DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABK) appointed Gregory Raab chief
risk officer to succeed David Wallis, who was promoted to president
and chief executive of the nation's second-largest bond insurer in
October.
The appointment comes as the industry has been reeling from a
foray into insuring mortgage-backed securities, which have
plummeted along with the housing market and increasing defaults and
delinquencies on home loans.
In his role with Ambac, Raab will manage Ambac's $430 billion of
net insured par outstanding and make key decisions involving risk
management and loss mitigation. Ambac has been hit with
financial-guarantee losses and provisions soared in the fourth
quarter.
Raab, who has 20 years of experience in strategy development,
previously worked as a chief risk officer for General Electric
Co.'s (GE) structured finance, public finance and capital markets
group.
Last week, the company reported its fourth-quarter net loss
narrowed on smaller write-downs and improved revenue figures. Ambac
has focused on trying to regain its footing and in a bid to
conserve cash, the company in December eliminated its regular
quarterly dividend of 1 cent, saving $11.5 million in the
process.
Shares of Ambac were up 3 cents, or 5.3% to 60 cents in
after-hours trading. The company's stock has lost 95% of its value
from its 52-week high in April.
- By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5285;
john.kell@dowjones.com