Jack Casey

House Natural Resources Committee chair Rob Bishop, R-Utah, visited Puerto Rico Friday as part of a multi-day trip to meet with commonwealth officials and groups as Congress continues to debate a reasonable solution for the territory’s fiscal problems.

Municipal bond trading volume fell 13% during 2015 while the overall number of trades remained relatively stable, continuing a pattern that stretches back to 2007, according to data released Thursday by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Wednesday it is pushing back the effective date for several amendments to its trade reporting rule to July 18 from May 23 to align them with the date for similar Financial Industry Regulatory Authority requirements.

Experts and Puerto Rican lawmakers are encouraging Congress and commonwealth officials to include fiscal responsibility laws in any legislative package designed to help the island.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board filed proposed amendments to two rules with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday in an effort to move the municipal securities market to a two- instead three-day settlement cycle.

Reps. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., and Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., have launched a Municipal Finance Caucus made up of House members from both political parties who will fight to protect the tax-exempt status of municipal debt and ensure there is a robust market for municipal securities.

Lisa Washburn, the new chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, wants NFMA this year to become more proactive in collaborative industry efforts to improve municipal bond disclosure and address changes in the municipal market.

Several industry groups are telling the Securities and Exchange Commission they support Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board changes that would shift the board members’ term limits to four years from three.

Six broker-dealers and investment providers have agreed to pay $103.35 million in preliminary settlements of charges by issuers and state attorneys general that they engaged in bid-rigging and price fixing for municipal investment products and derivatives.

The Bond Dealers of America is now part of a new umbrella organization called the American Securities Association that will also include an upstart association for middle market equities dealers.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered George K. Baum & Co. to pay $270,000 for charging a Colorado school district more than four times the firm’s normal underwriting fee, partly to pay for costs associated with promoting bond ballot initiatives.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has published a new educational guide that walks retail investors through the pros and cons of varying methods of investing in municipal bonds.

Challenges remain despite initial favorable reaction to a proposal to establish guidance for municipal securities dealers calculating prevailing market price and compensation in principal transactions.

The House will hold two simultaneous hearings about Puerto Rico on Feb. 25 before legislators are expected to begin a drafting process for a legislative solution for the commonwealth.

Lawyers and others following two Puerto Rico cases pending before the Supreme Court are divided about how the death of Justice Antonin Scalia will affect the forthcoming rulings.

Three groups are threatening to challenge the constitutionality of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's revised pay-to-play rule for municipal advisors.

Oppenheimer & Co., WFG Investments, and E*TRADE were three of seven firms that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined a total of $412,500 for trading municipal securities below the minimum denomination.

Lisa Washburn, a managing director with Municipal Market Analytics, is the new chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

Muni market groups are considering changes to issuer audit processes, improvements to EMMA, and additional guidance from regulators as part of a collaborative effort to shore up continuing disclosure and prevent additional rules or enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rep. Sean Duffy said on Wednesday that final legislation to help Puerto Rico is still taking shape but will include “secret sauce” in the form of a combination of debt restructuring and financial oversight and “sugar and spice” through bipartisan steps to incentivize investment on the island.