The Bond Dealers of America last week hosted its inaugural Council on Bond Market Structure Fly-In, an initiative BDA's chief executive officer said is designed to produce "more efficient, smarter" federal policy for all participants in the U.S. bond market.
During the inaugural fly-in, held Sept. 10-11, the Council on Bond Market Structure, a group comprising BDA board members, met with policy makers across Washington, D.C. to discuss topics including expanding the use of tax-exempt bonds and promoting legislation to restore tax-exempt advance refunding.
Seven members of BDA's board participated in the inaugural Council on Bond Market Structure Fly-In, he said. BDA plans to hold the fly-ins twice a year, with a rotating group of seven board members participating in each fly-in.
"We want to enhance our presence in Washington as a thought leader and a resource … to policy makers in Washington as they think about the bond markets, as they think about bond market structure," Nicholas said. "The whole purpose of all of this at the end of the day is to ensure that there is smarter oversight and regulation of the U.S. bond markets that works for everybody."
Since its founding in 2008, BDA has been bringing dealers to Washington to talk about specific legislative and regulatory issues, he said.
"Well this group will still do that, but this group expands beyond that to now talk about actual market conditions and market structure to ensure smarter and more efficient policy which benefits all participants in the U.S. bond markets," Nicholas said.
BDA is uniquely positioned to provide insights regarding the bond market because it represents not just Wall Street firms but also regional middle-market firms across the country, he said.
During the inaugural fly-in, members of BDA's Council on Bond Market Structure met with Commissioner Mark Uyeda of the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as staff and leadership at the White House National Economic Council, House Committee on Financial Services, the Department of the Treasury, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Nicholas said.
