Ambac’s AA Rating Affirmed By S&P

NEW YORK.- Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) (Ambac) today announced that Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) affirmed the ’AA’ financial strength rating on Ambac Assurance Corporation (AAC) and removed it from CreditWatch Negative.

S&P stated that the rating affirmation reflects its assessment of Ambac’s:

* Satisfactory capital position, measured against conservative projections of potential losses;
* Successful ongoing efforts to remediate the outstanding mortgage-related exposure; and
* Broad refocusing of the business and risk management to position the company to take advantage of any new business opportunities and to meaningfully participate in the credit enhancement industry as quickly as possible, including retaining the necessary management and staff to support these initiatives.

The rating is on negative outlook, reflecting Ambac’s exposure to domestic nonprime mortgages and related exposures to collateralized debt obligations of asset-backed securities (CDO of ABS) and its impact on Ambac’s future business prospects.

Michael Callen, Chairman and CEO, stated, “Ambac’s remediation and commutation efforts will continue to address S&P’s concerns related to our RMBS and CDO of ABS exposures. Moreover, we are diligently working to rebuild our franchise and are pleased with the progress we are achieving in support of establishing a new subsidiary focused on the municipal and public purpose financing markets.”