Jack Casey

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered San Juan-based Santander Securities on Tuesday to pay $6.4 million for supervisory failures related to Puerto Rican municipal bonds.

Rebecca Olsen, deputy director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s office of municipal securities, has concerns about municipal advisor misconceptions she has heard about who can advise in the municipal market and who can be considered an independent registered municipal advisor.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Municipal Securities is weighing whether to provide legal interpretive guidance to help municipal advisors determine if they are acting as an adviser or broker-dealer when working with an issuer on a bank loan.

Nat Singer recently compared chairing the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to running “a relay race.” He said his leg of the race is to work with the board to move forward with rules such as those on municipal advisor core conduct and dealer disclosure of markups on principal trades and then hand the work off to the next chairman and board.

At least three major Wall Street firms have not settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, noted some lawyers who were involved with a National Association of Bond Lawyers survey on the impact of MCDC.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is asking for industry feedback on a proposal to make board members more effective by changing the length of their terms to four years instead of three.

Six advocacy groups are urging two key Senate Republicans to keep Congress from providing Puerto Rico with access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.

The top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee is urging the committee chair to hold a hearing to “cast a spotlight” on the “gross inequity” hedge funds holding Puerto Rico debt are imposing on the commonwealth’s citizens.

The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered 22 municipal securities underwriting firms to pay $4.12 million in civil penalties in the second round of what some lawyers said on Wednesday will be three total rounds of underwriter settlements under the commission’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative.

Key Senate Republicans made clear during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday that they do not intend to move forward with bills providing Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rico’s authorities and instead want more information on the territory’s struggling finances and $71 billion of debt as well as how to fix them.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez wants to extend protections under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to Puerto Rico, saying their absence caused Puerto Ricans to suffer losses when they invested in mutual funds heavily stocked with the financially struggling commonwealth’s bonds.

Dealers acting as principals would have to disclose markups and markdowns in transactions with retail customers under rule changes proposed by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has announced four invited speakers who bring varying views on the merits of Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in Puerto Rico for Tuesday’s House Finance Committee hearing on the commonwealth’s fiscal health in light of its $71 billion in debt.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on Sept. 29 to discuss the “dire financial situation” in Puerto Rico, committee chair Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Tuesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s five members unanimously agreed on Tuesday to propose a rule and amendments that would require open-end mutual funds and exchange traded funds to take steps to manage liquidity risks so they could handle redemptions during periods of financial stress.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is calling for increased education of issuers on continuing disclosure in the wake of lessons learned from the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s pending fee changes will be unfair and excessively burdensome, dealer and advisor groups told the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The total amount of outstanding municipal securities in the market rose 0.55% to $3.71 trillion in the second quarter of this year, while U.S. bank holdings followed suit rising to $477 billion, a 2.5% increase from the first quarter’s $465 billion.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has released the final version of its set of best practices for state government general obligation bond disclosure, the first part of an ongoing update to a set of recommended best practices from 2001.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has shelved its controversial proposal to ease independence standards to obtain a public investor on its board and will instead establish an investor advisory group.