Assured Guaranty is a financial guaranty insurer. Its core product is an unconditional, irrevocable insurance policy that pays scheduled principal and interest on a debt obligation if the borrower defaults. This guarantee effectively elevates the credit rating of an insured bond to Assured Guaranty's own financial strength rating, allowing issuers to borrow more cheaply. Assured Guaranty sells policies at bond issuance to municipal issuers, infrastructure entities, and structured finance counterparties, and also insures bonds purchased in the secondary market. The vast majority of new business is U.S. municipal bonds, where Assured Guaranty holds roughly 58% market share in an effective duopoly with Build America Mutual. Assured Guaranty also writes non-U.S. public finance (primarily U.K. infrastructure and regulated utilities) and global structured finance (fund finance, bank balance sheet relief, insurance securitizations), where it is essentially the sole active writer. Revenue comes from insurance premiums, which may be paid upfront or over time and accumulate in a deferred premium revenue balance, and from investment income on an $8.5B investment portfolio. Assured Guaranty also holds a roughly 30% stake in Sound Point Capital Management, an alternative credit manager with over $44B in AUM, which contributes fee-based income. The company systematically returns excess capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, having returned $5.4B since 2013. Growth priorities include expanding secondary market municipal insurance, geographic expansion into Australia, Asia, and Continental Europe, and shifting structured finance toward shorter-duration, repeatable transactions.