CIFG

CIFG , a family of financial guaranty companies, was formerly a triple-A monoline insurer. Its mission is to provide global clients with secure and well-capitalized Triple-A credit protection through financial guarantee insurance, reinsurance and other credit enhancement products.

At its height, CIFG was capitalized with nearly $3 billion in claims-paying resources, providing insurance for investment grade transactions in the public finance, project finance and structured finance markets. As a result of the credit crisis of 2007 and the collapse of the mortgage backed securities market, CIFG was downgraded multiple times by all three ratings agencies and eventually had all its ratings withdrawn.

Structure of the group

On December 20, 2007, Banque Populaire Group and Caisse d’Epargne Group became shareholders of CIFG Holding, Ltd., the holding company for CIFG’s Triple-A rated financial guaranty subsidiaries.

With headquarters in New York and all functions represented in San Francisco, CIFG NA was granted a New York license in May 2002, and has licenses in nearly all US jurisdictions. The US business teams cover public finance, project finance, and structured finance.

With headquarters in Paris and a representative office in London, CIFG Europe is authorized to provide financial guaranties in the original 15 countries of the European Union. All functions and businesses are present and active in Europe, as they are in the US.

With headquarters in Bermuda, CIFG Guaranty, Ltd. previously provided financial guaranty reinsurance and was granted a license in Bermuda in October 2007.

Ratings

CIFG was rated Withdrawn, Withdrawn and Withdrawn by Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch, respectively.