At BDA’s National Fixed Income Conference, which took place October 6-7, 2011, the BDA urged issuer groups to become more active in the fight against the potential for elimination of the Muni Tax Exemption, saying the issue is still on the table with regard to Federal Tax Reform. View The Bond Buyer Article here (subscription…
Author: Bond Dealers of America
BDA IN THE NEWS: SEC Urged to Reject or Delay G-17 Fair-Dealing Guidance, The Bond Buyer
The Bond Buyer reports today: Market participants urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to reject or delay the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed interpretive guidance for Rule G-17 on fair dealing for underwriters, saying it would impose a fiduciary-like regimen of disclosure obligations that would only confuse issuers. View the article here (subscription required.) View BDA’s…
BDA Criticizes MSRB G-17 Guidance
The BDA filed comments with the SEC criticizing the proposal because it will tend to confuse both underwriters and issuers on the role of the underwriter. Earlier this year, the SEC and the MSRB decided under Rule G-23 that underwriters and issuers were counterparties with differing interests. This interpretive guidance would blur that line. In…
Senator Shelby Introduces "Financial Regulatory Responsibilities Act"
The “Financial Regulatory Responsibility Act of 2011” holds financial regulators accountable for rigorous, consistent economic analysis on every new rule they propose. It requires them to provide clear justification for the rules, and to determine the economic impacts of proposed rulemakings, including their effects on growth and net job creation. If the costs of a rule outweigh…
DOL Pulls Fiduciary Rule
Just last week, the former chairman of the House Financial Service Committee, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), wrote to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis urging her to do so. The Labor Department announcement is available here and Congressman Frank’s letter is available here. The proposal would have updated a 1975 regulation on who is a fiduciary to…
Obama Proposes Limiting Muni Tax Exemption
The President did not release any analysis of the effect of this proposal on the municipal market, on investors, on issuers, or on local taxpayers and ratepayers who would have to bear the cost of the increased in debt service that would result from this proposal. The new muni bond tax would apply those taxpayers…
MSRB Guidance on Bank Loans, Delay of Muni Advisor Rules and Date for Posting Ratings on EMMA
Direct Purchase and “Bank Loans”. This Notice reminds market participants that just because something is called a “bank loan” does not mean that it is not a municipal security, subject to all of the MSRB rules and to securities laws. The Notice also reminds market participants that direct purchase of a VRDO followed by a…
BDA Opposes Fiduciary Duty Before House Financial Services
The BDA opposes a broker-dealer fiduciary duty because no benefit to investors has been shown, because the current rules protect investors and because a fiduciary relationship is not possible when the broker-dealer has been engaged by an investor to buy or sell securities from that investor. Further, the risk of litigation that a fiduciary duty…
Guidance for senior and sole managers on primary market disclsoures.
This document, produced by the BDA-retained law firm of Nixon Peabody, is a piece outlining “lessons learned” from the SEC’s actions in the San Diego and New Jersey cases. The document is intended to provide guidance to public finance bankers serving in senior and sole managed capacities in negotiated offerings. The full document is available…
Bachus Introduces Investment Advisor Bill
Today, Congressman Spencer Bachus, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee released a draft bill which would bring investment advisors under one or more Self Regulatory Organizations. Although the bill doesn’t explicitly designate FINRA as the SRO, all signs point to that determination. A January report, required by the Dodd-Frank Act found that “[SEC] staff believes…