SEC

The firm, without admitting or denying the findings, agreed to pay a $60,000 civil penalty.

The amendments exempt those who've already qualified as a municipal advisor representative from retaking the Series 50 exam.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler, speaking in front of the Senate Banking Committee, defended his tenure and the 22 rulemaking proposals he's adopted in the last few years.

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.