Washington

Pre-trade reporting of muni bond prices by "alternative trading systems" could improve liquidity in the muni market. Or, such reporting could make liquidity worse. Market participants aren't sure which.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed proposed rule changes with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require the exact par value of trades up to $5 million to be reported over EMMA on a near-real time basis.

The IRS is auditing $98.5 million of general obligation refunding bonds that the State of Texas Water Financial Assistance issued in 2002.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will not pursue regulations aimed reducing the susceptibility of money market mutual funds to market runs, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said in a statement Wednesday night.

The number of continuing disclosures muni bond issuers filed with the MSRB continues to increase, with issuers submitting 139,043 documents in the 12-months ending June 2012, according to a report released Wednesday.

One of the biggest investor concerns about unfunded public pension liabilities, is whether a government's payment obligations to retirees will compete with debt repayment, according to a Wells Fargo report issued Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — This isn't the first time the Securities and Exchange Commission's has had conduit bonds in their cross hairs.

The SEC's request to impose corporate-style registration and disclosure requirements on certain conduit borrowers may not affect those that are responsible for most defaults, data shows.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered four firms to pay more than $53,000 in fines and restitution to customers for violations of municipal securities fair-dealing, pricing and other rules.

Providers of municipal market data met with Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board staff Thursday to discuss concerns that municipal market participants do not adequately understand muni market indices.