Washington

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing March 12 to consider President Obama's nomination of Mary Jo White as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the committee announced Tuesday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants feedback from the public on the top regulatory and other priorities that it should address in its next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

A municipal advisor bill working through Congress threatens to erode key protections afforded to taxpayers and municipalities by the Dodd-Frank Act, said representatives from a public advocacy group and organizations representing independent advisors on Monday.

Amid finger-pointing and political grandstanding, President Obama and congressional leaders failed to come to an agreement to avoid $85 billion in sweeping automatic budget cuts, which kicks in on Friday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants to hire a deputy general counsel and an assistant general counsel to work in its market regulation division.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would tighten regulation of dealers' muni-related telemarketing practices and require them to respect customers' "do not call" requests indefinitely, rather than for just five years.

Municipal market trading activity in 2012 mirrored trends seen in 2011, with par value remaining largely unchanged and the number of transactions slipping slightly to less than 10 million, according to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's 2012 Fact Book, released today.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to hold a public roundtable on Tuesday, April 16 to discuss ways to improve the transparency and efficiency of the municipal and corporate fixed income markets.

Municipal market participants face the prospect of more enforcement action this year while issuers will be pressured to step up disclosure efforts, industry experts said Tuesday, the final day of the National Municipal Bond Summit.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will offer a live webcast of its market outreach event with the Municipal Advisory Council of Texas on March 7 in Dallas. This is the first time the board has webcasted an outreach event.