SEC

Brandon Comer and his firm Comer Capital Group are in talks to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission charges against them ahead of a pretrial conference Nov. 17.

The action does not have immediate implications for municipal issuers but could give the muni market a sense of how the SEC is beginning to think about cybersecurity risks.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Securities is the seventh firm charged by the Commission for failing to comply with the appropriate disclosures in connection with the limited offering exemption.

The rule amendments would create an exemption for previously qualified municipal advisors to forego requalification after a lapse in working for a municipal advisor.

The SEC has adopted amendments that will increase minimum liquidity requirements, among other features but will only affect the muni market on the margins.

Vern Breland has been permanently barred from participating in any municipal securities issuance after he and the city's municipal advisor were charged with misleading investors on two offerings.

Through proposed SEC regulations, federal grants and cybersecurity insurance, areas of the public finance industry are adjusting to costly and omnipresent cyber threats. 

The SEC has settled with Robert Benecke and his firm Benecke Economics for acting as an unregistered MA in a case that is emblematic of the growing problem regulators and advisors alike face.

Capital Markets Advisors and Richard Ganci have called for partial judgment in their defense against Securities and Exchange Commission claims that they misled investors, ignored signs of financial distress and that they failed to disclose material conflicts of interest to nearly 200 municipal clients.

The MSRB has received approval from the SEC for its amendments to Rules G-12 on uniform practice and G-15 on confirmation, clearance, and settlement practices.