Washington

A Trump executive order to pull back rules and the costs they impose encourages independent agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission to review their rules even though the order does not apply to them, according to guidance issued Monday.

President Trump’s executive order to scale back the Dodd-Frank Act opens the door for regulatory reform that could touch on municipal securities, although any substantive changes to the act would have to be left to Congress.

The Internal Revenue Service has determined that District of Columbia’s PILOT revenue bonds are taxable.

Moody’s Investors Service withdrew its credit rating for the Town of Ramapo, N.Y. after it failed to provide audited financial statements for the 2015 fiscal year.

Phoenix-based Lawson Financial Corp. had its Financial Industry Regulatory Authority membership revoked and its CEO and president was barred from the industry after FINRA found they fraudulently sold millions of dollars of municipal revenue bonds.

Two Puerto Rico residents are firing back at UBS, saying the firm's challenge in federal court of an $18 million Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration award over losses in Puerto Rico bonds is "a hopeless and baseless attempt at an unwarranted do over."

Market participants interested in serving on the board of directors for the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board have sixteen more days to apply for a term that would start Oct. 1 and last four years.

Financial advisor Hilltop Securities Inc. – formerly First Southwest – has agreed to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit Rhode Island Commerce Corp. brought in the wake of the failed 38 Studios deal.

Committee Republicans, lacking Democrats, waive their quorum rule and vote to recommend the Senate confirm Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary.

A federal judge has denied former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux's motion for a new trial after a jury found him guilty of securities fraud for misleading municipal bond investors, but he is still exploring options for appeal, his lawyer said.