Do you remember when Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York and no stranger to the financial industry, gave the bond insurance industry five days to get its act together, even as he lobbies for a government bailout of these companies? Well, time's almost up. There are signs that some companies are responding. Privately held Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, for example, has asked regulators to approve a plan that would split the company in two, the Financial Times notes. That would seem to dovetail with the state's threatened break up, to separate the core muni business from the risky structured finance stuff. At the same time, Ambac reportedly has plans to issue $2 billion rights. As for the industry, the clock is really ticking.

For more:
- here's an article on Financial Guaranty from the Financial Times
- here's more on Spitzer's bailout proposal from Financial News Online