RMBS Policyholders Comment on Ambac Rehabilitation Plan
Wisconsin OCI Proposes to Have Ambac’s Liabilities to its Parent Leapfrog Ambac’s Policyholders
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The RMBS Policyholders Group today commented on the Plan of Rehabilitation for the Segregated Account of Ambac Assurance Corporation recently filed by the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI).
The Plan continues a disturbing pattern of OCI favoring the company and its shareholder to the detriment of policyholders, whom OCI is charged with protecting, the Group said. Three out of four Plan projections submitted by OCI show that policyholders in the Segregated Account would not be paid in full. At the same time, claims by Ambac’s parent against Ambac’s General Account, including those which may be brought if the parent files for bankruptcy, may be paid in full. The Plan also requires policyholders to assign to Ambac their rights to payment under their underlying contracts which are insured by Ambac, even though policyholders are not paid in full.
This Plan is a way to divert value from policyholders to Ambac’s shareholder, turning insurance law priorities on their head and possibly jeopardizing the solvency of even the General Account, according to the Group.
The Group noted that there has been speculation that Ambac’s parent company is delaying its own bankruptcy filing until after the rehabilitation plan takes effect, to allow the parent to assert significant claims in bankruptcy proceedings against its insurance company subsidiary. The RMBS Policyholder Group stated that all such claims lack merit and, in any event, whether known or unknown, such claims should be placed in the Segregated Account and subordinated to policyholders to preserve the senior priority of policyholder claims.
According to the Group, a review of the plan confirms the Group’s worst fears: the OCI has failed to fulfill its statutory obligation to protect the rights of all policyholders with this Plan. Those in the Segregated Account, who hold insurance policies that should have priority over Ambac’s non-policyholder claims, are forced to bear the full brunt of Ambac's financial deterioration and face the potential to recover only a fraction of what non-policyholders and other policyholders will receive on their claims. At the very least, any claims made by Ambac’s parent should be allocated to the Segregated Account and be subordinate to policyholders. The OCI's Plan undermines the basic tenets of insurance, flies in the face of fundamental fairness, and perpetuates the blatant lack of transparency that has characterized this entire rehabilitation process—all to the ultimate detriment of Wisconsin and its reputation as an equitable place to do business.
Moreover, the Plan arbitrarily allocates sole power to the OCI and Ambac as Management Services Provider, with essentially no recourse for policyholders, and is designed not to rehabilitate the Segregated Account, but to run off the account over time and subordinate one set of Ambac policyholders to shareholders, creditors, and other policyholders of Ambac. The Plan goes so far as to include broad releases of liability, injunctive protection, and immunity for Ambac’s executives and insiders.
Specifically, the Group outlined a few of the basic deficiencies of the Plan:
•The Plan discriminates against policyholders in the Segregated Account by subordinating their claims to obligations remaining at Ambac’s General Account, including unsecured, non-priority claims submitted by Ambac’s shareholder.
•Segregated Account policyholders are to receive 75% of any claim payments in the form of Surplus Notes of questionable value that may not pay any interest or principal before 2050, even if Ambac’s losses are in line with base case scenarios projected by the OCI’s own financial advisors. In contrast, General Account creditors and policyholders would receive 100% of any claim payments in cash.
•Despite forcing Segregated Account policyholders to take a substantial discount on their policy claims, the Plan provides no protections against Ambac distributing value to its equity holders, including the use of Ambac’s $7 billion net operating losses.
•OCI’s disclosure of conclusory financial projections in support of the Plan is woefully lacking in substance or detail, and OCI continues to refuse to share information with policyholders.
•The Plan requires policyholders in the Segregated Account to continue to pay premiums for policies that will not cover their claims.
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