Law and regulation

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is proposing to create a new Rule G-47 that would codify current guidance on the obligations of dealers to disclose material information about municipal securities to customers at or before the time of purchase or sale.

The Government Finance Officers Association's executive board is expected on Friday to approve a new best-practice document that gives municipal bond issuers guidance about the types of fees they can expect to incur when issuing municipal debt, a GFOA consultant said.

President Obama has nominated securities litigator and former U.S. prosecutor Mary Jo White to serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission through June 5, 2019.

Securities and Exchange Commission staff are in late stages of finalizing the municipal advisor definition and are considering concerns raised about the definition by state and local governments, John Cross, the head of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities told a group of state and local finance officials here Thursday.

Members of the Government Finance Officers Association committee on governmental debt management said this year could bring a slew of revolutionary new regulatory or legislative changes that could overhaul the structure and operation of the municipal market.

Municipal market insiders say muni-related items working though the Securities and Exchange Commission will likely remain on track if Mary Jo White, a securities litigator and former U.S. prosecutor, becomes the SEC's new chairman.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's municipal market priority this year will be ensure that brokers adequately disclose risks associated with tax-exempt bonds backed by revenue from private and nonprofit entities, which have significantly higher default rates than general obligation bonds.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's municipal bond office has sent a so called "no-action" letter to NetRoadshow Inc., paving the way for the firm and its underwriter clients to present Internet-based "road shows" on municipal bond offerings to retail investors.

The SEC named George S. Canellos, deputy director of the enforcement division, as the new acting director of enforcement, effective Feb. 8. David P. Bergers will succeed Canellos as acting deputy director of enforcement.

Pennsylvania is distributing $8.6 million in restitution from JPMorgan Chase & Co., to municipalities and nonprofit organizations who were victims of a scheme to rig bids of municipal bond reinvestment contracts, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office announced.

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.