Washington

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans at its quarterly meeting next week to discuss its proposal to require dealers to disclose on retail customer confirmations the markups and markdowns on principal transactions.

Securities and Exchange Commission officials updated National Association of Municipal Advisors members here on the status of the commission’s municipal advisor examinations and fielded individual questions about continuing compliance with the program.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered San Juan-based Santander Securities on Tuesday to pay $6.4 million for supervisory failures related to Puerto Rican municipal bonds.

Middle-market securities dealers need to redouble efforts to make their voices heard as regulators prepare to tighten the reins on the muni market, Bond Dealers of America members said.

Rebecca Olsen, deputy director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s office of municipal securities, has concerns about municipal advisor misconceptions she has heard about who can advise in the municipal market and who can be considered an independent registered municipal advisor.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Municipal Securities is weighing whether to provide legal interpretive guidance to help municipal advisors determine if they are acting as an adviser or broker-dealer when working with an issuer on a bank loan.

Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, D-P.R., has introduced a bill that would authorize the Treasury Department to guarantee future bonds issued by Puerto Rico and its authorities if it finds they have meaningfully improved the management of their finances.

Nat Singer recently compared chairing the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to running “a relay race.” He said his leg of the race is to work with the board to move forward with rules such as those on municipal advisor core conduct and dealer disclosure of markups on principal trades and then hand the work off to the next chairman and board.

At least three major Wall Street firms have not settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, noted some lawyers who were involved with a National Association of Bond Lawyers survey on the impact of MCDC.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that it reached an undisclosed settlement with two ex-JPMorgan bankers involved in Jefferson County, Ala.’s sewer deals.