Kyle Glazier

The Government Finance Officers Association has released model language for issuer officials to use when interracting with broker-dealers and other entities under the municipal advisor rule.

Asset managers may have to register as municipal advisors to protect themselves from violating the Securities and Exchange Commission's MA rule, which places restrictions on advice concerning muni bond proceeds and other financial products commonly used by states and localities.

Issuers and underwriters might consider comprehensive reviews of all their deals stretching back a decade to determine if they might have disclosure failures worth voluntarily reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission, securities law experts said Wednesday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board got the go-ahead from the Securities and Exchange Commission to consolidate muni dealers' existing fair-pricing obligations into a single rule.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has released guidance on its new consolidated registration rule, which seeks to streamline the process for municipal advisors as well as broker-dealers.

The Federal Reserve is studying Puerto Rico as an indicator of the level of risk in the muni market, where heavy retail investor presence can make behavior unpredictable, an economist with one its banks told municipal analysts on Thursday.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts presented its annual awards during its conference here on Wednesday, honoring four individuals and an organization for contributions to the municipal bond industry.

Transportation finance experts expect robust bond financing of new transportation and infrastructure projects in the near future, even though federal policy is making those investments increasingly tricky.

Unfunded public pension liabilities can be vastly different depending on the assumptions made and how they are calculated, but it is clear that plans are taking far more risk today than they have in the past, pension experts told municipal analysts at a conference here Wednesday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is revising its proposed rule governing the duties of municipal advisors in response to market comments, and will also propose amending its pay-to-play rule to cover MAs, the MSRB announced Tuesday.

Former U.S. Representative James Oberstar died at age 79 Saturday, silencing one of Washington's most outspoken advocates of increased transportation and infrastructure investment.

Municipalities struggling with fiscal distress need to be especially mindful of fulfilling their continuing disclosure obligations, regulators and analysts said Friday.

It is virtually impossible to predict what would happen if Puerto Rico's financial situation deteriorated to the point where it could no longer repay its debts, experts on distressed municipalities said Thursday.

National Association of Local Finance Housing Agencies has re-elected Ernestine Garey, from Invest Atlanta as its president, plus other officers and directors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will release new rules for the reform of money market mutual funds "in the near term," although it has not decided whether they should would apply to municipal funds, SEC chairman Mary Jo White told a House panel Tuesday.

Non-dealer municipal advisors are concerned that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed rule on MA supervisory requirements could be costly to the market without greatly benefiting the issuers it is designed to protect.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new program allowing issuers and underwriters to "self-report" disclosure failures could be a game changer, according to some market participants.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will discuss plans to rebuild the MSRB's real-time reporting system, as well as comments it has received on its proposed municipal advisor conduct rule and best execution rule when the board meets in Alexandria, Va. next week.

Many smaller issuers remain uninformed about what the impending municipal advisor regulatory regime will mean for them, with broker-dealers picking up the slack and providing them with information, according to market participants.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined three firms and an individual for municipal rule violations, including for a precedent-setting case of improperly seeking reimbursement from issuers for excessive expenses on bond rating trips.