Muni Think

Water seems to be as steady a business as they come. After all, it's an essential service we all need. But the operating environment of water providers is changing, and bondholders should be sure that the issuers whose debt they hold are changing their business models accordingly.

Municipal bonds brought us clean water at the tap. This crucial development is in danger from proposals to eliminate the tax-exemption on municipal securities for essential governmental purposes.

Professional investors who mark to market need to know how their portfolios would perform under various interest-rate scenarios. Such "stress testing" is available in standard analytics systems, but when it comes to munis, the results could be seriously misleading, Andrew Kalotay says.

As the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement and litigation activity in 2012 demonstrates, the agency's focus on municipal market enforcement has increased dramatically, and this trend seems likely to continue under the SEC's new leadership.

The New York Times article, "A Stealth Tax Subsidy for Business Faces New Scrutiny," is riddled with inaccuracies of a critical development tool: private activity bonds. The story, sensational and misleading, highlights perceived misuses and abuses, while ignoring the essential public purpose that bonds serve.

The long-term care credit market has stabilized, writes Jon Barasch of Interactive Data Corp. in this commentary.

Herbert J. Sims senior vice president Richard Larkin makes a plea to keep municipal bonds tax free.

When the Obama administration argues that more financial regulation is needed to set us on the path to economic recovery, I would like to respectfully submit that the Great Recession could have been avoided, but its cause can be placed primarily on the shoulders of government, not on greed on the part of investment bankers and business people.

As we move into 2013, it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. public policy spotlight will continue to shine brightly on the municipal securities market.

Over the past several months, both dealers and nondealer advisors have made inflammatory public statements accusing the other of shoddy and questionable practices. Neither side, however, has a monopoly on competence or integrity.