Law and regulation

Lisa Washburn, the new chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, wants NFMA this year to become more proactive in collaborative industry efforts to improve municipal bond disclosure and address changes in the municipal market.

Several industry groups are telling the Securities and Exchange Commission they support Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board changes that would shift the board members’ term limits to four years from three.

Overzealous regulators are a big problem for middle-market broker-dealers said Warren Stephens, chief executive officer of Stephens, Inc. and a founding member of the Bond Dealers of America.

Six broker-dealers and investment providers have agreed to pay $103.35 million in preliminary settlements of charges by issuers and state attorneys general that they engaged in bid-rigging and price fixing for municipal investment products and derivatives.

The Bond Dealers of America is now part of a new umbrella organization called the American Securities Association that will also include an upstart association for middle market equities dealers.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered George K. Baum & Co. to pay $270,000 for charging a Colorado school district more than four times the firm’s normal underwriting fee, partly to pay for costs associated with promoting bond ballot initiatives.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is urging the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service to create special, more lenient issue price rules for competitive transactions, particularly small deals.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has published a new educational guide that walks retail investors through the pros and cons of varying methods of investing in municipal bonds.

Challenges remain despite initial favorable reaction to a proposal to establish guidance for municipal securities dealers calculating prevailing market price and compensation in principal transactions.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel in San Juan ordered UBS AG to pay an investor about $1.45 million in compensation for losses suffered by investments in its Puerto Rico closed-end bond funds.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has released proposed rule changes that would provide guidance on how municipal securities dealers should price bonds and calculate their compensation.

Three groups are threatening to challenge the constitutionality of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's revised pay-to-play rule for municipal advisors.

Comprehensive or targeted reform of the federal tax code could significantly impact the revenues of most states, The Pew Charitable Trusts found in a report released Wednesday.

Oppenheimer & Co., WFG Investments, and E*TRADE were three of seven firms that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined a total of $412,500 for trading municipal securities below the minimum denomination.

Lisa Washburn, a managing director with Municipal Market Analytics, is the new chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

Muni market groups are considering changes to issuer audit processes, improvements to EMMA, and additional guidance from regulators as part of a collaborative effort to shore up continuing disclosure and prevent additional rules or enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Government Finance Officers Association has issued an alert urging municipal issuers to be prepared for settlement offers from the Securities Exchange Commission under its program for voluntary self-reporting of violations in connection with continuing disclosure obligations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has plans to increase its examination and enforcement staff as President Obama announced in his budget on Tuesday that he wants to double the SEC’s budget by fiscal year 2021, starting with a $200 million increase to $1.78 billion in 2017.

Patrick McCoy, the finance director New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was elected president of the Government Finance Officers Association.

Recent opinions issued by the California attorney general’s office may have some municipal advisors and broker-dealers treading carefully to avoid breaking Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules.