Jack Casey

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed rule changes to lengthen its board members' terms to four years from three has garnered general support from dealer and advisor groups as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Investor Advocate.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency freeze of the assets of an Atlanta-based businessman and filed a lawsuit charging him and his associates with fraud for misusing investor proceeds that were intended to be used to purchase and renovate senior living facilities.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board released its much-anticipated best execution guidance for dealers on Friday, providing answers to frequently asked questions about the rule as well as the exemption for sophisticated municipal market professionals.

Municipal market trading plummeted to $551 billion in the third quarter, the lowest level since at least 2005 when the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board began recording the statistics, according to the board.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has announced two winners of its annual Peter Fugiel Scholarship and acknowledged three honorable mentions.

Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White on Wednesday declined to take a position on a bill that would increase hedge fund reporting in the wake of fund purchases of Puerto Rico’s debt, saying it has both pros and cons..

Puerto Rico's congressional representative Pedro Pierluisi strongly opposed the idea of the federal government imposing a federal fiscal control board on Puerto Rico, warning it would be "a blatant exercise of colonialism."

Puerto Rico said recently that there is no reason to believe that its debt is unconstitutional, but that this issue could arise in legal disputes if there is no “consensual restructuring” of the debt.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered R.M. Duncan Securities, its president and chief executive officer, and a broker to pay a combined $166,000 for selling defaulted municipal securities from their own accounts to seniors at unreasonably high prices and for not maintaining adequate supervisory procedures.

Puerto Rico needs to be put on life support and the way to do it is through bankruptcy, former Detroit bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes told The Bond Buyer in an interview.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Dec. 1 to explore Puerto Rico’s fiscal problems and the potential options that are available to help the island, panel chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced Thursday

In a first-of-a-kind action, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board released a compliance advisory for municipal advisors on Thursday to help them understand and implement new regulations.

Patrick Sweeney, Fidelity Capital Markets' senior vice president and manager of the municipal securities department, joined the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Thursday, replacing Edward Tishelman, who left TD Securities.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is proposing amendments to move the municipal securities industry to a T+2 settlement cycle instead of the current T+3 in the wake of continued calls from across the securities industry and support from regulatory officials.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is proposing a limited exception to the controversial principal transaction ban in its proposed municipal advisor core conduct rule.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a rule from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board that addresses potential conflicts of interest by restricting the gifts and non-cash benefits that non-dealer municipal advisors can give to issuers and others in their professional capacities.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D- N.Y., introduced a bill Wednesday that would substantially increase hedge fund reporting requirements in response to ongoing concerns about hedge funds' role in Puerto Rico's financial crisis.

The House Financial Services Committee approved a bipartisan bill by voice vote on Tuesday that would treat investment grade and actively traded municipal securities as high quality liquid assets under a bank liquidity rule adopted by banking regulators in September of last year.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board filed a rule with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that would require certain brokers, dealers and municipal advisors registered with the MSRB to participate in its business continuity and disaster recovery testing.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority chairman and chief executive officer Richard Ketchum announced Friday he will retire in the second half of 2016.