Robert G. Shoback resigned on Dec. 31 from his post as senior managing director of Ambac Financial Group and its bond insurer subsidiary Ambac Assurance Corp., the parent company announced today in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ambac Assurance is one of the many bond insurers that got crushed during the financial crisis due to its backing of toxic structured finance products.
Once the crisis hit, Ambac attempted to reenter the municipal business by splitting its books and creating a muni-only insurer called Everspan Financial Guaranty Corp., and in February of last year Shoback was named executive vice president. However, the company was unable to raise the necessary capital and plans to launch Everspan were postponed indefinitely.
Shoback has been with Ambac since December 1998, when he joined as managing director in the public finance division for the northern region. In January 2004 he was promoted to senior managing director with a focus on public finance in the East, structured real estate and health care.
According to the regulatory filing, Shoback will be given a severance payment of $212,000, plus up to $25,000 for legal expenses and outplacement services. He is not eligible for a bonus for 2009.
The filing also indicates that Shoback will “make himself reasonably available to Ambac” for the next 12 months. The filing omits any mention of why he resigned. A comment from Ambac was not available by press time.
Before joining Ambac, Shoback was a senior vice president in the housing finance group at Lehman Brothers. He also worked in the public finance division at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1986 to 1994.
