Washington

Oriental Financial Services, Hilltop Securities, Alluvion Securities and Sterne, Agee & Leach have agreed to pay a combined $133,358 for municipal securities violations uncovered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Rep. Peter DeFazio’s bill to impose a 0.03% tax on secondary market trades of stocks, bonds and derivatives would include tax-exempt as well as corporate bonds, a spokeswoman for the Democrat from Oregon said on Thursday.

A recent study’s findings that the share of households holding municipal debt fell considerably over a 24-year period with a corresponding condensing of ownership in the hands of the wealthiest may lead to political questions related to muni debt, the study’s authors conclude.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts wants issuers to improve their disclosures about statutory liens and how they could affect general obligation bonds following a slew of recent municipal bankruptcies where this was a key issue.

Federal Chapter 9 policy is ill-defined and fluid, a bankruptcy expert said at a municipal finance conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

In the past 3½ years, the Securities and Exchange Commission has asserted its enforcement role considerably, in what can fairly be described as a form of direct regulation of issuers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is battling with Miami and former budget director Michael Boudreaux over whether they can defend themselves against securities fraud charges by saying they relied on advice from auditors.

The federal judge presiding over a Securities and Exchange Commission case charging the city of Miami and its former budget director with securities fraud concluded in a July 5 order that the bulk of the case could not be decided before trial

Three state Republican parties challenging the constitutionality of a revised Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board anti-pay-to-play rule are asking a federal circuit court to streamline the legal process by consolidating their two pending cases.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve rule changes that would create a new academic trade product with anonymous dealer identifiers that has proved somewhat controversial.