Washington

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will request public comment this fall on a proposal that would require a dealer to disclose to its customers what it paid for the same security on that same day.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to simplify its rules on professional designations by limiting the activities of some dealer representatives and eliminating one of its professional designations.

A bill quietly introduced months ago may have helped get the SEC moving toward developing rules that require dealers to disclose their markups in riskless principal transactions.

Louisiana State Bond Commission and Department of Justice attorneys entered into a settlement of the government's housing discrimination lawsuit even though the commission's chairman claims it was not authorized by the full SBC..

The Securities and Exchange Commission's changes to its disclosure violation self-reporting program are somewhat helpful to issuers but may create further problems in their relationships with underwriters, market participants said.

Securities and Exchange commission member Michael Piwowar wants to explore the possibility of simplifying and standardizing municipal bond deals, because he believes that overly-complex transactions are contributing to muni market opacity and higher issuance costs.

An unfavorable federal ruling on high quality liquid asset status for municipal bonds would sharply curb bank appetite for munis, said economist George Friedlander.

Securities and Exchange Commission officials have modified their program for issuers and underwriters to voluntarily self-report continuing disclosure failures, saying they want to encourage as much participation in the program as possible.

Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's sole non-voting member of Congress, has introduced legislation that would allow the commonwealth's government to authorize certain government-owned corporations to enter Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy.

In light of the MSRB's dual mission to protect both municipal entities and investors, SIFMA urges the MSRB to interpret MSRB Rule G-17, effective immediately, to apply specific baseline provisions to municipal advisors.