Ambac Expands UK Office; Ambac Assurance UK Hires Matthew Blakeway-Phillips and Miguel Sanchez.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2000

Ambac Assurance UK Limited announced today that it has hired Matthew Blakeway-Phillips and Miguel Sanchez as Directors in its London office. Both will report to David Wallis, Managing Director. Mr. Blakeway-Phillips will be responsible for Structured Products, specializing in securitizations and collateralized debt obligations (CDO's). Mr. Sanchez will work in Structured Finance and have responsibility for further developing Ambac's European business.

Mr. Blakeway-Phillips was previously Senior Vice President for Structured Products at PaineWebber. Prior to that he was Executive Director of Credit Derivatives with UBS Warburg. He received joint honors in philosophy and mathematics from Bristol University, England.

Mr. Sanchez joins Ambac from Schooner Asset Management where he was a General Partner. Previously, he had been Senior Vice President at SG Warburg. Mr. Sanchez began his career at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, an international law firm. Mr. Sanchez received his B.A. from Middlebury College in Vermont and his law and MBA degrees from Columbia University, New York.

Ambac Assurance UK is a subsidiary of Ambac Assurance Corporation. Ambac Assurance Corporation is the principal operating subsidiary of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. Ambac Assurance is a leading guarantor of municipal and structured finance obligations in the U.S. and abroad and is the successor of the oldest municipal bond insurance company, which wrote the first municipal insurance policy in 1971. Ambac Assurance has earned triple-A ratings, the highest ratings available from Moody's Investors Service, Inc., Standard & Poor's Ratings Group, Fitch, and Rating and Investment Information, Inc. Ambac Financial Group, Inc. common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol ABK).