Jack Casey

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday approved Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board amendments to facilitate moving the municipal securities industry to a two- instead of three-day settlement cycle.

As Puerto Rico faces bond defaults on Monday and July 1 without legislative relief from Congress, analysts say new litigation is increasingly likely.

Dustin McDonald, the current director of the Government Finance Officers Association’s federal liaison center, is leaving GFOA on Friday to lead the marijuana technology company Weedmaps’ government relations practice.

A lawyer facing Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he violated federal securities laws as part of a pay-to-play scheme to secure Ohio pension business is arguing the commission’s charges cannot apply to him and should be dismissed.

A vote on the Puerto Rico bill may be stalled until mid-July as many, including unions and other groups, press for changes to address concerns over debt restructuring and oversight board provisions as well as to protect the island's pensioners

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is making its trade data available through a research platform to individuals associated with more than 400 institutions around the world, but without the controversial anonymous dealer identifiers in a proposed new product still under development.

The two years since the announcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative have contained vast improvements in disclosure for the municipal market but there are still issues to tackle and questions to ask as disclosure continues evolving, market participants speaking on a panel here said.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposal to require dealers acting as principals to disclose their markups and markdowns on retail confirmations would add complexity to the market and subject dealers to significant costs, dealers and others said here on Thursday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will move forward with a revised proposal that would mandate municipal securities transactions be closed out within 20 instead of 30 days of settlement, Lynnette Kelly, the MSRB’s executive director said on Monday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal enforcement unit could be bringing more cases with concurrent criminal charges in the future as it plans to increase its coordination with the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bond Dealers of America will be working on a full plate of issues this year as it helps its members navigate recent and ongoing regulatory developments while maintaining its educational and Capitol Hill-centered work, said new BDA board chair John Fechter.

First Winston Securities, Alton Securities Group, and MidAmerica Financial Services were ordered to pay a total of $115,000 in fines and restitution by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for violation of municipal securities rules.

In parallel actions on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. district attorney for the Southern District of New York filed civil and criminal charges against Ramapo, N.Y., officials for misleading investors in connection with bonds issued to finance a minor league baseball stadium.

The Natural Resources Committee has indefinitely delayed the vote that was planned for Thursday on the Puerto Rico bill as its members, Treasury Department officials and other stakeholders continue to try to address the concerns raised about the measure and change its provisions to ensure they can get enough votes to pass it.

The House Committee on Natural Resources is moving forward with a bill to help Puerto Rico that loosens provisions regarding the oversight board but still keeps the cram down and debt litigation moratorium portions of an earlier version that drew criticism.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to update and modernize its municipal securities disclosure rule as well as develop a parallel rule that gives municipal advisors continuing disclosure responsibilities.

Bond Dealers of America is urging the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to leave unchanged some rules that relate to the municipal securities market’s move to a two- instead of three-day settlement cycle.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is proposing two clarifying exceptions to its rule preventing dealers from buying or selling bonds below their stated minimum denominations

Most municipal bond analysts believe Chapter 9 bankruptcy is taboo for municipalities and should be avoided, according to an analyst survey by PNC Capital Markets LLC.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority warned firms on Monday that they need to conduct adequate due diligence to determine if bank loans and private placements involve municipal securities.