Generale Settlement

In May of 2013, the Company entered into an agreement with Societe Generale pursuant to which MBIA commuted $4.2 billion of gross insured exposure comprising asset-backed securities (“ABS”) collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”), structured commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) pools and commercial real estate (“CRE”) CDOs. The amount MBIA paid to Societe Generale in consideration of commuting its insured exposure was consistent with MBIA Corp.’s aggregate statutory loss reserves for the exposures commuted. Also, pursuant to the agreement, Societe Generale agreed to dismiss the pending litigation between the parties concerning the Transformation, which includes any appeals of the decision denying the Article 78 petition and the plenary case.

Transformation Litigation Resolution

As a result of the Bank of America settlement and the Societe Generale settlement, all litigation brought originally by the group of eighteen domestic and international financial institutions, relating to the establishment of National, has been resolved.

Other

As of March 31, 2013, the liquidity position of MBIA, which consists of the liquidity positions of the Company’s corporate segment and asset/liability products segment, was $373 million compared with $239 million as of December 31, 2012. During the three months ended March 31, 2013, $115 million was released from an escrow account under the MBIA group’s tax sharing agreement (the “Tax Escrow Account”), which resulted in an increase to MBIA’s liquidity position. Management believes that MBIA can support its operating needs for the foreseeable future primarily from additional anticipated releases of assets from the Tax Escrow Account, which releases are subject to the risk of National incurring net tax losses in the future and declines in the value of the assets held in the Tax Escrow Account.

MBIA Corp. continues 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 the failure of certain mortgage originators to honor contractual obligations to repurchase ineligible mortgage loans from securitizations the Company insured, commutation payments to reduce liabilities and claim payments have placed liquidity pressure on MBIA Corp. The failure of certain mortgage originators to repurchase ineligible mortgages from securitizations the Company insured represents significant breaches of their contractual obligations. As of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, MBIA Corp.’s cash and liquid assets were $258 million and $345 million, respectively. The Company believes MBIA Corp.’s current liquidity position, together with future cash inflows and amounts available under a lending facility, is adequate to make expected future claim payments.

During the three months ended March 31, 2013, MBIA Corp. made $139 million in gross claim payments, and commuted $2.1 billion of gross insured exposure, primarily comprising investment grade corporate CDOs. Subsequent to March 31, 2013, MBIA Corp. agreed to commute an additional $13.4 billion of gross insured exposure, primarily comprising structured CMBS pools, first-lien subprime RMBS, high yield corporate CDOs, CRE CDOs, structured insurance securities, ABS CDOs and first-lien alternative-A RMBS, including the aggregate notional amount of $7.4 billion described above in the “Bank of America Settlement” discussion and the aggregate notional amount of $4.2 billion described above in the “Societe Generale Settlement” discussion.

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 sellers/servicers have contractual obligations to cure, repurchase or replace such ineligible mortgage loans. These expected recoveries are generally referred to as “put-backs”, and are calculated based on the Company’s assessment of a range of possible collection outcomes. The Company’s assessment of the ineligibility of individual mortgage loans has been 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:

 

   

Management’s expected liquidity and capital forecasts for MBIA Corp. for 2013 reflect adequate resources to pay expected claims. In addition, MBIA Corp. can borrow under the BofA Secured Loan to pay claims. However, there is risk to the liquidity forecast as the Company’s second-lien RMBS and remaining insured CMBS pools are potentially volatile. There are risks to the capital forecast due to those potential liabilities, potential volatility in the collection of put-back recoverables and potential volatility associated with remaining ABS CDO exposures. Further, the remaining insured portfolio, aside from these exposures, could deteriorate and result in loss reserves and claim payments. Management believes it will have adequate resources to pay expected claims. However, if MBIA Corp. experiences higher than expected claims payments or is unable to commute exposures that represent substantial risk to the Company, MBIA Corp. may ultimately have insufficient resources to continue paying claims, which could also cause the NYSDFS to commence a rehabilitation or liquidation proceeding, as per Article 74 of the New York Insurance Law (“NYIL”), against MBIA Insurance Corporation (an “MBIA Corp. Proceeding”). As a result of the BofA Settlement Agreement, the risk of an MBIA Corp. Proceeding has been significantly reduced.

 

   

Management believes that MBIA Inc. has sufficient liquidity resources to meet all of its obligations for the foreseeable future. However, 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 invested asset performance and a potential inadequacy of dividends from its principal operating subsidiaries. In order to meet liquidity requirements, MBIA Inc. may finance unencumbered assets through intercompany or third-party facilities, in some cases with NYSDFS approval, or use free cash or other assets, 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.

 

   

Incurred losses from insured RMBS have declined from their peaks. However, due to the large percentage of ineligible mortgage loans included within the MBIA Corp. insured second-lien portfolio, performance remains difficult to predict and losses could ultimately be in excess of MBIA Corp.’s current estimated loss reserves. In addition, MBIA Corp.’s efforts to recover losses from second-lien RMBS originators could be delayed, settled at amounts below its contractual claims or potentially settled at amounts below those recorded in its financial statements. Refer to “Note 5: Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves” for information about MBIA Corp.’s RMBS reserves and recoveries.

