Far West

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission should rank nationally recognized credit rating agencies based on performance and should help investors hold them accountable in civil lawsuits over unjustifiable inflated ratings, a bipartisan congressional panel recommended Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO — A nonprofit mental-health service provider in Los Angeles County has gone belly-up, leaving a state-backed insurer on the hook for more than $5 million of bonds.

WASHINGTON — At a meeting Thursday and Friday in Nashville, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will tackle a host of muni adviser issues, including whether it will require financial advisers to pay fees to help defray the self-regulator’s increasing costs.

WASHINGTON — Independent financial advisers blasted the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board for its draft muni-adviser fiduciary duty rule, saying it targeted independent FAs while virtually exempting underwriters, some of which market themselves as advisers.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission staffs plan to hold a two-day roundtable in May to discuss the schedule for implementing rules for swaps and securities-based swaps, they announced in a release issued Tuesday.

Sen. Ron Wyden on Tuesday underscored his opposition to tax exemptions for new muni bonds, saying it is inefficient and that tax-credit bonds would benefit a broader set of taxpayers, not just high-net-worth individuals.

SACRAMENTO — Vallejo, Calif., is closing in on settlements with creditors that would smooth its escape from bankruptcy, according to its attorney.

WASHINGTON — House Transportation Committee chairman Rep. John Mica on Monday charged the Obama administration failed to justify many of the high-speed rail and so-called TIGER transportation grants it made to state and local governments.

WASHINGTON — High-speed rail and community development block grant funds were among the $2 billion of cuts in a “bridge” continuing resolution enacted Saturday, which narrowly averted a federal government shutdown.

Ernesto Lanza, the general counsel of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, has been tapped to serve as deputy executive director, the MSRB announced Monday. Meanwhile, a former investment banker has been chosen for a newly created market leadership role.