Andrew Ackerman

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced yesterday that it is changing its Real-time Transaction Reporting System to increase the time dealers have to report trades late and make corrections to previously reported trades.

WASHINGTON — Groundbreaking for new U.S. home construction was up 0.5% in September to 590,000, while private housing permits fell 1.2% to 573,000, according to Commerce Department data released yesterday.

WASHINGTON - Groundbreaking for new U.S. home construction was up 0.5% in September to 590,000, while private housing permits fell 1.2% to 573,000, according to Commerce Department data released this morning.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to soon propose revising its Rule G-37 on political contributions to require municipal securities dealers, their muni professionals, and political action committees to disclose the political contributions they make to bond ballot election campaigns, the board announced yesterday, following its quarterly meeting last week.

WASHINGTON — State and local housing finance agency officials could barely contain their excitement at the Obama administration’s unveiling yesterday of its long-awaited bond purchase and liquidity program.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to soon propose changes to its Rule G-37 on political contributions that would require dealers to disclose political contributions to bond ballot election campaign committees, the board announced this morning, following its quarterly meeting last week.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Thursday that it has promoted two of its in-house attorneys.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Morgan Stanley $90,000 for buying and selling corporate and municipal bonds at unfair and unreasonable prices.

WASHINGTON — Though legislation that cleared the House Financial Services Committee yesterday would allow any municipality to participate in a derivative transaction as long as its counterparty is regulated, a high-level Treasury Department official said municipalities are still protected because those regulated parties will have to meet comprehensive business-conduct standards.

WASHINGTON — Michael Decker plans to rejoin the Securities and Industry Financial Markets Association next month after leaving the Regional Bond Dealers Association, a group he helped launch and co-lead in March 2008, both groups announced yesterday.

WASHINGTON — U.S. September retail sales posted a better-than-expected 1.5% decrease to $344.7 billion, on a seasonally adjusted basis, while excluding automobiles, retail sales rose 0.5% to $288.5 billion, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON – Michael Decker plans to leave the Regional Bond Dealers Association, the 20-month-old startup group he helped launch and co-lead, to rejoin the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the RBDA announced today.

WASHINGTON - U.S. September retail sales posted a better-than-expected 1.5% decrease to $344.7 billion, on a seasonally adjusted basis, while excluding automobiles, retail sales rose 0.5% to $288.5 billion, the Commerce Department reported this morning.

PHILADELPHIA — The Securities and Exchange Commission cannot set up a corporate-style disclosure regime for the municipal market under its rules because it does not have the statutory authority to do so, the SEC’s muni chief told financial advisers here yesterday.

WASHINGTON — A Securities and Exchange Commission official asked a congressional committee yesterday to strengthen its draft bill to regulate over-the-counter derivatives so that all securities-based swaps are treated as securities. However, the request was met by resistance from the panel’s chairman and another regulator.

WASHINGTON — Several market groups see a draft investor-protection bill that would require a majority of public members on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board as an opportunity to increase their influence over the self-regulatory organization, though the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is concerned about such a change.

The House Financial Services Committee late Friday distributed a discussion draft of legislation to regulate over-the-counter derivatives that appears to be substantially similar to one floated by the Obama administration this summer. The move left unresolved technical glitches that render meaningless a provision intended to restrict small municipalities from participating in derivatives transactions, attorneys said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board could bring in roughly $2 million in additional revenue from a rule change proposed this week that would eliminate the exemptions on underwriting fees for most short-term municipal securities, the board’s spokesperson said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — State securities regulators in Indiana and Colorado yesterday filed separate but similar administrative complaints against Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. for allegedly taking care of favored institutional clients over retail customers holding auction-rate securities, in the latest enforcement action against so-called downstream brokerages.

WASHINGTON — The 15-member Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board would be required to have a majority of public members under draft legislation released by Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., Thursday.