Regulation and compliance
Regulation and compliance
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The Bond Dealers of America is making another push for changes to the Securities and Exchange Commissions Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative after the SEC rejected BDA's earlier requests to narrow the scope of the program and extend its deadline.
July 1 -
As many state and local governments across the country begin their July 1 fiscal year, a new federal law going into effect is of particular interest to municipal governments that issue bonds.
June 30 -
Some broker-dealers and some issuers have distorted the truth about the municipal advisor rule, said a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who worked on the new regulatory regime.
June 27 -
The SEC's latest action continues to illustrate the commission's intent to vigorously enforce the muni bond space, securities lawyers said, and might also illustrate why issuers might hesitate to participate in its controversial self-reporting program.
June 26 -
Harvey, Ill. and its comptroller, Joseph T. Letke, are accused of misusing bond proceeds and misrepresenting investment risks in a civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that led to an injunction blocking an upcoming issue planned by the Chicago suburb.
June 25 -
Moody's downgraded the ratings of King's Daughters Medical Center, Ky., to A3 from A2, with a continued negative outlook, partly because of a $41 million Department of Justice settlement.
June 25 -
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Philadelphia-area private equity firm with violating pay-to-play rules by receiving advisory fees from the city and state pension funds following campaign contributions an associate made to state and local officials. It is the first case brought by the SEC under its pay-to-play rules for investment advisers.
June 20 -
The Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey must determine if investors needed to know about $1.8 billion of controversial spending, securities law experts said. Others said any SEC enforcement action would not be a fix for the authority's problems.
June 16 -
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority censured and imposed a $200,000 fine on the former Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett in Chicago for excessive markups of zero-coupon municipal bonds and U.S. Treasury and agency STRIPS, questionable trading practices, and supervisory failures.
June 16 -
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has publicly disclosed that it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal and state authorities for diverting $1.8 billion to pay for New Jersey road repair projects, The Bergen Record reported Thursday evening.
June 13 -
The Bond Dealers of America is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to limit the scope of its continuing disclosure violation self-reporting program and the participation deadline by more than three months.
June 12 -
New study links increased public corruption to high levels of state expenditures on highways and other construction projects.
June 6 -
City attorneys should be aware of possible conflicts between the issuer they represent and its employees, financial advisors and counsel about whether to self-report that bond documents failed to disclose violations of a continuing disclosure agreement, regulators and lawyers warned Thursday.
June 6 -
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday filed securities fraud charges against a nonprofit charter school operator in Chicago for misleading investors of $37.5 million of bonds about conflicts of interest that could have jeopardized the ability to pay debt service.
June 2 -
Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Peter Chan defended the commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative Wednesday, telling issuer officials not to succumb to fear or confusion about the MCDC one day after the leader of a dealer group blasted the program.
May 21 -
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association president and chief executive officer Kenneth Bentsen criticized recent efforts by the Securities and Exchange Commission to further regulate the muni market, telling issuer officials on Tuesday that a new rule and initiative could undermine productive relationships between municipalities and underwriters.
May 20 -
State and local officials are worried that small issuers of municipal bonds will be disproportionately exposed to the risk of enforcement action under the Securities and Exchange Commission's continuing self-reporting program on disclosure failures, and plan to pressure the commission to extend the initiative's deadline beyond its current Sept. 10 date and offer more guidance.
May 19 -
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority censured and fined broker-dealer Tradition Asiel Securities, Inc. $20,000 for municipal trade reporting violations in a report that fails to mention $110,000 fines for other recent similar violations under relevant disciplinary history.
May 15 -
Former CDR Financial Products, Inc. employees Douglas Goldberg and Daniel Naeh were not given any prison time or probation when sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty in 2010 to multiple criminal charges for participating in wide-reaching bid rigging schemes in the municipal market.
May 8 -
Puerto Rican investors in municipal bond closed-ended funds run by UBS AG, Banco Popular and Popular Securities sued the firms.
May 7





