Joan Quigley

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board would begin collecting a $300 annual assessment from municipal advisers beginning this fall if the Securities and Exchange Commission approves the proposal the board filed with it on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Market participants are split over public pension-disclosure guidance floated earlier this year by a bond lawyers' group, with analysts saying they need more information about a plan's future funding status and issuers and pension experts balking at providing speculative information about future liabilities.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing a number of governmental entities about the adequacy of their public pension disclosures, chairwoman Mary Schapiro told lawmakers Thursday.

WASHINGTON - A closely watched appeals court case that could determine whether investors may sue firms over allegedly faulty disclosure for auction-rate securities has pitted the Securities and Exchange Commission against a broker-dealer group.

WASHINGTON - The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined seven firms a total of $362,500 for violations of municipal securities rules.

WASHINGTON - Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro is expected to preside over a one-day hearing on the municipal securities market near Birmingham, Ala., in two weeks, sources said.

WASHINGTON - One year after the enactment of a sweeping financial reform law, municipal market participants say the overhaul has created an environment of uncertainty, not dramatic change.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board may boost its oversight of the derivatives market, including guaranteed investments contracts that are at the center of a bid-rigging investigation by the Justice Department and other federal and state agencies, an MSRB official said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - In a ruling that could spell trouble for Wedbush Securities Inc., a municipal securities trader snagged a $3.5 million arbitration award from the firm, based on its failure to pay him incentive-based compensation.

WASHINGTON — The Governmental Accounting Standards Board unveiled a pension accounting and reporting proposal Friday that would fundamentally alter how cash-strapped states and localities report pension liabilities and pose challenges for them.

WASHINGTON - The Governmental Accounting Standards Board unveiled a pension accounting proposal Friday that would fundamentally alter how state and local governments report pension liabilities.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve a final rule that would significantly expand its powers to police fraud and manipulation in the swaps market.

Jessica Giroux, formerly with the office of New York state Sen. James Alesi, has joined the Bond Dealers of America as a vice president.

Unregistered municipal advisers will be referred to regulators for investigation and possible disciplinary action, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board warned Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Unregistered municipal advisers will be referred to regulators for investigation and possible disciplinary action, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board warned Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission may appeal a recent federal court decision tossing out an auction-rate securities case the agency brought against Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Co.

WASHINGTON - Market participants and industry groups forged a tentative consensus around pension-disclosure guidance floated last month by the National Association of Bond Lawyers, with analysts and issuers overcoming initial reluctance to embrace the plan.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to propose new rules governing transactions between swap dealers and customers, including state and local governments.

WASHINGTON — Broker-dealers criticized a proposed Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule, saying it would subject them to tougher rules than those that apply to municipal advisers who practice on their own or in independent firms.

A key Republican lawmaker criticized the floating net-asset value for money market funds Friday, citing the toll such a shift would have on state and local governments.