Law and regulation

John Cross, the associate tax legislative counsel in the Treasury's Office of Tax Policy, is to become director of the SEC's new Office of Municipal Securities in September.

MSRB has sent a two-page letter to nine organizations requesting a meeting.

A diverse group of municipal market participants has criticized the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's recent concept release related to third-party payments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named John J. Cross, 3rd, the head of its Office of Municipal Securities.

A House Financial Services Committee panel approved a bill Wednesday that would exempt municipal advisors from having a federal fiduciary duty to place muni issuers' interests first, but lawmakers said the bill's final version will leave the fiduciary requirement in place.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Wednesday announced the seven individuals who will join its 21-member board of directors on Oct. 1 for three-year terms.

A breakdown of legislative recommendations for congress and of regulatory recommendations for the SEC and MSRB to consider.

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a long-awaited report on the $3.7 trillion municipal securities market Tuesday that recommended at least 15 major legislative and regulatory changes to improve disclosure and price transparency for retail and other investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's long-awaited report on the municipal market asks Congress to give it authority to set disclosure standards for muni issuers and to provide the tools to enforce those standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled a conference call with reporters at 11 a.m. Tuesday to discuss the agency's long-anticipated report on the municipal securities market.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced it will begin a multi-month review of muni bond indexes with the aim of increasing transparency and educating market participants about how the they are developed and used.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has named Jay Goldstone, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of San Diego, as its new board chairman, effective Oct. 1 for a one-year term.

Members of the Senate Banking Committee grilled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Thursday about his knowledge of manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, and raised concerns about its potential impact on state and local governments that entered into Libor-based swaps.

Former employees of financial firms who have already pleaded guilty to rigging muni bond contracts will be allowed to testify in the upcoming bid-rigging trial against former UBS Financial Services Inc. bankers Peter Ghavami, Gary Heinz and Michael Welty, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board officials said Tuesday the board is looking into the Libor scandal to see how it may impact the municipal bond industry.

The federal judge assigned to the upcoming bid-rigging trial against three former UBS Financial Services Inc. bankers has struck down requests to drop all six criminal counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and witness tampering.

The SEC will be asked to allow federal civil charges to be filed against Miami for failing to disclose serious budget problems in its bond offerings.

Phillip D. Murphy, a former manager of municipal derivatives products at Banc of America Securities LLC, now Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was indicted by a federal grand jury on three counts of conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a fraudulent scheme to rig bids for municipal-bond related investment agreements.

Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., is open to dropping his bid to legislatively remove the Dodd-Frank-mandated federal fiduciary duty for municipal advisors if there is a narrowing of who would be considered an MA, an aide said Friday.

The bill introduced by Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., to limit the muni market participants that would be federally regulated as municipal advisors could reduce protection of state and local governments, the chairman of the MSRB warned a congressional panel.