WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Monday asked for public comments on what its priorities should be as it plans for the next two years and beyond.
"The MSRB's inclusive strategic planning process helps guide our decisions regarding regulatory, transparency and educational initiatives," said MSRB executive director Lynnette Kelly. "Input from a wide range of market stakeholders helps ensure that the MSRB thoroughly considers market risks, trends and other developments when setting and re-evaluating organizational priorities."
The MSRB is currently working on a series of rules related to municipal advisors that will bring non-dealer MAs under far more regulatory oversight than they have faced before. The board is also continuing to develop a comprehensive central transparency platform for the muni market, including efforts to gather more pricing information.
The MSRB wants feedback on its current, published strategic goals which include MA advisor regulation, municipal entity protection, market efficiency, and price transparency.
The board also wants commenters to consider and respond to questions on where it can have the most meaningful market impact, what top issues are facing the muni market and how the MSRB can "proactively" address them, as well as how the MSRB should allocate its resources, and to what extent the board should add more features to its EMMA website.
"The MSRB is seeking feedback on prioritizing these ongoing efforts, what if any additional issues should be considered, and any specific evidence that previously identified or new issues should take top priority," the board said in its notice.
The notice requested that commenters respond by Oct. 23, but stated that decisions about strategic planning are ultimately in the hands of the MSRB's board of directors. The composition of that board will change substantially between then and now when the MSRB's new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Barclays Capital's Kym Arnone will succeed RBC Capital Markets' Dan Heimowitz as chair and Marcy Edwards, former senior financial policy advisor to the District of Columbia's chief financial officer, will take over the vice chair position from Citi's Joseph Geraci.
