SEC

The Lincoln-Way high school district won a Moody's upgrade to Baa2 ahead of a $23 million refinancing deal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to focus on protecting Main Street investors in municipal bonds.

The investigation appears to be linked to the supervision of Deborah Kelley, a broker who was convicted and sanctioned for bribing a state pension fund officer.

Events at the SEC are likely to create a number of important MSRB rule changes in the coming year.

The orders issued Dec. 23 bring to a close the Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action against Navnoor Kang, Deborah Kelley and Gregg Schonhorn.

In response to the SEC's complaint, the former chief business officer of a California school district said he acted in good faith.

Issuers, bond lawyers, and analysts have all raised complaints about the proposed addition to EMMA.

A steep decline in school district reserves drove a two-notch downgrade and has drawn a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC chairman’s comments are consistent with his record, which has included repeated calls for the MSRB to take steps to be sure investors are aware that issuer financials filed to EMMA can often be many months old.

The proposal would impact the private placement business and may require amendments of MSRB rules.

Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr., the securities industry trade group's CEO, warned against a proposal to exempt some muni advisors from registering as broker-dealers.

In 2012 John Cross became the first person to head the independent Office of Municipal Securities at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton seemed noncommittal on a proposed exemptive order for municipal advisors.

Though enforcement cases slightly decreased this past year, lawyers say the Securities and Exchange Commission is just as aggressive as ever.

“The channel doesn’t matter in terms of responsibility for the information,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.

If the proposal is approved, the timing of issuers' annual financial disclosures would be prominently displayed as soon as the beginning of 2020.

The changes will slim down underwriters' disclosures to issuers, which many believed had become too lengthy and wordy to be useful.

Data on default rates shows that while there has been improvement in consistency between corporate and muni ratings, there is still work to be done.

The SEC brought four civil lawsuits and 10 stand-alone administrative proceedings, according to its annual report released Wednesday.

At an SEC Fixed Income Market Structure Committee meeting on Monday, participants suggested giving out awards to incentivize issuers to submit timely financial information.