Washington

Regulatory officials are urging state treasurers to take the lead on helping municipalities understand disclosure compliance, as well as remaining engaged on developing municipal advisor rulemaking and guidance.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced on Tuesday that they plan to jointly hold a series of free regional compliance outreach programs for broker-dealers in April and June.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined OFS Securities, Inc. in San Juan, Puerto Rico $40,570 and ordered it to pay more than $13,278 in restitution for buying the territory's bonds for its own account and then selling them to customers at prices with excessive markups.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Monday proposed to amend its rule on professional qualifications to cover municipal advisors and require them to take a test as soon as next year.

The Financial Industry Regulatory has a growing list of arbitration claims related to Puerto Rico bonds on its plate as investors seek damages for what they claim was misleading advice about bond funds.

Dealer groups are happy that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has exempted sophisticated municipal market professionals from its proposed best execution rule, but would like more guidance and economic analysis going forward.

Federal Judge Kimba Wood, who imposed $5.6 million in fines and restitution on municipal bond bid-rigger David Rubin, called prison unwarranted for the founder of CDR Financial Products.

A federal judge sentenced CDR Financial Products Inc. founder David Rubin to two years' probation and ordered him to pay a combined $5.65 million in fines and restitution for his role in rigging bids for municipal bond contracts.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to consolidate interpretive guidance on dealers' time-of-trade disclosure obligations into three new rules and amendments to an existing rule.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission not to approve the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed fair-pricing rule, arguing it is too intertwined with another pending rule.