Law and regulation

The par amount and number of municipal securities trades rose in the first quarter of this year, compared to both the previous and same quarters last year, according to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board statistics posted Thursday. But the number of continuing disclosure documents received dropped to 46,623 in the first quarter of this year from 47,934 during the same period last year.

A regulatory official and market participants sparred over the merits of the Securities and Exchange Commission's voluntary continuing disclosure enforcement initiative during a panel here on Wednesday while acknowledging the need to improve municipal disclosure.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is opening an application window between May 3 and May 10 to allow more individuals associated with banks and broker-dealers to apply for a seat on next year’s board.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday approved Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board amendments to facilitate moving the municipal securities industry to a two- instead of three-day settlement cycle.

Dustin McDonald, the current director of the Government Finance Officers Association’s federal liaison center, is leaving GFOA on Friday to lead the marijuana technology company Weedmaps’ government relations practice.

A lawyer facing Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he violated federal securities laws as part of a pay-to-play scheme to secure Ohio pension business is arguing the commission’s charges cannot apply to him and should be dismissed.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is making its trade data available through a research platform to individuals associated with more than 400 institutions around the world, but without the controversial anonymous dealer identifiers in a proposed new product still under development.

The two years since the announcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative have contained vast improvements in disclosure for the municipal market but there are still issues to tackle and questions to ask as disclosure continues evolving, market participants speaking on a panel here said.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposal to require dealers acting as principals to disclose their markups and markdowns on retail confirmations would add complexity to the market and subject dealers to significant costs, dealers and others said here on Thursday.

About of 50 of the 650 registered municipal advisors were examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations in fiscal 2015, the office director told House subcommittee members on Thursday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will move forward with a revised proposal that would mandate municipal securities transactions be closed out within 20 instead of 30 days of settlement, Lynnette Kelly, the MSRB’s executive director said on Monday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal enforcement unit could be bringing more cases with concurrent criminal charges in the future as it plans to increase its coordination with the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bond Dealers of America will be working on a full plate of issues this year as it helps its members navigate recent and ongoing regulatory developments while maintaining its educational and Capitol Hill-centered work, said new BDA board chair John Fechter.

First Winston Securities, Alton Securities Group, and MidAmerica Financial Services were ordered to pay a total of $115,000 in fines and restitution by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for violation of municipal securities rules.

House Republican leaders plan to hold a policy meeting Friday morning with their members on pending legislation for Puerto Rico to try to gain more support for it.

In parallel actions on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. district attorney for the Southern District of New York filed civil and criminal charges against Ramapo, N.Y., officials for misleading investors in connection with bonds issued to finance a minor league baseball stadium.

The House Committee on Natural Resources is moving forward with a bill to help Puerto Rico that loosens provisions regarding the oversight board but still keeps the cram down and debt litigation moratorium portions of an earlier version that drew criticism.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to update and modernize its municipal securities disclosure rule as well as develop a parallel rule that gives municipal advisors continuing disclosure responsibilities.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Jo White cited a voluntary municipal continuing disclosure enforcement program for dealer and issuers as one of the commission’s successful efforts at deter securities law violations and change market behavior.

The Securities Exchange Commission has charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton with securities fraud in a case involving a Texas-based technology company. Paxton was already under indictment in Texas for acting as an unregistered financial advisor.