 

   

Further economic stress might cause increases in MBIA Corp.’s loss estimates on its remaining exposure, particularly within its higher risk structured CMBS pool, ABS CDO and RMBS exposures. As of March 31, 2013, MBIA Corp.’s CMBS pools and CRE CDOs gross par outstanding, including approximately $6.1 billion of exposure held by Bank of America that was commuted subsequent to March 31, 2013, and ABS CDO gross par outstanding was approximately $17.6 billion and $4.1 billion, respectively. The Company’s primary strategy for managing its CMBS pool and ABS CDO exposures has been commutations. The Company’s ability to commute insured transactions is limited by available liquidity, including the availability of the BofA Secured Loan, intercompany loans and the use of other available financing structures and liquidity, some of which could be subject to regulatory approval by the NYSDFS. The BofA Secured Loan includes a number of provisions that govern MBIA Corp.’s ability to draw on the loan and use the proceeds from the borrowings, limit the amount MBIA Corp. can use to fund commutations without the consent of Bank of America, and require it to prepay borrowings. The loan also includes customary representations and warranties and customary affirmative and restricted covenants, including a requirement that MBIA Corp. maintain at least $750 million of statutory capital (defined as policyholders’ surplus plus contingency reserves). There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to fund further commutations through borrowings or otherwise. Refer to “Note 5: Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves” for information about the Company’s estimate of losses on its exposures.

 

   

As of March 31, 2013, MBIA Insurance Corporation was not in compliance with a requirement under NYIL to hold qualifying assets in an amount necessary to satisfy its contingency reserves. MBIA Insurance Corporation has reported the deficit and has requested approval from the NYSDFS, to release a portion of its contingency reserves as of September 30, 2012, December 31, 2012 and March 31, 2013, but to date has not received approval. In addition, as of March 31, 2013, MBIA Insurance Corporation exceeded its aggregate risk limits under NYIL. MBIA Insurance Corporation previously filed a formal notification with the NYSDFS regarding the overage and submitted a plan to achieve compliance with its limits. While the NYSDFS has not taken action against MBIA Insurance Corporation, the NYSDFS may restrict MBIA Insurance Corporation from making commutation or other payments or may impose other remedial actions for failing to meet these requirements.

 

   

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 on 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 a result of the BofA Settlement Agreement, the risk of an MBIA Corp. Proceeding has been significantly reduced. While the Company believes MBIA Corp. will have adequate resources to pay expected claims, in the event it does not have adequate resources in the future and the NYSDFS were to commence an MBIA Corp. Proceeding, the Company would be subject to the following:

 

   

Medium-term notes (“MTNs”) issued by MBIA’s subsidiaries MBIA Global Funding, LLC (“GFL”) and Meridian Funding, LLC (“Meridian”), which are insured by MBIA Corp., would accelerate. To the extent GFL failed to pay the accelerated amounts under the GFL MTNs or the collateral securing the Meridian MTNs was deemed insufficient to pay the accelerated amounts under the Meridian MTNs, the MTN holders would have policy claims against MBIA Corp. for scheduled payments of interest and principal;

 

   

An MBIA Corp. Proceeding may accelerate certain investment agreements issued by MBIA Inc., including, in some cases, with make-whole payments. While the investment agreements are fully collateralized with high quality collateral, the settlements of these amounts could reduce MBIA Inc.’s liquidity resources, and to the extent MBIA fails to pay the accelerated amounts under these investment agreements or the collateral securing these investment agreements is deemed insufficient to pay the accelerated amounts due, the holders of the investment agreements would have policy claims against MBIA Corp.;

 

   

CDS counterparties may seek to terminate CDS contracts insured by MBIA Corp. and make market-based damage claims (irrespective of whether actual credit-related losses are expected under the underlying exposure). The Company believes that such an acceleration would likely eliminate any residual value in MBIA Corp.;

 

   

The Company may be unable to carry out its tax planning strategies as a result of an MBIA Corp. Proceeding. This may cause the Company to record additional allowances against a portion or all of its deferred tax assets. Refer to “Note 9: Income Taxes” for information about the Company’s deferred tax assets. In addition, the Company currently files a consolidated tax return. An MBIA Corp. Proceeding could result in challenges to the tax sharing arrangement among the MBIA affiliates that might adversely affect the Company’s ability to manage taxes efficiently;

 

   

The rehabilitator or liquidator would replace the Board of Directors of MBIA Insurance Corporation and take control of the operations and assets of MBIA Insurance Corporation, which would result in MBIA Inc. losing control of MBIA Insurance Corporation and possible changes to MBIA Insurance Corporation’s strategies and management;

 

   

An MBIA Corp. Proceeding would be an event of default under the BofA Secured Loan and, as a result, the loan could be accelerated and Bank of America would have rights to the loan’s collateral; and

 

   

An MBIA Corp. Proceeding may impose unplanned costs on MBIA Inc. In addition, MBIA Corp. would be subject to significant additional expenses arising from the appointment of a rehabilitator or liquidator, as receiver, and payment of the fees and expenses of the advisors to such rehabilitator or liquidator.