|
The MSRB will survey registered
municipal advisors later this month about their business activities to further inform
the development of a professional qualification exam for advisors. The
confidential electronic survey will be distributed to the primary regulatory
contact at each registered municipal advisor firm on June 17, 2014. The MSRB
encourages survey recipients to distribute the survey to other advisors
within their firm to ensure the MSRB has as much information as possible about
the nature of municipal advisory activities. The survey concludes July 1, 2014. Responses to the survey will help
guide the development of a professional qualifications program, including an
exam, for municipal advisors.
The MSRB previously solicited public comment on a draft rule that would require that all municipal
advisor professionals take an exam to demonstrate a minimum level of
competency before providing or continuing to provide municipal advisory
services to state and local governments. The public comment period ended on May
16, 2014 and the MSRB is evaluating comments received. The MSRB will continue
working to develop the content outline for a qualification exam with the goal of implementing a pilot exam in 2015.
Effective May 12, 2014, MSRB Rule A-12 was amended to consolidate MSRB registration requirements into a single rule and to create a simplified electronic registration form. Municipal advisor firms that are currently registered with the MSRB under the previous requirements must verify, update and complete their registration information in the new form by August 10, 2014. The MSRB provides a number of educational resources below to assist municipal advisors with submitting their first Form A-12.
Municipal Advisor Fees
The MSRB also reminds municipal advisors that an annual fee of $300 per professional is being implemented beginning in the second half of 2014 in conjunction with the SEC’s permanent registration process for municipal advisors. Municipal advisor firms will not be invoiced for the fee and advisors are required to remit the fee directly to the MSRB. The professional fee is part of the MSRB’s effort to establish appropriate and equitable assessments on municipal advisors to fairly distribute assessments across all regulated entities.
To date the MSRB has published three draft municipal advisor rules for public comment. The draft rules cover core standards of conduct, supervision and the establishment of professional qualifications for municipal advisors. The MSRB is revising the draft standards of conduct rule in light of comments received. Next steps will be announced soon. Comments received on the draft supervision and professional qualification rules are still under review.
To assist municipal advisors in
identifying the MSRB rules that are applicable to them, the sorting function in
the rules section of the MSRB website has been enhanced. Municipal advisors may
choose the “municipal advisor” option from the drop-down menu in the “Rules for” tab of the MSRB rules section on msrb.org. This will display
only those rules that are currently in effect for municipal advisors. Municipal
advisors may also wish to click on the “Upcoming Changes” tab to learn about new rules or amended rules with future effective
dates.
Municipal advisors may wish to alert their
state and local government clients to the opportunity for them to create a
customized “issuer homepage” on the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website. The free pilot feature provides investors with a
consolidated view of all bond issues from a particular state or local government, recent trade activity and disclosure
documents. State and local governments can also add contact information and
links to their investor websites. Issuer homepages are easy for investors to find
from an interactive map in the “Browse
Issuers” section of the EMMA website. Read instructions for issuers on
how to customize an EMMA issuer homepage.
 |
