Municipal disclosure

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has consistently called for steps to reduce investors' reliance on stale financial information.

The general obligation bonds are secured by property tax assessments that don't flow through a school district budget that is threatened with insolvency.

“The channel doesn’t matter in terms of responsibility for the information,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.

If the proposal is approved, the timing of issuers' annual financial disclosures would be prominently displayed as soon as the beginning of 2020.

The changes will slim down underwriters' disclosures to issuers, which many believed had become too lengthy and wordy to be useful.

At an SEC Fixed Income Market Structure Committee meeting on Monday, participants suggested giving out awards to incentivize issuers to submit timely financial information.

The city and its Transitional Finance Authority issued $6.18 billion of long-term bonds, according to the comprehensive annual financial report.

The committee's discussion will begin with a municipal issuers’ structured disclosures discussion, featuring issuers, regulators, and others.

Dealer groups believe that some sections of the proposed amended guidance such as complex financing and disclosure standards would add complexity to the rule.

Municipal market participants got some comfort about their fraud liability if they act in good faith on interim financial disclosures.

Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that would have created a commission to study adopting a machine-readable format for the state's financial documents.

Issuers will be looking to see what Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton says about disclosure.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's 2019 Report on Examination Findings, released Wednesday, discussed violations FINRA personnel discovered.

Though many participants were pleased with changes the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has proposed for its fair dealing guidance, some worried about new compliance expectations.

Administrative failures or a lack of understanding of the rule may be to blame.

The legal teams for Baltimore and Philadelphia asked the court to reject the banks’ plausibility argument as well as their claim that the suit is barred by a four-year statute of limitations.

The debate between buy-side analysts and issuers and their underwriters flared up during a panel discussion at The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance Conference.

A new legal bulletin was requested by SEC Chair Jay Clayton after he observed lawyers noting that some platforms put financial disclosure under more scrutiny.

Lawmakers sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill that would set up a commission to study if the state should require the machine-readable accounting program.

“A highly sophisticated frequent issuer may not need the same disclosures as a less sophisticated infrequent issuer,” the trade association for underwriters told the SEC.