Jack Casey

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced it intends to issue an order that will allow municipal advisors that are also considered investment advisors to be excluded under its pay-to-play rule for investment advisers because they are now covered under a revised Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will soon introduce the first two of several educational courses it plans to offer as part of its new learning management system designed to keep participants up to date on the municipal market and in compliance with their continuing education requirements.

Congress must work to improve Puerto Rico’s treatment under Medicaid as well as to expand access to tax credits and other federal benefits for the commonwealth, the secretaries of the Treasury Department and Department of Health and Human Services said in a letter on Friday.

Ernesto Lanza, formerly a shareholder with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, joined the D.C. office of Clark Hill as a senior counsel in August.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s settlements with 71 issuers announced on Wednesday under a voluntary continuing disclosure enforcement initiative showed “a widespread and pervasive problem” with continuing disclosure in the municipal bond market but have led to some improvements, the SEC’s enforcement chief said Wednesday.

Wells Fargo Securities and Barclays Capital have agreed to pay the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. $25.6 million in a proposed settlement of a lawsuit involving a loan to former videogame company 38 Studios, the state announced Tuesday.

A criminal case alleging two Ramapo, N.Y. officials misled investors and credit rating agencies in connection with municipal bonds would go to trial on Jan. 9 under the timeline the federal judge has put forth for the proceedings.

The Government Finance Officers Association is urging its members to write senators about the need to get companion legislation to a House bill that would classify investment-grade municipal securities as high quality liquid assets under a rule by written by bank regulators.

Dealers will have 10 calendar days to close out failed inter-dealer transactions now that the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's amendments to one of its rules.

Municipal issuers are blasting the National Federation of Municipal Analysts' suggestion that Congress give the Securities and Exchange Commission new authority to regulate issuers' disclosures, calling it overly burdensome and ineffective.

The Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico should avoid any changes to the Jones Act while considering various courses of action to help boost Puerto Rico's struggling economy, four congressmen said in a letter to the task force's House members.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts is suggesting that Congress should give the Securities and Exchange Commission direct regulatory authority over issuers as a way to improve disclosure in the municipal market.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's settlements with issuers under its continuing disclosure enforcement initiative will not impact specific rating determinations but will be an important component of analyzing an issuer's credit fundamentals, analysts from S&P Global Ratings said in a report on Monday.

Gates Capital Corp. agreed to pay a $22,500 fine after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority found the firm violated transaction reporting standards mandated under Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules.

One former Kildare Capital employee has been banned from the market and another was hit with a $25,000 fine and 12-month ban after FINRA found that they artificially inflated interdealer prices for municipal securities through 25 round-trip transactions.

While dealer groups are pushing the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to place more restrictions on its proposal to share trade data with academics, researchers say the ones the MSRB has already floated threaten to render the data hard to use or even useless.

Administration officials and lawmakers are vetting candidates and rejecting some put forth by Republicans for the Puerto Rico oversight board as the Sept. 15 deadline for naming board members approaches.

Five municipal market groups are asking the Securities and Exchange Commission for guidance that would help create a streamlined process for issuers to amend their continuing disclosure agreements without running afoul of Rule 15c2-12 on disclosure.

A federal judge on Friday dismissed Securities and Exchange Commission charges against Peter Cannava, a banker involved in an ill-fated private placement for startup video game company 38 Studios.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is arguing that any court challenge to the constitutionality of revised Rule G-37 on political contributions can be made when an enforcement action is taken over a violation of the rule.