Law and regulation

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s top cop Andrew Ceresney plans to leave the SEC by the end of the year after helping to bring several ground-breaking municipal bonds and other enforcement cases.

A bill introduced by Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., that would shift municipal disclosure responsibilities to issuers and borrowers from underwriters could drive some localities out of the market, issuer officials warned Moore’s chief of staff on Thursday.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have finalized issue price rules that contain special allowances for competitive sales.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association will be focused on several municipal bond industry initiatives in including disclosure in 2017, the group said at its annual “State of the Industry” briefing in New York on Wednesday.

Former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux will face a much lighter penalty for securities fraud than the Securities and Exchange Commission sought, after a federal court judge found that the commission overreached in its requests to have Boudreaux enjoined and fined $450,000.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered UBS to pay two Puerto Rican residents $18.4 million in damages, interest, and other fees over the residents’ investments in closed-end mutual funds concentrated in Puerto Rico bonds.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wants bank regulators to avoid adopting harsh international capital standards for trading that could have a chilling effect on the municipal market and hurt liquidity.

The MSRB issued interpretive guidance on how its rules apply to accounts that are fully managed by a registered investment advisor that is also a sophisticated municipal market professional.

The SEC, in a court filing on Tuesday, said former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux's arguments against penalties the SEC wants to impose on him for securities fraud show a lack of responsibility and respect for the jury verdict that found him guilty.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority found that Merrill Lynch failed to properly supervise customers’ investments in Puerto Rico bonds and closed-end funds.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has announced that its dealer markup rule will take effect on May 14, 2018.

The Financial Services Institute has joined three state Republican groups in urging federal appeals court judges to vacate changes to a pay-to-play rule that they say harms market participants’ First Amendment rights.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Municipal Securities may propose changes to Rule 15c2-12 that would amend the list of event notices dealers must ensure issuers are disclosing.

Robert Crowe, the alleged fundraising expert for a pay-to-play scheme that took place in 2010 and 2011, is fighting the SEC’s fraud charges against him in Ohio federal court.

The MSRB reminded dealers on Tuesday that they are required to tell investors when a muni has market discount.

Municipal advisors want the MSRB to take more time to consider how its proposed continuing education requirements for advisors would fit into the existing MA regulatory structure as well as provide details about how firms can best comply.

The median audit reporting time for all municipal bond-related sectors in fiscal year 2015 was the highest it has been since 2008, likely because of recent pension reporting rules.

Dealers are unhappy the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposal to require them to disclose their markups and markdowns to retail customers in certain transactions.

A banker who serves on issuer charitable groups and donates to them raises conflict of interest questions.

Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White said in a speech on Friday that the municipal securities market is an example of an area where the commission has brought to bear its “bolder and more unrelenting approach to enforcement to change industry behavior.”