Washington

Municipal issuers and dealers hope that the Federal Reserve's proposal to include uninsured investment-grade general obligation bonds as high-quality liquid assets under the Fed's liquidity coverage ratio requirement rule spurs other banking regulators to do the same.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has proposed a rule that would amend the Fed’s liquidity coverage ratio requirement (LCR) to include some uninsured investment-grade general obligation municipal securities as high-quality liquid assets (HQLA), a move market participant have said matters little unless other regulators follow suit.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged an Atlanta-based investment advisory firm and two executives with fraud for allegedly selling investments to pension funds for the city's police and firefighters, transit workers, and other employees that were illegal under state law.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that Jessica Kane will be the new director of the SEC’s Office of Municipal Securities and that Rebecca Olsen will be deputy director.

Municipal market trading volume fell 13% from the first quarter of last year, according to statistics released by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Tuesday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined a dealer firm and fined and suspended an individual for violations of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules, FINRA revealed in its monthly disciplinary report for May.

The U.S. government wrongfully extended the statute of limitations to obtain bid-rigging convictions for three ex-UBS bankers, lawyers told an appeals court.

Federal aid for Puerto Rico and its cash-strapped issuing authorities is not going to happen, former governor Luis Fortuño told municipal analysts Thursday.

Any well-publicized enforcement action over whether bank loans should be treated as securities would certainly provide some guidance on this issue, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board executive director Lynnette Kelly told muni analysts meeting here.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts presented awards to six muni market professionals during a luncheon at its annual conference in Las Vegas Wednesday.