Washington

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has asked financial industry participants and members of the public for suggestions about legislative alternatives to the so-called Volcker Rule.

The MSRB has drafted a new rule G-45 that would require underwriters or other primary distributors of Section 529 college savings plans to provide detailed information about these plans to the board’s EMMA system on a quarterly basis. But the board would not disseminate the data fight now.

Regulatory efforts to improve municipal bond pricing transparency have resulted in lower prices paid by retail buyers of muni bonds, according to preliminary results of a study on muni pricing and trading being conducted by Erik Sirri, former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's trading and markets division.

John Cross, the associate tax legislative counsel in the Treasury's Office of Tax Policy, is to become director of the SEC's new Office of Municipal Securities in September.

MSRB has sent a two-page letter to nine organizations requesting a meeting.

A diverse group of municipal market participants has criticized the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's recent concept release related to third-party payments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named John J. Cross, 3rd, the head of its Office of Municipal Securities.

A House Financial Services Committee panel approved a bill Wednesday that would exempt municipal advisors from having a federal fiduciary duty to place muni issuers' interests first, but lawmakers said the bill's final version will leave the fiduciary requirement in place.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Wednesday announced the seven individuals who will join its 21-member board of directors on Oct. 1 for three-year terms.

A breakdown of legislative recommendations for congress and of regulatory recommendations for the SEC and MSRB to consider.