Washington

In response to new GASB standards, the Government Finance Officers Association wants to give state and local governments guidelines on how to craft sound pension funding policies.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined three Chicago-based firms a total of $40,000 for violations of muni trade reporting and other rules.

The Securities and Exchange Commission staff released a report Thursday showing some nationally-recognized rating agencies failed to disclose or manage conflicts of interest and changed rating methodologies for securities without disclose the changes until months later.

The Securities and Exchange Commission received 64 whistleblower tips about possible securities law violations in connection with municipal securities and pensions during fiscal 2012, which ended Sept. 30.

Municipal Market Advisors and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association say that a federal decision delaying implementation of Basel III standards for banks is a positive for U.S. municipal bonds.

Federal banking regulators on Wednesday were unable to say when they might finalize rules under the international Basel III accord that would require banks to increase the capital backing their assets and change the way they determine the riskiness of their investments and loans.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed 17 municipal securities-related enforcement actions during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, more than twice the number filed in fiscal 2011, the commission announced yesterday.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council has proposed regulatory reforms for money market mutual funds similar to those advocated by Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro.

Early next week the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will launch MyEMMA, a free online service that will allow users of the MSRB's EMMA system to customize municipal securities searches and email alerts.

Hurricane Sandy may demonstrate to lawmakers the importance of tax-exempt financing and promote opposition to proposals that threaten munis’ tax exemption.