Washington

Municipal bond dealers will need to report contractual prices of inter-dealer muni bond trades starting Feb. 25, according to notice released Thursday by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Jeffrey Burger, the new chairman of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, worries that one of the biggest threats to municipal analysis may be complacency about the relative stability of municipal credits in recent years.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has hired William Oliver, a former NFMA chairman with 30 years of experience in the municipal bond field, as industry and media liaison.

Revenues at municipalities may increase slightly in 2013 and additional municipal bankruptcies will be uncommon as state and local governments continue a slow economic recovery, speakers at the Governing Outlook conference said here Tuesday.

San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos plans to request a hearing to examine whether city investments were harmed by manipulation of a key lending rate.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will soon make muni market benchmark data, including yield curves and other market indices, available on the EMMA web site to give market participants determine fair prices.

Cynthia Friedlander has been named director of fixed income regulation in the member regulation division of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, FINRA announced Thursday.

President Obama nominated Mary Jo White to become chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, prompting several market insiders to say he is signaling his intent to address white-collar financial crime during his second term.

Lawmakers have met with the Securities and Exchange Commission in recent days and discussed recommendations in the SEC's July report on the municipal market, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee told The Bond Buyer Wednesday.

FINRA ordered fines of more than $6.1 million for municipal market rule violations in disciplinary cases reported in 2012, 6% less than the $6.6 million in fines assessed in the previous year.