Municipal Securities Report Issued by SEC
Enhanced disclosure requirements for municipal securities investors are suggested in a new comprehensive report issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
State and local governments issue municipal securities to finance a wide variety of projects that are critical to building and maintaining the nation’s infrastructure.
At the start of 2012, there were more than one million different municipal bonds outstanding totaling $3.7 trillion, with 75 percent held by individual “retail” investors.
Despite its size and importance, the municipal securities market has not been subject to the same level of regulation as other sectors of the U.S. capital markets due to broad exemptions under federal securities laws for municipal securities.
Without a statutory regime for municipal securities regulation, the SEC’s investor protection efforts in the municipal securities market have been limited. The SEC’s report discusses potential legislative changes that could help improve disclosures to investors. For instance, the report recommends that Congress consider authorizing the SEC to set baseline disclosure standards and require municipal issuers to have audited financial statements.
Other potential legislative changes recommended in the report to help improve disclosures and practices in the municipal securities market include:
- Eliminating the availability of Securities Act and Exchange Act exemptions for conduit borrowers who are not municipal entities.
- Authorizing the Commission to establish the form and content of financial statements for municipal issuers who issue municipal securities, and to recognize a designated private-sector body as the standard setter for generally accepted for federal securities law purposes.
- Providing a safe harbor from private liability for forward-looking statements of repeat municipal issuers that satisfy certain conditions.
- Permitting the Internal Revenue Service to share information with the SEC that it obtains from returns, audits, and examinations related to municipal securities offerings, particularly in instances of suspected securities fraud.
- Providing a mechanism, through trustees or other entities, to enforce compliance with continuing disclosure agreements and other obligations of municipal issuers to protect municipal securities bondholders.
In addition to potential legislation, the SEC’s report identifies potential rulemaking by the Commission or the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and enhancement of best practices by the municipal securities industry.
Click on the link for the SEC Report on the Municipal Securities Market.
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Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. In addition to being an experienced securities litigation attorney, Mr. Kahn also serves as a FINRA arbitrator for individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.