SEC

Municipal advisor Hamlin Capital Advisors and Michael Ferrell Braun have been charged by the SEC for failing to disclose material conflicts of interest to its charter school clients.

Market participants warned of the law's potential harm to a market that's famously bespoke and self-regulated.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Alliance Global Partners with publishing daily quotes at above market prices on between 4,300 and 6,500 different municipal bonds over a two-year period.

In FY 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission's Examination Division will be closely monitoring for compliance with MSRB Rule G-42 on the core standards of municipal advisors, in addition to enforcing the T+1 settlement cycle.

The city faces no monetary penalty or monitorship in the final judgment in what those involved are calling an unprecedented move for SEC litigation.

The SEC has charged Thrivent Investment Management for failing to comply with Regulation Best Interest's care and compliance obligation in connection with recommendations to retail investors in 529 Savings Plans.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California entered a final judgment against Matthias O'Meara and Choice Advisors, fining them $312,572 and $187,337, respectively.

The Commission approved changes to MSRB Rule G-14 on customer transaction reporting, paving the way for dealers and stakeholders to work with the MSRB to establish a reasonable path forward.

"It's great people are thinking about creative solutions, but don't forget the rules still apply," said the SEC's Dave Sanchez.

The commission charged the municipal advisors $1.3 million in penalties due to recordkeeping failures stemming from use of unmonitored communications, such as text messages, to conduct business.

The agencies are overstepping their statutory authority in trying to force the market to adopt a new securities identifier, says the American Bankers Association.

The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing Tuesday examining the practices of proxy advisors and their relationship with ESG investing.

Tensquare and its partner Karl Jentoft were charged for acting as an unregistered municipal advisor in eight offerings for charter schools in Minnesota.

The state's year-old rules ban broker-dealers and investment advisors from using non-financial criteria in investment strategies.

A new classification scheme would allow market participants, both on the buy and sell sides, to correctly identify the source and nature of credit risk in their holdings and to aggregate such risk into meaningful sectors that share common risk drivers.

Regulators indicated they may prefer the use of Financial Instrument Global Identifiers for securities.

During its final quarterly meeting for the FY 2024 fiscal year, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board elected a new chair and vice chair, and approved a $48.8 million budget for the upcoming year.

In May, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to the federal agencies responsible for the FDTA rulemaking, urging them to stick to the schedule spelled out in the law.

The Jeffrey Matthews Financial Group has been fined by FINRA for failing to achieve compliance with Regulation Best Interest.

The amendments add disclosure scenarios, slightly update the definition of materiality as well as clarify details of supplementary material.