Law and regulation

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Municipal Securities is hiring two new attorney advisers in the latest expansion of the team tasked with providing muni market expertise to federal regulators.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new money market fund rules will make MMF investors more conservative while retaining the funds' usefulness for most market participants, including tax-exempt investors and municipalities, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency has reached agreement with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to have the agency's ratings available on EMMA.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board sought approval Thursday for the first municipal advisor rule the muni industry's self regulator has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve since SEC adopted its final MA rule in September.

Municipal bond issuers, dealers, and lawyers are making another push to alter the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, asking the SEC to narrow the program's scope and delay its deadline by several months.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law on Wednesday that will expand an existing law to require California debt issuers to disclose any direct loans from banks to the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Wednesday proposed a revised draft rule to establish the core duties of municipal advisors, tweaking some of the provisions that generated the most controversy in January's first draft.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 on Wednesday to require institutional money market mutual funds to adopt a floating net asset value.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Tuesday filed a revised proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission to require dealers to provide annual municipal securities training for registered persons who regularly conduct or supervise muni business.

Since the release of the Securities and Exchange Commission's final municipal advisor registration rule in September 2013, the Bond Dealers of America and its members have dedicated significant efforts and resources to work with regulators, educate issuers and ultimately be prepared to make a successful implementation of the rule.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Monday that it has hired David H. Saltiel as chief economist and is also recruiting someone else to lead to a market structure department that it is creating.

A Republican congressman is pushing the Securities and Exchange Commission to limit the scope of its disclosure violations self-reporting program to the last two years, warning that if it does not he and other lawmakers may seek a legislative solution.

Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen promised a Senator that she would look into concerns that banking regulators' proposed liquidity rules would hurt the municipal market.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it will meet next Wednesday to consider money market fund rules.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to simplify and harmonize its rules on professional designations has drawn applause from a dealers group.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will re-propose its draft Rule G-42 on the duties of non-solicitor advisors, the MSRB confirmed Tuesday.

Dealers pay less for munis than customers, particularly when there is more time between trades, according to a long-awaited study commissioned by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. But market sources say the finding is not surprising and that the report is limited in its results.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has permanently barred a former employee of a broker-dealer and investment advisory firm from the financial markets and ordered him to pay more than $200,000 of restitution to a customer he swindled.

Utah Treasurer Richard Ellis is making a push to educate his state's issuers about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, which many public officials remain uninformed about.

Bond lawyers and issuers are frustrated that the Securities and Exchange Commission did not specify the disclosure failures that led to its settlement with a California school district on Tuesday. They said it leaves them with no helpful guidance on what kinds of disclosures the SEC is focusing on in its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation voluntary enforcement initiative.