Jonathan Hemmerdinger

Four firms agreed to pay $105,000 in fines for violations of pricing, political contribution, supervisory and other rules of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Smaller banks and securities firms are urging the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board not to shorten its current 15-minute trade reporting deadline or make changes to current trade reporting procedures.

The recent settlement by Illinois with the Securities and Exchange Commission on charges of shoddy pension disclosure will lead to better disclosure overall and boost the credit of the entire municipal securities market, according to a report Moody's Investors Services released Friday.

Sentencing of David Rubin and his firm, CDR Financial Products Inc., for charges related to bid-rigging of municipal investment contracts, has been postponed by a federal judge until June 28.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed rule on dealers' time-of-trade disclosure obligations is overly broad, lacks clarity and does not address important issues, such as disclosures to "sophisticated municipal market professionals" or to customers using online trading systems, warned muni dealers.

Mary Jo White, President Obama's nominee for chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told lawmakers Tuesday that her work representing high-profile clients as a criminal defense attorney will not create undue conflicts of interest or affect her ability effectively run the SEC.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposed rule changes requiring dealers to analyze more information when determining if a recommended transaction or investment strategy is suitable for a customer.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's interpretive guidance to fair-dealing rules that took effect last year was "over-lawyered" and has caused widespread criticism from issuers of municipal bonds, the head of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said Thursday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission agreed Thursday to propose a rule that would require self-regulatory agencies, possibly including the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and other entities to meet new technology standards so as to better insulate financial markets technological problems.

A federal judge has postponed sentencing of two former CDR Financial Products Inc., staffers until after the bid-rigging trial against former Bank of America executive Phillip Dennis Murphy, which is slated to start Feb. 3, 2014.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is holding a meeting on March 22 for market participants to discuss changes affecting public pension obligations and other post-retirement benefits, including plan redesigns, differing accounting and valuation methods and legal issues.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing March 12 to consider President Obama's nomination of Mary Jo White as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the committee announced Tuesday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants feedback from the public on the top regulatory and other priorities that it should address in its next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

A municipal advisor bill working through Congress threatens to erode key protections afforded to taxpayers and municipalities by the Dodd-Frank Act, said representatives from a public advocacy group and organizations representing independent advisors on Monday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants to hire a deputy general counsel and an assistant general counsel to work in its market regulation division.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would tighten regulation of dealers' muni-related telemarketing practices and require them to respect customers' "do not call" requests indefinitely, rather than for just five years.

Municipal market trading activity in 2012 mirrored trends seen in 2011, with par value remaining largely unchanged and the number of transactions slipping slightly to less than 10 million, according to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's 2012 Fact Book, released today.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will offer a live webcast of its market outreach event with the Municipal Advisory Council of Texas on March 7 in Dallas. This is the first time the board has webcasted an outreach event.

Decisions about project plans, agendas and priorities at the Governmental Accounting Standards Board will now be made by a majority vote of the organization's board, not solely by the board chair.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a public roundtable on Tuesday, May 14, to discuss the SEC's December staff Report to Congress on Assigned Credit Ratings, which reviews possible conflicts of interest that arise under the so-called "issuer pay model" and recommends regulatory and statutory changes.