Andrew Ackerman

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority censured and fined four firms a total of $175,500 for municipal and other rule violations, including $55,000 against Morgan Stanley for failing to report municipal and corporate securities transactions in a timely manner.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board would have more leeway to select members on a 15-member majority-public board under a revised draft of financial regulatory reform legislation released yesterday by the Senate Banking Committee.

WASHINGTON — Brazos Student Finance Corp. wants to be the first student loan lender to ask institutional investors to voluntarily tender, at a discount, illiquid auction-rate securities in exchange for new floating-rate notes, about a year after a much larger and more complex offer failed.

Import prices rose 0.7% in October, led by a 1.8% increase in fuel prices, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Import prices rose 0.7% in October, led by a 1.8% increase in fuel prices, the Labor Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission will likely vote to adopt final changes to its Rule 15c2-12 on disclosure “very early” next year and will then meet with lawmakers to see what can be done to expand its authority over the muni market, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said this week.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission’s settlement last week with JPMorgan over payments former bankers made to get municipal bond and swap business from Jefferson County, Ala., as well as other recent enforcement actions, show the SEC is not afraid to pursue complex and difficult financial crimes, the agency’s head of enforcement said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd yesterday unveiled a massive draft regulatory reform bill that envisions a more independent and powerful Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

David Rubin, founder of CDR Financial Products Inc., and two colleagues on Friday pleaded not guilty to criminal antitrust, wire fraud and other charges stemming from an alleged conspiracy to rig bids for municipal investment agreements and derivatives contracts for kickbacks.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board yesterday filed a new rule with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would allow it to collect a flat $60 “development fee” on examinations taken by municipal securities representatives and principals, as well as muni fund securities “limited principals,” to demonstrate competence in their areas of work.

WASHINGTON — The United States faces an immense challenge with an economy expected to be $2 trillion smaller than what it should be over the next five years and growing unemployment that is likely to last “for at least some time,” according to Felix Rohatyn, the veteran investment banker who helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that it has settled securities fraud and other charges against JPMorgan Securities Inc. and is pursuing charges against two of the firm’s former managing directors, Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin, in connection with muni bond and swap transactions done with Jefferson County, Ala.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this morning that it settled securities fraud and other charges with JPMorgan Securities Inc. and is pursuing charges against two of the firm’s former managing directors, Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin, in connection with muni bond and swap transactions done with Jefferson County, Ala.

WASHINGTON — Two prominent industry groups are raising strong objections to draft changes the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposed for its Rule G-37 on political contributions that would require dealer-affiliated banks and bank holding company political action committees to disclose the contributions they make to issuer officials.

WASHINGTON — Court documents filed in class action and other lawsuits by issuers’ lawyers who were briefed by attorneys at Bank of America — the one firm that is cooperating with the Justice Department’s antitrust probe in return for indemnity from criminal charges — present a disturbing picture of alleged widespread collusion between dozens of firms involved with municipal investment contracts and derivatives.

PHOENIX — The issue of how much information should be disclosed for certain variable-rate demand obligations has put the National Association of Bond Layers at loggerheads with the Securities and Exchange Commission staff for years. The ongoing dispute boiled over once again during NABL’s Bond Attorneys Workshop here this week.

Congress should repeal the Tower Amendment and other securities law exemptions for municipal issuers so that the Securities and Exchange Commission can require them to comply with certain disclosure requirements as well as with generally accepted governmental accounting standards, SEC commissioner Elisse Walter said Wednesday night.

WASHINGTON — The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is not opposed to legislation that would require the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to have a majority of public members, but wants Congress to make sure they have financial expertise and that the MSRB has more time for the transition, the new head of its Washington office said last week.

WASHINGTON — As House lawmakers this week vote on a bill that would require a majority of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s members to be public, the new chairman is stressing that the MSRB’s existing dealer-dominated structure has served the market and investors well since its creation in 1975.

WASHINGTON — The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s municipal securities division plans to honor Citi’s Frank Chin with its 2009 Honor Roll Award at a luncheon today, in recognition of his significant contributions to SIFMA and the muni industry.