Washington

The Government Finance Officers Association has hired Dustin T. McDonald, former senior public affairs advisor at law firm Holland & Knight LLP, to succeed Susan Gaffney as director of the group's federal liaison center.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Monday launched its search for seven new board of directors who will serve three-year terms starting Oct. 1. The board consists of 21 members who serve for three years on a staggered basis, so that seven roll off every year and are replaced.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts announced Friday four new officers on its board if directors, including new chair Jeffrey Burger, portfolio manager at Standish Mellon Asset Management Co. in Boston.

Market participants mostly support a revised proposal by the MSRB that would require primary distributors or underwriters of 529 savings plans to submit information to the MSRB, but urged the board to keep information confidential and to consider additional changes.

Market participants wonder if the Justice Department will indict more firms and individuals for bid-rigging of bond-related investment and derivatives contracts.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered five firms to pay $4.48 million for unfairly using bond proceeds to pay reimburse themselves for membership fees they paid to the California Public Securities Association, a lobbying group.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday issued an Investor Bulletin designed to help buyers of municipal bonds better understand bonds' credit risks.

Political division in the leadership of the Securities and Exchange Commission could slow the agency's ability to advance a host of municipal market-related measures in 2013, say some market participants.

The SEC approved rule changes that would allow underwriters to fulfill some new-issue reporting requirements by filing information with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.'s New Issue Information Dissemination Service, or NIIDS.

U.S. attorneys asked a federal judge Monday to order former executives of a General Electric Co. affiliate to pay $6.9 million in restitution to municipal bond issuers for rigging bids on municipal bond reinvestment contracts.