Law and regulation

Senate and House committees are looking into allegations that banks manipulated Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate that is used by financial institutions to set interest rates for financial products, including interest rate swaps used by municipal bond issuers to hedge variable rate debt.

Lawmakers and financial market participants sparred over the economic and business impact of the Dodd-Frank Bill and the so-called Volcker Rule, as well as fallout from potential new money market rules.

The Senate Banking Committee is looking into the allegations that banks manipulated Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate that is used by financial institutions to set interest rates for financial products, including interest rate swaps entered into by municipal bond issuers.

An independent investment banker from Arizona is seeking a U.S. patent for a new tax credit structure being modeled as an alternative to traditional bond insurance.

A House Financial Services subcommittee will hold a hearing July 20 to discuss a bill that would eliminate the fiduciary duty imposed on municipal advisors by the Dodd-Frank Act and limit the kinds of firms that would be regulated as municipal advisors.

Bond Dealers of America released a guide Thursday designed to help the group's members comply with recently-approved guidance from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board regarding what underwriters must disclose to muni bond issuers.

Malcolm P. Northam, director of fixed income securities at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is planning to retire from the self-regulatory agency at the end of the year but hopes to stay active in bond market.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is releasing draft rule changes that would prohibit municipal securities dealers from consenting to amendments in bond authorizing documents, except in very limited circumstances.

Municipal issuers back the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to require dealers to discontinue temporarily masking the exact par value of large muni bond trades on EMMA, while dealer and institutional investor groups oppose it.

To make more new-issue data available, the MSRB filed a proposed rule change to prohibit dealers from reporting "NRO" unless they also report price and yield information.

In response to a G-17 interpretive notice that takes effect August 2, a SIFMA task force will release a series of documents underwriters can reference as they prepare disclosures to issuers.

Government attorneys released snippets of taped conversations Monday in which UBS bankers and others use phrases like "baking in Chambers" and "the market," language prosecutors say helped them conspire to set bid prices and determine which firms would win contracts.

New Rule G-43 requires that broker's brokers make reasonable efforts to obtain fair and reasonable prices when conducting secondary-market "bid-wanted" auctions.

While the Governmental Accounting Standards Board's new accounting standards announced Monday will improve financial reporting for public pension plans they also will put added pressure on cash-strapped state and local governments to reform their systems.

Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, laid out a case for additional money market reforms before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday.

Additional regulation of money-market mutual funds could increase short-term borrowing costs for state and local governments, leading municipalities to raise taxes or cut spending on infrastructure and other critical projects, according to a paper released Monday by a Georgetown University professor.