Law and regulation

Market participants need to continue working toward broad disclosure of bank loans, possibly by amending the Securities and Exchange Commission’s disclosure rule to classify the loans as material events for issuers.

Issuers vented their frustrations about the complicated nature of voluntary bank loan disclosure in the municipal market to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board chair at the annual GFOA debt committee meeting.

The credit crisis in Puerto Rico may give Congress an opportunity to pass legislation that would allow direct regulation of state and local issuers, municipal market participants said Saturday.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has released four model documents designed to help municipal advisors as they work to come into compliance with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s rule outlining the core duties for Mas.

The Government Finance Officers Association is the latest group to cry foul over the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department’s proposed political subdivision rules, and called on the IRS to withdraw the proposal.

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has recommended that the full Senate approve President Obama’s two nominees for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The mayor of Harvey, Ill. has agreed to pay $10,000 and to never participate in a municipal bond offering again in order to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he helped the city mislead bond investors by diverting proceeds from projects for which they were intended.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has filed a complaint against Phoenix-based Lawson Financial Corp. and the firm's president and chief executive officer, charging them with securities fraud in connection with the sale of millions of dollars of municipal revenue bonds to customers.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has tapped Susan Collet to become head of legislative affairs, overseeing its congressional and federal government activities.

Three state Republican parties are challenging the constitutionality of a revised Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule designed to prevent municipal advisors as well as dealers from engaging in pay-to-play practices. The revised rule was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in February.

Municipal bond market participants may agree that bank loan disclosure falls short but there's little consensus about how to improve it amid heightened regulatory scrutiny.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a subsidiary of Bank of America, was ordered to pay $422,708 in fines and restitution by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for charging customers excessive markups and markdowns on municipal securities.

Our legislation would preserve money market funds as a source of liquidity and capital for public the infrastructure needs of our citizens.

The Government Finance Officers Association is seeking a new senior associate to engage in legislative and regulatory advocacy as part of the group’s federal liaison center here.

Colorado state lawmakers have passed legislation designed to validate previous elections of special districts and protect them from legal challenges to their “qualified electors” who vote to create the districts and authorize issuances of tax-exempt bonds.

The Government Finance Officers Association posted an alert on Thursday encouraging its members to both voluntarily disclose the terms of their bank loans and pay attention to regulators’ increased scrutiny of the lack of such disclosures.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed revised amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require municipal securities transactions to be closed out within 20 days of settlement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging a father, his son, and five of their associates with defrauding investors in Native American tribal bonds to pay for, among other things, their luxury expenses and legal costs associated with prior fraud charges.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is using Peter Cannava, a banker involved in an ill-fated private placement for a startup video game company, as a scapegoat and has no basis for charging him with defrauding investors, his lawyers claimed this week.

Municipal industry experts on Thursday urged analysts to continue focusing on how the presence of statutory liens can change the treatment of debt in bankruptcy proceedings and ratings analyses.