Washington

Phillip D. Murphy, a former manager of municipal derivatives products at Banc of America Securities LLC, now Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was indicted by a federal grand jury on three counts of conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a fraudulent scheme to rig bids for municipal-bond related investment agreements.

Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., is open to dropping his bid to legislatively remove the Dodd-Frank-mandated federal fiduciary duty for municipal advisors if there is a narrowing of who would be considered an MA, an aide said Friday.

The bill introduced by Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., to limit the muni market participants that would be federally regulated as municipal advisors could reduce protection of state and local governments, the chairman of the MSRB warned a congressional panel.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to propose Congress give it authority to set primary and secondary market disclosure standards for municipal issuers.

Federal regulators do not support wholesale removal of the Tower Amendment or exemptions from federal securities laws for municipal securities, the General Accountability Office said in a report issued Thursday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to issue a report, as soon as Thursday, proposing legislative and regulatory changes that would improve disclosure and price transparency in the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market.

Both the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association on Wednesday released guidance to help underwriters comply with the MSRB's interpretative release on its Rule G-17, which details their disclosure and other fair-dealing obligations to state and local governments issuing municipal bonds.

The House Financial Services Committee's capital markets panel on Friday will hear testimony from nine witnesses representing dealers, state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations at a hearing on the Dodd-Frank Act's impact on the municipal market.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered five firms to pay $117,425 in fines and restitution to customers for violation of municipal securities trade, pricing and supervisory rules.

A regulator will allow bond insurer MBIA Inc. to make a payment on surplus notes issued in 2008, the company said.