Washington

Non-dealer municipal advisors should not be allowed to act as placement agents for an issuance of bonds, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association told Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White in a recent letter.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Thursday requested approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to expand the post-trade data displayed on EMMA.

Lawmakers are concerned about the Securities and Exchange Commission's extensive use of administrative proceedings to enforce securities laws in the wake of the Dodd-Frank Act, a trend that has not extended to municipal cases.

An expected months-long suspension of sales of state and local government series securities is likely to be most challenging for small issues with short defeasance escrows, market participants said.

Former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux wants the U.S. Supreme Court to grant him immunity from a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit that has attracted a lot of attention from issuer officials and attorneys.

Muni professionals who take a Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board-owned qualifications exam on or after April 1 will pay an increased fee of $150, the MSRB announced this week.

The muni market may learn more about how issuers fared under the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative after they respond next month to a survey from the Government Finance Officers Association.

A federal ruling against states may set a precedent for risky local spending on broadband, credit analysts said.

The total amount of outstanding municipal securities and loans in the market rose 0.6% to $3.65 trillion in the fourth quarter of last year, as U.S. bank muni holdings increased 2.5% and mutual fund muni holdings rose to a record high $658 billion.

Lawyers, issuer officials, and others consulted about the fund agreed that the three firms did nothing against the rules when they gave the money to the fund, which is governed by a board independent of the city leadership and which does nothing to politically support Garcetti or any other political interest.