SEC regulations

Emily Brock, director of the federal liaison center at the Government Finance Officers Association, takes time out to talk with Chip Barnett at The Bond Buyer’s National Outlook Conference about infrastructure spending. She also looks at the possibility of Congress approving the return of tax-exempt advance refundings and the SEC and MSRB’s focus on issuers ESG disclosures. (17 minutes)

Todd Cipperman, founding principal of Cipperman Compliance Services, talks with Chip Barnett about compliance and disclosure and regulation by the federal government in 2022. (42 minutes)

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed amendments to its money market fund rules, which it has tinkered with repeatedly since the Great Recession.

Mark Zehner has retired from his position as deputy chief of the SEC's public finance abuse unit, a position that Rebecca Olsen, former director of the Office of Municipal Securities, has taken over.

The position has been held by Rebecca Olsen since 2018.

Public finance issuers are taking an increased interest in the applications of blockchain and distributed ledger technology, and it is entering the market in multiple ways.

The use of alternative trading systems is growing, accounting for 21% of all trades in 2020.

Since a temporary exemption allowing muni advisors to facilitate certain private placement deals expired, a federal court cannot strike it down, the SEC argued.

His experience as an active regulator as head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission may transfer to his new post.

The MSRB is planning to overhaul existing rules in 2021, while stakeholders will lobby the SEC for and against reviving a registration exemption for muni advisors.

Republican Commissioner Elad Roisman was named SEC acting chair and is unlikely to push any major initiatives in his short time, but he does have a focus on fixed income markets.

An unregistered investment adviser told the city he would invest $9 million of its funds, but instead transferred some of the money to himself, the SEC found.

The SEC's Rebecca Olsen said in 2021, the regulator plans to explore ways to get more comment on financial disclosure recommendations.

A painful reality of the current environment is that headcount is a target for cost reduction despite that demands have never been greater — compliance, client demands and the need to access and leverage data and information to avoid a competitive disadvantage.

Current SEC Chair Jay Clayton will likely not be reappointed as both President Trump and Joe Biden are likely to pick chairs more aligned with their political parties.

During a Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee meeting Monday, members said they anticipate volatility as issuers await word on future stimulus, vaccines for COVID-19 and try to figure out what to disclose to investors.

If changes are made to regulating alternative trading systems, it would be the biggest change to the regulation of fixed income trading platforms since 1998.

Securities lawyers and the trade group for municipal advisors agree unregistered muni advisors shouldn't still be ignorant of the law.

Irene Carroll and her company, Funding the Gap LLC, settled with the SEC Friday for not registering as municipal advisors. The SEC said Caroll knew she provided similar services as an MA.

From June to July, not many municipal advisors relied on the SEC's temporary exemption and some sources say they don't expect it to be heavily used.