MSRB

The pandemic presents new challenges to regulators examining municipal advisor firms.

The total number of COVID-19 disclosures reported to EMMA for the week ending Aug. 9 was about 700, down from nearly 1,000 the previous week.

The board re-elected Sisk as MSRB chair amid the pandemic and an ongoing search for a new CEO.

Changes to the MSRB come a year after the proposal of legislation that would decrease the size of the board and increase the cooling off period for public board members.

Dealers are not seeing demand and are therefore not trading inventory this summer, sources say.

Marshall will still keep her position as chief compliance officer as she also takes on the role of interim chief regulatory officer. Lanny Schwartz left his position as chief regulatory officer almost a year ago.

Hilltop was fined a total of $475,000, with $100,000 pertaining to violations of municipal securities rules.

Market participants say issuer coronavirus disclosures have stagnated due to tax season and issuer fears of future legal ramifications.

In a virtual meeting, the board will set its budget, but won't select an incoming class of board members, because of a proposed size change.

The responses to requests for quotes in the secondary market increased almost doubled in 2018 compared to 2015.

This is the latest case to involve 'flipping' — improperly allocating bonds meant for retail customers and instead selling them to other market participants — following multiple related actions made by the SEC over the years.

Several groups are arguing their case to keep their seats on a smaller board.

Coronavirus-related disclosures last week reached to just over 600 filings, but it is still a far cry from just less than a month before which saw 1,200 filings.

From 2009 to the first half of 2019, the number of competitive bids increased, helping issuers get the best selling price, the MSRB says.

Conditions under a recently announced temporary exemption are narrow, SEC staff said, despite push back from dealers.

Analysts had mixed reactions on what could have caused the decline, pointing to some municipalities closing out their fiscal years at the end of June.

BNY Mellon Capital Markets failed to submit accurate minimum denomination and maximum interest rate information 54,270 times, FINRA found.

Days before the SEC's regulation best interest goes into place, the SEC approved corresponding changes to muni securities rules.

Despite criticism, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said the calculator will help track the timeliness of secondary market disclosures.

Especially helpful is the MSRB’s weekly report aggregating disclosures made to the EMMA website that describe the impact of COVID-19 on state and local governments’ financial condition and operating status.