Law and regulation

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.

The Associated Press and Municipal Bond Information Services, a national consortium of municipal interdealer brokers, announced Monday that it has created a new muni bond index.

Bond Dealers of America is urging the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to leave unchanged some rules that relate to the municipal securities market’s move to a two- instead of three-day settlement cycle.

Bond trustees are proving to have less power than some investors expect as debt distress has become a more persistent concern for municipal bond investors.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is proposing two clarifying exceptions to its rule preventing dealers from buying or selling bonds below their stated minimum denominations

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to weigh complaints it recently received on a proposal for determining markups, as well as comments on close-out procedures for dealers, during its meeting next week.

Most municipal bond analysts believe Chapter 9 bankruptcy is taboo for municipalities and should be avoided, according to an analyst survey by PNC Capital Markets LLC.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority warned firms on Monday that they need to conduct adequate due diligence to determine if bank loans and private placements involve municipal securities.

Issuers and dealers are criticizing as incompatible with the municipal bond market the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed rule changes to establish a process for determining markups and markdowns that may have to be disclosed to retail investors.

The Federal Reserve on Friday released final rule changes to treat more municipal securities as high-quality liquid assets under liquidity requirements for large financial institutions, but critics complain they do not go far enough and could hurt the muni market.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to take up a case on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s use of administrative proceedings to impose penalties in enforcement cases prompted a law firm to recommend those subject to administrative proceedings to challenge their constitutionality.

New best-execution regulations fail to call for or help establish what is missing in the fixed income market – a consolidated quote feed.

Bradley Wendt of Charles River Associates provides market context to the MSRB’s 2016 mandate that “best execution,” a hallmark of the taxable fixed income and equity markets, becomes a staple for retail municipal bond investors.

Some investors holding millions of dollars of bonds in default in the Florida panhandle are upset by what they see as inaction by trustee Bank of Oklahoma Financial and a fired employee with links to accused fraudster Christopher Brogdon.