Washington

As we await the final shoe to drop with regard to the SEC's MCDC initiative, the municipal market may be at a turning point in terms of disclosure.

Richards, Merrill & Peterson has agreed to pay a $45,000 penalty for trading below the minimum denomination and North Star Investment Services will pay $15,000 for municipal trade reporting failures under settlements with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a revised content outline for its permanent municipal advisor qualification exam that covers newly approved advisor rules.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is urging states to adopt policies that ensure issuers meet their disclosure requirements and provide investors with relevant information.

Legislation to require California issuers to provide significantly more information about their bond payments and uses of proceeds appears to be marching toward passage.

A suburban Chicago school district that ran into financial trouble after mishandling bond proceeds faces a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry.

The Government Finance Officers Association has issued an alert urging members to be ready for conversations with their counsel and quick turnarounds of settlements under the Securities and Exchange Commission's program to voluntarily self-report continuing disclosure violations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is "very focused" on examining whether there were any securities law violations involving Puerto Rico bonds as the commonwealth's fiscal situation deteriorated over the last few years, SEC chair Mary Jo White told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

In a first of a kind case, two California-based municipal advisory firms and their executives agreed to pay a total of $200,000 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they used deceptive business practices in dealing with five school districts.

Attorney Robert W. Cook has been tapped by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s board of governors to become chief executive officer of FINRA during the second half of the year.