Far West

Many bond lawyers feel that with all municipal rating agencies soon to be beaming live ratings to EMMA, the Securities and Exchange Commission should amend its rules so that issuers no longer have to worry about filing notices of upgrades and downgrades.

The Treasury Department announced on Friday that it will indefinitely suspend sales of state and local government securities beginning at noon on March 13 because of the federal debt limit.

Bond lawyers are warning their issuer clients that they are operating at their own peril if they do not spend their bond proceeds in a timely fashion, since Internal Revenue Service agents in audits are raising concerns about proceeds that are spent late or not spent at all.

California achieved the lowest interest rate in 26 years when it priced $1.935 billion of general obligation bonds March 4, according to State Treasurer John Chiang.

The University of California Regents are pricing $2.8 billion of combined new money and refunding bonds where municipal bond market observers predict ready demand.

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has promoted its deputy general counsel Lawrence Sandor to the newly created position of chief compliance officer.

Large financial firms can expect continued scrutiny for risk management, internal controls and governance, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said in New York.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has released a paper on best practices in disclosure for bank loans, an opaque segment of the municipal debt market that is getting increased attention from regulators.

A California lawmaker introduced a bill that would add language to school district bonds that would protect investors in the event of bankruptcy.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is likely to propose requiring alternative trading systems to report quotation information on municipal securities to it in the future, industry officials said after listening to speakers on a federal regulatory update panel at a conference here on Monday afternoon.