Law and regulation

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced on Thursday that starting on Feb. 27, academic institutions will be able to request one-year data sets from a new data product that would identify dealers in some way without naming them.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower office fielded more allegations involving municipal securities and public pensions in fiscal year 2016 than ever before, according to a report the office sent to Congress about recent whistleblower activity.

As Rep. Devin Nunes joins the executive committee of Trump’s transition team, some state and local officials worry he will gain support for his controversial pension bill next year.

Republicans say if federal agencies don’t hold off on finalizing rules, they’ll face scrutiny and possible action by Congress.

Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White on Tuesday said the numerous violations the commission's municipal continuing disclosure enforcement initiative uncovered may mean the SEC needs direct regulatory authority over issuers.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants to amend its proposal to require dealers to disclose their markups and markdowns in certain transactions by lengthening its implementation timeline and clarifying provisions that market participants have criticized.

Issuers, borrowers, and MAs disagree that they violated state and local government series securities (SLGS) rules.

The heightened focus on disclosure in green bonds could inspire better disclosure practices in the larger municipal bond market, S&P Global Ratings said in a report this week.

Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White announced today that she will leave her position at the end of the Obama administration.

Municipal market groups and other market participants are recommending that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board focus its future strategic priorities on improving its EMMA system and transparency as well as cost-benefit analyses of its rulemaking.

MSRB executive director Lynnette Kelly tells the SEC's Investor Advocate what retail muni investors need.

Five are named to the MSRB's Investment Advisory Board for 2017.

Donald Trump's plans to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act and impose a moratorium on new regulations could affect the municipal bond market.

The stage for is set for historic tax reform that could imperil the tax exemption for municipal bonds.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to require dealers to disclose their markups and markdowns in certain transactions is long overdue and will greatly benefit retail investors, said the Securities and Exchange Commission's Investor Advocate.

Scottrade has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority charges that it did not identify bonds as callable in approximately 5,000 municipal securities transactions.

The worst is yet to come in the SEC's enforcement of municipal disclosure efforts, and it will be very costly for the issuers who missed the boat.

The par amount of municipal trades continued to grow in the third quarter of 2016, reaching a three-year high and beating the total from the third quarter a year ago by more than 50%, according to recently released Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board statistics.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants to amend several of its rules to both create a municipal advisor client complaint process as well as update and streamline its current requirements related to dealer customer complaints.

A New York audit firm and one of its senior partners have agreed to pay a combined $555,000 and take a number of corrective actions to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they issued fraudulent audit reports in connection with municipal bond offerings from the town of Ramapo, N.Y.