Washington

Brad Bennett, who oversaw many important municipal bond enforcement cases over nearly six years, plans to leave the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as its enforcement chief early next year and return to private practice.

Market groups and firms are asking the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to rethink proposed rule changes related to complaints, saying they should be adapted to better fit the differences in the relationships that municipal advisors have with clients and dealers have customers.

The IRS's Final Regulations represent a departure from current rules that will affect long-held practices for issuers, underwriters and financial advisors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will not bring any more settlements under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative and will instead focus on those underwriters and issuers that did not voluntarily disclose violations under the MCDC.

Former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux plans to ask a federal district court by Jan. 3 to vacate a jury’s verdict that he was guilty of securities fraud, according to his lawyer.

The primary muni market has been volatile the past month since the election. Now with 2016 almost over, the Federal Open Market Committee is set to meet on Wednesday with a bump in interest rates widely expected, which would be the first since last December. In the latest installment of Muni Minute, we preview the Fed meeting and speculate on what could follow from the FOMC in 2017. 

Issuer officials who said Treasury's final issue price rules are a vast improvement over earlier proposals nevertheless raised concern that they might discourage competitive sales of bonds or create problems for issuers if underwriters run afoul of the rules.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s top cop Andrew Ceresney plans to leave the SEC by the end of the year after helping to bring several ground-breaking municipal bonds and other enforcement cases.

A bill introduced by Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., that would shift municipal disclosure responsibilities to issuers and borrowers from underwriters could drive some localities out of the market, issuer officials warned Moore’s chief of staff on Thursday.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have finalized issue price rules that contain special allowances for competitive sales.