Kyle Glazier

Municipal issuers need to understand the thinking inside the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division, take steps to protect themselves, and think about whether fundamental changes to muni market regulation might be in their best interests, said former SEC lawyer Peter Chan.

Peter Chan, the architect of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, will join Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as a partner in the firm's Chicago office, it announced Thursday.

Fluvanna County, Va.'s three-year legal tussle with Davenport & Co., has come to a close after the county's Board of Supervisors accepted an offer from the firm to drop its pursuit of $1.6 million in legal fees in exchange for an end to the suit and a public statement by the board retracting the claims it made against Davenport.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed a challenge to the investment advisers pay-to-play rule, ruling that it lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.

Dealers want the de minimis contribution limit increased in the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed application of its Rule G-37 on political contributions to municipal advisors, and one lawyer told the board the rule is probably unconstitutional unless it is raised.

Three municipal securities regulators plan to hold the first Compliance Outreach Program for Municipal Advisors in Chicago on Nov. 3 and are asking folks to register for it.

Securities and Exchange Commission member Michael Piwowar said Tuesday that it isn't clear if implementing a uniform fiduciary standard of conduct for broker-dealers and investment advisers providing personalized investment advice about securities would benefit retail investors.

Dealer groups are making a final push for changes to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed best execution rule, telling the Securities and Exchange Commission that it should hold off on any changes to how firms interact with sophisticated municipal market professionals until the MSRB can solicit comments on that topic directly.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board could accomplish many of its transparency goals more cheaply by providing more information itself than by requiring dealers to provide it, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association told the MSRB Friday.

The Government Finance Officers Association has adopted best practices to help issuers hire brokers to invest their bond proceeds under the municipal advisor rule, and to improve the valuation of pension plans.

Issuers battling dealer firms over the right to seek arbitration to settle disputes over auction rate securities are planning to take their case to the Supreme Court now that a federal appeals court has ruled against them.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Barclays Capital Inc. with failing to maintain an adequate internal compliance system after it acquired the advisory business of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

Future Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative settlements may offer more detail on the Securities and Exchange Commission's priorities and the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities may offer more municipal advisor rule guidance, commission officials said Thursday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will probably use emergency court action to stop state and local governments from selling municipal bonds if it thinks their offerings are fraudulent, an enforcement division official told bond lawyers meeting here.

A federal appeals court recently agreed with a lower court that former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux does not have immunity from Securities and Exchange Commission charges, a decision some experts think could have implications for the SEC's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative or other enforcement actions going forward.

A federal banking rule that doesn't classify municipal bonds as high-quality liquid assets needs to be reworked to ensure it won't impede critical infrastructure development, Sen. Chuck Schumer told regulators on Tuesday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined two firms a total of $31,000 dollars for violations of municipal securities rules, FINRA disclosed in the September monthly disciplinary actions it released Monday.

A Treasury Department official, a former Federal Reserve Board chair, congressional staffers and state treasurers spoke at an industry-sponsored municipal securities conference on Thursday that was closed to the press.

The federal government ran a $128.7 billion budget deficit in August, the Treasury reported Thursday.

Dave Sanchez, a lawyer who previously worked in the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Municipal Securities, has launched a new practice that will focus on securities law compliance for issuers and municipal advisors.