Variable-rate bonds

Among those approved is a $117 million variable rate demand bond expected to be marketed late this year.

The East Baton Rouge Sewerage Commission plans to achieve savings by refunding taxable bonds with tax-exempts.

New guidelines require local governments to receive the state's comptroller's approval before issuing debt with variable interest rates, put options, or interest rate reset options.

The state supreme court agreed to review the ruling in favor of a group of Wall Street banks that whistleblower Edelweiss said cost the state at least $100 million.

The judge cited "substantial evidence" for charges of collusion among the banks to fix interest rates on millions of variable-rate demand bonds.

The group of five banks deny long-standing charges from a Minnesota-based whistleblower that they conspired to artificially inflate the rates on variable-rate demand bonds.

In 2024, variable rate (short put) issuance is up 6.4% increase year-over-year, LSEG data shows. Few expect issuance to return pre-financial crisis levels.

Most of the selling during tax season happens on the front end of the curve, said Wesly Pate, senior portfolio manager at Income Research + Management.

The payout represents the maximum percentage a whistleblower can receive under the False Claims Act in Illinois.

Chicago will issue $80.865 million of Series 2024A and 2024B senior lien airport revenue refunding bonds for Midway, with a pricing date to be determined.

This volatility can be seen in the whipsawing figures from the SIFMA Municipal Swap Index Yield over the past few months, but in January in particular.

Municipal Market Analytics noted the current size of the outstanding TOB market — at about $50 billion from highs of nearly $500 billion before the Financial Crisis — reflects a reduced credit concentration risk and lower overall leverage.

The whistleblower who brought the case, Minnesota-based municipal advisor Johan Rosenberg, will receive $14.4 million under the deal.

With class certification now in hand, the cities that brought the lawsuit have two weeks to outline how other municipalities will be provided notice of the chance to join.

The Illinois Attorney General maintains it is unclear whether the state was even defrauded by the Wall Street banks that are accused of rate-rigging by a whistleblower.

The group of banks would pay $68 million to settle the lawsuit, which originally estimated damages at $340 million.

The plaintiff that brought the case on behalf of the state says the banks inflated interest rates through a private, invitation-only VRDO index that influenced SIFMA's weekly index.

The Illinois case is part of several state-level lawsuits brought by Minnesota-based municipal advisor Johan Rosenberg, accusing banks of conspiring to set the interest rates of state-issued VRDOs artificially high.

It's one of four state cases accusing Wall Street banks of a "robo-resetting" scheme that kept interest on variable-rate debt artificially high.

Variable-rate debt, tender option bonds and even prepaid gas bonds may stage a comeback in the current market, panelists at a GFOA conference said.