Washington

Participants in municipal bond transactions need to clearly identify, document and disclose potential conflicts of interest in order to avoid potential negative ramifications, the National Federation of Municipal Analysts concluded in a new white paper.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to require dealers to submit new information through its trade reporting system has some support from the two major industry groups, but one is concerned about possible inefficiency and confusion and the other wants a longer implementation period.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials stand behind their disclosure after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened an informal inquiry into the district’s compliance with legal guidelines in the use of bond proceeds to buy iPad tablets.

A network interruption brought down the financial market’s largest inventory management system Friday morning, stifling municipal bond trading on some platforms and highlighting vulnerability of the market to technological failures.

New York State and New York City comptrollers Thomas DiNapoli and Scott Stringer, respectively, called on the SEC to compel fossil fuel industry companies to better disclosure climate change material risks

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a New York City-based financial advisor with fraud, saying he stole at least $20 million from customers who were told their money would be invested in municipal bonds when it actually evaporated in riskier trades.

Market participants are concerned and confused about an aspect of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed municipal advisor core conduct rule that some sources are reading as allowing investment banks to provide advisory services on deals they underwrite.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined two firms $55,000 for muni trade rule violations and suspended a former broker, as well as fined him to pay $5,000 in fines and ordered him to disgorge $2,837 of ill-gotten gains plus interest, for making unsuitable municipal securities recommendations to clients.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a proposed rule governing the core conduct of municipal advisors, including their fiduciary duty to put the interests of state and local government clients ahead of their own.

Municipalities are getting themselves into trouble by borrowing to cover operating deficits, Federal Reserve Bank of New York president and chief executive officer William Dudley told attendees at a closed-doors workshop Tuesday.