Financial regulations

The SEC's Examination Division will focus on solicitor municipal advisors' compliance with new MSRB Rule G-46, which goes into effect on Mar. 1, 2024.

Officials from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board said that adhering to the Financial Data Transparency Act may make things more complicated.

The House Financial Services Committee grilled SEC chief Gary Gensler Wednesday.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler, speaking in front of the Senate Banking Committee, defended his tenure and the 22 rulemaking proposals he's adopted in the last few years.

Volatility in fixed income prices, which has risen recently, should not be mistaken for a systemic flaw in market structure or be used as a "strawman" to fix the plumbing and functioning of these markets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will be issuing two different rulemaking proposals to address the controversial Financial Data Transparency Act.

The MSRB will request comment on Rule G-12 on inter dealer confirmations and seeks to codify or retire nearly 40 pieces of interpretive guidance related to it.

The proposal would prevent the sale of asset -backed securities tainted by any material conflict of interest and commenters feel that munis should be excluded from the final rule.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposal would require all market entities to implement policies and procedures to address cybersecurity risks.

Municipal securities could be exempt from the proposal and the Commission invites commenters to lay out why that should be the case.

The proposed Rule G-46 seeks to clarify certain rules specific to solicitor municipal advisors, a very specific group of professionals.

The MSRB took no concrete actions at its meeting that ended last week, but discussed initiatives important to market participants.

Some industry observers still question the need for machine-readable municipal disclosure.

Regulators have ambitious plans for 2023, which include best execution and time of trade proposals.

Municipal issuers pushed hard but unsuccessfully against the bill, which gives them four years to standardize their financial information.

The latest version of a controversial financial disclosure bill includes changes that benefit muni issuers after a major push by the public finance lobby.

The provision shifts rulemaking and enforcement of the new disclosure standards to the SEC from the MSRB, which was charged with the task in an original version.

The municipal dealer community supports market transparency. The proposal before Congress, however, is poorly conceived, has few if any market supporters, and has the potential to be very expensive.

Even without formal rules tailored to the municipal market, ESG integration will likely come to the muni market faster than expected.

After thirty years at the Commission, Lori Price will begin as director for the Office of Credit Ratings Aug. 14