Broker dealers

SIFMA told a federal court that the SEC's process failed when it announced the temporary conditional exemption for muni advisors.

The MSRB also said it was looking for volunteers for two advisory groups.

The maximum allowable issuance under the SEC's temporary exemption is $20 million.

The American Securities Association's new member program will increase its membership to 71 members from 21.

The low interest rates that resulted from COVID-19 caused high levels of muni issuance and market activity, resulting in MSRB's fiscal year 2021 revenue significantly outperforming.

Eliseo Sampayo was fined $20,000, half of which will go to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board for violating its rules.

The settlement in which Roosevelt & Cross, Inc. agreed to pay $1 million is part of a now more than two-year crackdown on "flipping" arrangements.

Regulators found Stifel effected 56 pairs of pre-arranged transactions and the firm did not have a supervisory system reasonably designed to catch that activity.

SIFMA said Friday it had filed suit in Federal court in Washington D.C. asking the court to vacate the SEC’s Temporary Conditional Exemption.

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.

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

VRDO reset rates in California consistently were too high to be justified, a new filing contends.

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

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

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

Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., said the SEC's temporary relief for MAs to facilitate some private placement deals without registering as a broker-dealer should not have been created through exemptive relief.

Sorth, who joins as a managing director, will provide municipal bond underwriting and advisory services to clients in Missouri and the Midwest.

The SEC released an emergency order Tuesday that would allow municipal advisors to facilitate some private placement deals, which have seen an uptick during the pandemic.

In March 2020, spreads skyrocketed to 97 basis points before dropping slightly to 88 basis points in April 2020.