The issuer effect on default risk insured municipal bond yields

In this study, an interesting aspect of the secondary market's pricing of the riskiness of insured municipal bonds is examined. Do secondary market investors still consider the underlying intrinsic credit quality of the issuer in pricing insured bonds? Is the pricing of this “issuer effect” treated equally for both revenue and general obligation bonds? We find that, while the market does not differentiate between equally insured revenue and general obligation bonds, the intrinsic credit quality of the issuer is reflected in the bond issue's quality spread. The results suggest that investors are concerned with the default risk protection of insured municipal bonds regardless of whether they are revenue or general obligation bonds. The market does not perceive insurers to be perfect substitutes for issuers in a risk transfer. Further, the results suggest there is justification for obtaining an agency rating according to issuer credit quality even for insured bonds.