Jack Casey

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposed on Tuesday to create a standalone minimum denomination rule that would revise current and proposed requirements because of dealer complaints.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has improved its EMMA system to make it easier for issuers to disclose bank loans and other alternative financings after state and local officials complained the process was too confusing and seemed to lose some of these disclosures.

Dealers are struggling with how to comply with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed markup disclosure requirements and whether they can create computer programs or rely on pricing services for compliance.

Municipal market participants at The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance Conference shared concrete examples of how disclosure is improving in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission's continuing disclosure voluntary enforcement initiative.

Stark Municipal Brokers and Performance Trust Capital Partners have agreed to pay a combined $25,000 over reporting violations uncovered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and a former chief executive officer of an Atlanta-based securities company has agreed to be barred from the market in a FINRA action that involves alleged securities fraud.

Money market mutual funds’ holdings of municipal bonds fell by nearly $42 billion dollars between the second quarter of this year and the same period last year, a change that is partially the result of soon-to-become-effective rule changes from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico has been meeting with government agencies and gathering input from roughly 335 groups and individuals as it works to develop recommendations on how to address the commonwealth's struggling economy.

The securities fraud jury verdict against the city of Miami and its former budget director Michael Boudreaux on Wednesday will likely embolden the Securities and Exchange Commission to litigate rather than settle cases against issuers and their officials, lawyers said on Thursday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved proposed rule changes from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board that would authorize the board to provide three-year old trade data for academic studies that would identify dealers in some way without naming them.

In a first-of-a-kind verdict, a Miami jury found on Wednesday that Miami and its former budget director, Michael Boudreaux, were guilty of securities fraud for faulty disclosures in connection with three 2009 municipal bond offerings.

The House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday passed a bill by a vote of 30 to 26 that would divert the funding the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board gets from enforcement actions, remove the independence of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Municipal Securities, and allow certain banks to be exempt from liquidity coverage ratio requirements.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. has preliminarily agreed to pay a penalty and disgorge ill-gotten gains to settle SEC charges that it misled five Wisconsin school districts, which ultimately lost $200 million from investments that failed during the financial crisis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission should consider obtaining registration and disclosure authority over corporate conduit borrowers in the municipal market, said SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced that a subsidiary of BOK Financial Corp. that served as indenture trustee and dissemination agent for municipal conduit bonds previously tied to securities fraud has agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle charges that it helped to conceal numerous problems and red flags from investors in the securities.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is urging a congressional task force to ensure Puerto Rico and its authorities follow five key principles with regard to their municipal debt, including voluntarily disclosing to investors information on bank loans, alternative financings, and other information that could affect their debt or credit profiles.

The Government Finance Officers Association sent an alert to its members on Thursday about the importance of timely disclosures in the wake of issuer settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission under its voluntary continuing disclosure enforcement initiative.

A federal judge in Puerto Rico is allowing a lawsuit that challenges a Gov. Alejandro García Padilla executive order that declared a moratorium on constitutional debt payments after PROMESA was enacted to move forward without a stay.

The congressional task force on Puerto Rico announced Tuesday that it is extending to Oct. 14 its deadline for interested stakeholders to submit recommendations on how to promote economic growth within the commonwealth.

The Ramapo Local Development Corp. and three individuals facing Securities and Exchange Commission securities fraud charges are asking a federal judge to dismiss the SEC's complaint, claiming, among other things, that no one was hurt.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking a federal judge to allow it to submit an amended complaint that includes much more detailed charges against banker Peter Cannava in connection with an ill-fated private placement for startup video game company 38 Studios.