Law and regulation

Municipal bond dealers will need to report contractual prices of inter-dealer muni bond trades starting Feb. 25, according to notice released Thursday by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Jeffrey Burger, the new chairman of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, worries that one of the biggest threats to municipal analysis may be complacency about the relative stability of municipal credits in recent years.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has hired William Oliver, a former NFMA chairman with 30 years of experience in the municipal bond field, as industry and media liaison.

Revenues at municipalities may increase slightly in 2013 and additional municipal bankruptcies will be uncommon as state and local governments continue a slow economic recovery, speakers at the Governing Outlook conference said here Tuesday.

San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos plans to request a hearing to examine whether city investments were harmed by manipulation of a key lending rate.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will soon make muni market benchmark data, including yield curves and other market indices, available on the EMMA web site to give market participants determine fair prices.

Cynthia Friedlander has been named director of fixed income regulation in the member regulation division of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, FINRA announced Thursday.

President Obama nominated Mary Jo White to become chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, prompting several market insiders to say he is signaling his intent to address white-collar financial crime during his second term.

Lawmakers have met with the Securities and Exchange Commission in recent days and discussed recommendations in the SEC's July report on the municipal market, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee told The Bond Buyer Wednesday.

FINRA ordered fines of more than $6.1 million for municipal market rule violations in disciplinary cases reported in 2012, 6% less than the $6.6 million in fines assessed in the previous year.

The MSRB has asked market participants how to improve the timeliness, fairness and efficiency of price transparency in the muni market, and whether dealers should be required to report trades in less time than the currently-required 15 minutes from execution.

Securities and Exchange Commission member Daniel Gallagher said Wednesday that many improvements to the municipal securities market can be made by the SEC without seeking regulatory authority over municipal issuers from Congress.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council has extended the deadline for submitting comments on proposed regulations of money market mutual funds to Feb. 15 from Jan. 18.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered nine firms to pay a total of $297,500 in fines and nearly $32,000 in restitution for violating rules of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Two former bankers, Steven Goldberg and Peter Grimm, at an affiliate of General Electric Co. have contested a Justice Department request that they pay $6.9 million in restitution for their role in a scheme to rig bids for municipal bond reinvestment contracts.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. has postponed action on a plan to increase fees for municipal securities with multiple CUSIPs pending discussions with municipal market groups, said a DTCC spokesperson.

Robert Khuzami plans to leave the Securities and Exchange Commission after serving as its enforcement director for four years, the SEC announced Wednesday.

Timothy Ryan, president and chief executive officer of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, plans to leave the group on Feb. 23, SIFMA announced Tuesday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority assessed financial firms and individuals $68 million in fines in 2012 and ordered them to pay a record $34 million in restitution to investors, the regulator announced Tuesday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported annual revenue of $39.9 million for the fiscal year ending in September, a 19% gain over last year's $33.5 million, according to the board's annual report, released Tuesday.