Washington

Three state Republican parties are challenging the constitutionality of a revised Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule designed to prevent municipal advisors as well as dealers from engaging in pay-to-play practices. The revised rule was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in February.

Municipal bond market participants may agree that bank loan disclosure falls short but there's little consensus about how to improve it amid heightened regulatory scrutiny.

The trustee firm in many recent troubled bond deals assembled by accused fraudster Christopher Brogdon is taking a harder line against the former employee it blames for its involvement in the mess.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a subsidiary of Bank of America, was ordered to pay $422,708 in fines and restitution by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for charging customers excessive markups and markdowns on municipal securities.

Our legislation would preserve money market funds as a source of liquidity and capital for public the infrastructure needs of our citizens.

The Government Finance Officers Association is seeking a new senior associate to engage in legislative and regulatory advocacy as part of the group’s federal liaison center here.

Allegations of securities violations against Calvin Grigsby should be dismissed, an Illinois hearing officer recommended in a case that stemmed from his firm Grigsby & Associates advising a state agency to invest in a bank that later failed.

Colorado state lawmakers have passed legislation designed to validate previous elections of special districts and protect them from legal challenges to their “qualified electors” who vote to create the districts and authorize issuances of tax-exempt bonds.

The Government Finance Officers Association posted an alert on Thursday encouraging its members to both voluntarily disclose the terms of their bank loans and pay attention to regulators’ increased scrutiny of the lack of such disclosures.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed revised amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require municipal securities transactions to be closed out within 20 days of settlement.