Law and regulation

SEC enforcement officials want muni market participants to know that they have 30 people, mostly staff attorneys, in eight offices around the country who have significant expertise in muni issues.

Securities and Exchange Commission officials rejected bond lawyers’ suggestions that the settlements with 36 underwriters under the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative contained specific parameters of continuing disclosure violations.

Should industry practices on pricing new bonds change in the wake of the SEC’s enforcement case against Edward Jones?

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to administer its pilot Series 50 municipal advisory representative qualification exam from Jan. 15 through Feb., 15, 2016.

Secondary market disclosure, issue price, the tax exemption for municipal bonds and private placements with banks are some of the topics the National Association of Bond Lawyers will focus on in the coming year, according to the group’s incoming president, Kenneth Artin.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will no longer stick to its Dec. 7 implementation date for its best execution rule, but will instead set the date to fall four months after it releases its guidance on the rule, the self-regulator said Thursday.

The U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division is conducting a general inquiry into whether certain brokers’ brokers have engaged in anti-competitive practices with regard to pricing for secondary market and other municipal bond trades, according to industry officials.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve proposed rule changes that would address potential conflicts of interest by limiting the gifts and non-cash benefits that non-dealer municipal advisors can give to issuers and others in connection with their activities.

Arbitration panels ordered UBS Financial Services, Inc. and its subsidiary in Puerto Rico to pay more than $5.44 million to investors in the firm's proprietary closed-end mutual funds that predominantly contained Puerto Rico bonds.

Kenneth D. Gibbs, president of the municipal securities group at Jefferies LLC, plans to leave the firm at the end of the year and take over leadership of the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Kym Arnone, the current chair of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, has left Barclays Capital, according to a company spokesperson.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers has updated its bankruptcy guide for members with new information drawn from the relatively high number of municipal bankruptcy filings in the last few years.

The 60 Plus Association announced on Thursday that it is forming a coalition of small holders of Puerto Rico bonds that will push for the creation of a financial control board and oppose bankruptcy legislation for the territory.

A U.S. district court judge has scheduled a trial for late summer of next year in the Securities and Exchange Commission case against the city of Miami and Michael Boudreaux, the city's former budget director.

Samantha DeZur, the Bond Dealers of America vice president of federal policy and strategic communications, will take a new job as the manager of government relations for Chicago-based CME Group Sept. 14.

Three federal appeals court judges dismissed a challenge Tuesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission's pay-to-play rule for investment advisors that has similarities to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's own pay-to-play rule for broker-dealers.

Michael Bartolotta, formerly of First Southwest, has left that firm to join Citi in Houston.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers released a paper Thursday giving its members tools to help issuer clients develop written disclosure policies and procedures in response to recent Securities and Exchange Commission cases against issuers.

The Investment Company Institute is urging the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to give 529 college savings plan underwriters another extension before they will have to file their first data submissions under a recently adopted rule.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced changes to its Electronic Municipal Market Access site Tuesday that will allow municipal issuers to show bank loan disclosures in a further effort to promote voluntary disclosure of issuers’ bank loan financings.