Law and regulation

Market participants are concerned that language in the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposal to remove references to credit ratings from its Rule 2a-7 governing money market funds could be too restrictive on what securities MMFs could purchase.

The Bond Dealers of America is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on non-dealer municipal advisors acting as unlicensed broker-dealers by assisting municipalities in placing their debt through the direct placement markets.

Eight state and local groups are urging federal banking regulators to classify investment-grade munis with demonstrated liquidity as high-quality liquid assets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to require dealers to train certain individuals annually on municipal securities issues.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that new technology and investigative techniques led to a strong fiscal 2014 enforcement year, including municipal bond cases.

Public officials who have traditionally believed that they are safe from Securities and Exchange Commission action if they avoid exchanges of favor should think again in the face of increased SEC focus on anti-corruption efforts, former commission enforcement lawyer Peter Chan said.

Investment grade bonds of issuers and obligors with at least $100 million of securities outstanding should qualify as high-quality liquid assets under federal banking rules, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association told regulators in a just-released letter.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined two firms a total of $28,500 for violations of municipal securities rules, including excessive markups and trade reporting failures.

Delivery of the Official Statement satisfies MSRB Rule G-32 - but not the new Time-of-Trade Disclosure Rule, MSRB Rule G-47.

Gary Goldsholle will leave his post as general counsel at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board after serving just over two years, according to multiple sources.

Inspections of municipal advisors will be low-stress and MAs will be notified in advance before seeing any Securities and Exchange Commission personnel at their doors, members of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations told non-dealer advisors.

The National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors voted at its annual meeting Thursday to change its name to the National Association of Municipal Advisors, and has elected Terri Heaton of Springsted Inc. as the renamed organization's president.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned that Municipal Advisors are not registering properly and that some may be attempting to manipulate the MA rule as a marketing tool.

The cyber consultant who discovered that Cutwater Asset Management's server for its local government investment pool clients was not secure, says this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Months after the municipal advisor registration rule's final effective date, there is still considerable confusion among both regulated entities and issuers about what the new regulations require.

Former Financial Industry Regulatory Authority vice chairman Stephen Luparello received $5.34 million of total compensation in 2012 — the highest of any of the individuals in The Bond Buyer's annual survey of the compensation levels at 21 industry, self-regulatory, state and local, and muni related groups.

Municipal issuers need to understand the thinking inside the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division, take steps to protect themselves, and think about whether fundamental changes to muni market regulation might be in their best interests, said former SEC lawyer Peter Chan.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers has renamed its Fundamentals of Municipal Bond Law Seminar scholarship program after the late Frederic "Rick" L. Ballard Jr.

Peter Chan, the architect of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, will join Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as a partner in the firm's Chicago office, it announced Thursday.

Fluvanna County, Va.'s three-year legal tussle with Davenport & Co., has come to a close after the county's Board of Supervisors accepted an offer from the firm to drop its pursuit of $1.6 million in legal fees in exchange for an end to the suit and a public statement by the board retracting the claims it made against Davenport.