After 20+ years in the trenches of the fixed income market, I decided to take a break and do what I do best, writing.

Personal Finance > Bonds Recent trends in bond insurance

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I've often thought of bond insurance as a waste of time. Long the mainstay of the muni market, bond insurance has crept into other fixed income markets as well. The reason for this should be obvious, money.

I'm no expert on the topic, but I guess it was easy money putting an insurer's imprimatur on esoteric products with complex and sometimes indiscernible cash flows (A lot of SAT words in that sentence). While bond insurers have ventured from munis before, it was usually into related areas where they could have a good handle on what the potential risks were.

In my days tradi...

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