Financial regulations

The report card touts the MSRB's accomplishments, though that doesn't sit well with some market participants.

The MSRB is hurrying to release multiple rounds of guidance on its pending muni advisor advertising rule, but industry groups say the first round could use some polish.

During the new issue pricing period is when institutions place their orders. Independent advisors and their clients are wise to follow the money.

The sharp decline in trading spreads since 2005 was driven mainly by regulation and technological changes, according to the MSRB's chief economist.

Changes the Federal Reserve Board made in 2016 to its Liquidity Coverage Ratio rules would treat munis more restrictively than other, similar Level 2B high quality liquid assets.

While munis have received scant attention at previous meetings, a discussion of pre-trade transparency is on tap for next week's Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee meeting.

Six straight treasurers want SEC chairman Jay Clayton to stay the course on the commission's forced arbitration policy.

Issuer groups urged a Senate Panel to undo a 2014 SEC rule change that required money market funds to use a floating net asset value.

The federal government's job board stops taking applications next week.

Ex-Morgan Stanley branch manager Terry Lee McCoy failed to act on several "red flags" that the accounts of an elderly and incapacitated customer were being abused, FINRA said.

There was friction about the integrity of the muni market during a panel discussion Thursday, but the committee agreed to move along with some disclosure recommendations.

The Government Finance Officers Association said Tuesday it generally supports most of the recommendations an SEC panel plans to discuss in Atlanta later this week.

An advisory panel suggested modifying the fee structure for tax law violations to encourage more issuers to self-report them.

The SEC's Investor Advisory Committee's vice chairman is Elisse Walter, the former chairman and commissioner of the SEC who was most responsible for the commission's 2012 Report on the Municipal Securities Markets that suggested some of these muni reforms.

A proposal by bank and securities regulators to roll back some provisions of the Volcker Rule indicates they may be considering rethinking their previous stance on tender option bonds.

The MSRB's controversial commentary about selective disclosure got some support from a top SEC official on Wednesday.

The muni market officially got much of what it has spent years fighting for on Thursday, when President Trump signed the banking bill that makes tradable, investment grade municipal securities high-quality liquid assets under federal banking rules.

The bank deregulatory bill passed by Congress on Tuesday would also make fewer banks systemically important and close a legal loophole that had allowed banks to defraud Puerto Rico investors.

Recent research suggests regulators on a global basis are overestimating the risks of infrastructure-related debt.

The proposal would establish a standalone rule governing transactions in discretionary accounts, something the board hasn't had in more than 30 years.