Assured Guaranty Ltd. has announced that its board of directors has authorised a new two million share repurchase programme.

The programme replaces a prior programme, which was completed in May 2010.

Dominic Frederico, president and CEO of Assured Guaranty, said: "This new programme will support our continuing commitment to manage our capital efficiently and to utilise capital where we see accretive opportunities. We will continue to evaluate our capital options while adhering to our priorities of ratings improvement, portfolio acquisition, reinsurance recapture, purchasing insured securities and share repurchases."

Assured Guaranty has also declared a quarterly dividend of 0.045 cents per common share. The dividend is payable on September 2, 2010 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 19, 2010.

Assured is scheduled to announce second-quarter earnings after US markets close today.