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Ambac
Financial Group, Inc. Added to KLD's Domini 400
Social Index
BOSTON,
MA - January 14, 2004 - KLD Research & Analytics,
Inc., an independent investment research firm, announced
today that Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (ABK) has
been added to KLD's Domini 400 SocialSM
Index (DS 400 Index). Ambac Financial Group, Inc.
is headquartered in New York, New York.
Ambac
Financial Group, Inc. provides financial guarantee
products for public finance and structured finance
obligations. The company also provides investment
agreements, interest rate swaps, total return swaps,
investment advisory, and cash management services
through its financial services division.
Reasons the company was added to KLD's DS 400
Index
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Ambac's insurance for municipal bonds helps lower
the financial costs of raising capital for municipalities
and broadens their potential investor base by
decreasing the perceived risk of their bonds.
Cities and communities with poor credit ratings
in particular benefit from the availability of
insurance for the financing of projects they undertake,
which might not be affordable without such insurance.
-
Ambac offers stock options to all of its employees.
Grants are determined by performance and are calculated
as a percentage of total cash compensation.
-
The company offers several retirement benefits
plans to substantially all of its employees. Ambac
Financial Group, Inc. has a both a defined benefit
pension plan and a 401(k) savings plan. The company
matches 50% of employee contributions up to 6%
of compensation. The company also contributes
an additional 6% of compensation in the form of
profit sharing.
About the KLD Family of Indexes
KLD's Domini 400 Social Index (DS 400 Index) is
the established benchmark for measuring the impact
of social screening on financial performance. Launched
in May 1990, the DS 400 Index is the first benchmark
for equity portfolios subject to multiple social
screens. The index consists of 400 diversified equities
that pass a broad range of social screening criteria.
The KLD Broad Market SocialSM
Index (KLD BMS Index) is the screened subset of
the Russell 3000®
Index, and the KLD Large Cap SocialSM
Index (KLD LCS Index) is the screened subset of
the Russell 1000®
Index. The KLD BMS and LCS Indexes were launched
on January 1, 2001.
About KLD Research & Analytics, Inc.
KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. is an independent
investment research firm providing investment management
tools that are used by professionals to serve clients
who require investment strategies based on social
responsibility, responsive governance and corporate
integrity. KLD products and services, including
Socrates (a web-based, company research tool)
are used for screening, compliance and asset gathering.
For
more information about KLD or the KLD Domini 400
Social Index, please see our website (www.kld.com)
or contact Karen Agredo by phone (617.426.5270)
or via e-mail (kagredo@kld.com).
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