AGO CREDIT MONITORIndependent credit surveillance · September 2026
The one-line verdict

At 5%+ rates, nothing breaks at the solvency level. What breaks is a series of discrete, binary restructuring events.

UST 10y at 5.04% and gilt 10y at 5.49% — both the highest since 2007/08 — do not threaten Assured Guaranty's capacity to pay. The stress transmits through rating migration into the BIG (below-investment-grade) bucket and through individual restructurings costing tens to low-hundreds of millions each: a rating-agency capital-ratio story wearing a claims-story costume.

Stressed value per share — four scenarios

Computed live from the Stress Lab engine — the same model that powers the interactive page, so these numbers cannot drift from it. Ultimate loss converts to present value as scheduled debt service (non-accelerated), taxed at 21%, and absorbed into adjusted book value. The share price reference is $70.35 (Sept 2026).

ScenarioUltimate lossPV lossStressed ABV / sharevs $70.35CPR coverage

Analytical scenarios, not forecasts, price targets, or rating-agency results. S&P definitions: AA severe = GDP −15%, unemployment 20% · AAA extreme = Great Depression rerun. Open the Stress Lab to change every assumption yourself.

A $9B loss doesn't arrive in a normal world — what the extreme scenario implies for everything else, and what the company can do about it.

The company at a glance

Filing-derived figures, Q2 2026 10-Q and 2Q26 Financial Supplement. Data as of June 30, 2026 unless noted.

$281.4B
Net par insured
$8.48B
BIG (below-investment-grade) — 3.0% of par
$9.98B
Claims-paying resources
$189.72
Adjusted book value per share
$3.57B
Net unearned premium reserve (UPR)
$192M
Net expected loss to be paid

Credit explorer traffic lights

named credits reviewed line by line. Traffic lights are reviewer judgment, not agency ratings.

Open the credit explorer →

The four buckets — kept separate

BucketSizeWhat it means
(a) Expected claims~$192MNet expected loss to be paid. Bounded — and rising rates mechanically shrink its present value.
(b) BIG migration$8.48B (3.0%)The real transmission channel. Event-driven (Thames, Brightline, Spanish solar), not model-driven. BIG-2 jumped $3.81B → $4.93B in six months.
(c) Portfolio marksAOCI –$251MPure GAAP optics (~$375M per 100bp) — not earnings, not statutory capital.
(d) Capital$10B CPR44:1 statutory leverage. Even a $500M all-in Brightline loss ≈ 5% of claims-paying resources.

Live breaks — probable claims / restructurings

NameParStatus
Brightline Trains Florida$1.1B (BIG 2)≥$350M restructuring-support agreement (Aug 2026, not yet effective); no filing as of Sept 20, 2026
Thames Water$2,365M (B)RP2 proposes ~25% Class A writedown vs. special-administration risk; £3bn super-senior primes Class A
South East Water$712M (BBB–)Cut to junk at two agencies in 2026 (filing rating stale)
Sacramento City USD$837M (BBB–)Fitch BB– (Apr 2026) — genuine surprise blow-up
Palomar Health$374M CCC BIG slice ($637M B– total)Covenant breaches; forbearance endpoint unverified
Jackson MS Water & Sewer$140M (BB)Federal receivership; paid via court-ordered rate hike

Par and internal ratings per the 2Q26 Financial Supplement (June 30, 2026).

Watch list — plausible BIG migration

What doesn't break

What would change the view

Positive

  • RSA goes effective
  • Thames RP2 with equity recovery
  • ~150bp rate rally
  • BIG-2 reverses two quarters

Negative

  • Brightline BIG 2→3 (claims paid)
  • Thames SAR with deep Class A haircuts
  • A second transport/healthcare restructuring
  • S&P capital-adequacy action

Outlook

Stable on the guarantor's capacity to pay; negative bias on surveillance migration through H1 2027, pending the Brightline RSA and Thames RP2/SAR binaries. At ~0.37–0.44× book, the equity already prices a severe-ish surveillance outcome — "severe" means ~$1.5–2.0B against $10B of resources, not a zero.

The bull offset: H1 2026 PVP was $152M, +48% — US public-finance PVP alone beat all of H1 2025. The same 5% rates stressing Thames and Brightline are why issuers pay up for wraps.