Jack Casey

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved proposed Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board changes to complaint processes for dealers and municipal advisors, saying they are consistent with the MSRB’s authority and do not overburden market participants.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will focus on strategic planning and will discuss continuing education for municipal advisors as well as continuing disclosure during its quarterly board meeting here next week.

Dougherty & Co. and its former employee Jeffrey Hill have agreed to $140,000 and $5,000 fines, respectively, to separately settle with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over charges that Hill recommended and initiated numerous unsuitable trades for two elderly customers.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell are urging Congress to pass legislation to help Puerto Rico before the commonwealth is forced to confront more serious health care and economic challenges.

Ten investment advisory firms have agreed to pay penalties totaling $660,456 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they violated the SEC's investment advisor pay-to-play rule.

Legislation designed to enhance the Securities and Exchange Commission’s cost-benefit analysis of new rules before approving them passed the House after drawing support from Republicans and some industry groups.

Public pension and municipal advisors are among the examination priorities for the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2017, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations announced Thursday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has agreed to clarify certain definitions and extend the effective date for proposed rule changes on complaints in response to market participants' concerns, but will not move forward with changes to address several other issues participants raised.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has agreed to admit wrongdoing and pay a $400,000 penalty to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it failed to disclose risks associated with New Jersey road projects to the investors that bought the bonds to finance them.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s net assets in fiscal 2016, similar to those for the previous year, are still close to triple where they were in 2010, even after a $5.5 million rebate the self-regulator gave dealers this past year.

The Campaign Legal Center is trying to convince a federal court overseeing a challenge brought by Republican groups that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s rule changes to prevent municipal advisors from engaging in pay-to-play practices are legal and needed to address the potential for corruption in the municipal market.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's enforcement priorities for 2017 will include ensuring municipal advisors are properly registered with regulators, checking broker-dealers' compliance with best execution requirements, and monitoring firms' efforts to avoid unsuitable recommendations of securities.

Former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux is asking a federal judge for a new trial over Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he committed securities fraud because he believes the previous trial was unfairly prejudiced against him.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of New York lawyer Jay Clayton to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission represents a balanced choice for the agency in line with Trump’s focus on deregulation but municipal participants will likely have to wait to find out what impact he may have on the muni market, individuals and groups said.

The Rhode Island Commerce Corp. and Securities and Exchange Commission are close to reaching a final settlement over fraud charges the SEC brought in connection with a private placement involving the video game company 38 Studios.

Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement officials are expected to focus on disclosure and pricing abuses as well as increase their oversight of municipal advisors during the coming year, according to regulators and market participants.

In the regulatory and legislative arenas next year, dealers will have to grapple with how to set up compliance programs for markup disclosure rules while municipal advisors try to adjust to the many rules adopted in 2016 and issuers work to improve disclosure to stave off legislation.

Ross Sinclaire & Associates has agreed to pay $250,000 and to disgorge ill-gotten gains to settle muni rules violations with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority after it improperly acted as a financial advisor and underwriter on the same muni issuances. The Cincinnati-based firm also failed to disclose material facts in offering documents and was late in filing underwriting disclosures with regulators, FINRA said.

SEC sues, U.S. Attorney indicts former official of New York State Common Retirement Fund and two brokers over pay-to-play scheme.

Congress should further debate the effectiveness of Securities and Exchange Commission and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules governing the failure to comply with municipal securities disclosure requirements, a congressional task force on Puerto Rico recommended.