It's Your Deal: Resources for Municipal Securities Issuers

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It's Your Deal is a new quarterly resource guide published by the MSRB to provide objective and useful information to state and local governments that issue municipal bonds. As part of its mission to protect municipal bond issuers, the MSRB regulates municipal advisors and municipal securities dealers, operates the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website, and offers free educational resources in the MSRB Education Center.

Working with Municipal Finance Professionals

Financing a capital project through municipal bonds is a team effort in which many professionals work together to achieve the goals of the state or local government. Municipal entities may select one or more underwriters through a competitive or negotiated process. Municipal entities also may choose, but are not required, to hire a municipal advisor to provide financial advice about the structure, timing and terms of a bond transaction. There are three main ways municipal entities can be more informed clients of underwriters and municipal advisors.

  1. Check registration and qualifications. Before working with an underwriter or municipal advisor, verify whether the firm is registered with both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB). Also, by September 12, 2017, every municipal advisor representative must take and pass the MSRB’s Series 50 qualifying exam to continue to provide municipal advisory services. View a list of MSRB-registered municipal advisor firms and their associated Series 50-qualified representatives

  2. Understand regulatory protections for municipal entities. MSRB rules establish certain professional standards and obligations that underwriters and municipal advisors must follow when working with a municipal entity. Read more about what to expect from your underwriter and what to expect from your municipal advisor

  3. Report potential professional misconduct. Any municipal entity or municipal market participant that suspects an underwriter or municipal advisor of professional misconduct should report it to a regulatory authority. Read more about working with regulated municipal finance professionals

    On-Demand Webinar:

    What to Expect from Your Municipal Advisor

    Webinar Video

    The MSRB’s free educational webinar on “What to Expect from Your Municipal Advisor” is available on demand for one continuing education credit. At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

    • Explain the municipal advisor regulatory framework;
    • Know how to verify a municipal advisor’s registration and its associated persons’ professional qualifications;
    • Describe the type of conduct prohibited by municipal advisors;
    • Know how to report potential professional misconduct to the appropriate regulatory authority. 

    View all upcoming and on-demand webinars in the MSRB’s online webinar portal

    Understanding the Role of the Deal Team

    Bond Financing Team

    The MSRB Education Center includes several free resources about working with municipal advisors and other municipal finance professionals, including the publication, Roles and Responsibilities: The Financing Team in an Initial Municipal Bond Offering. This publication highlights how the roles and responsibilities of a financing team vary in competitive and negotiated sales.


    Interested in learning more about a deal team? The MSRB’s MuniEdPro℠ course, "The Decision to Borrow: Roles and Responsibilities of Market Participants in Fixed Rate Primary Market Offerings," provides an interactive lesson about the underwriting process and explains the responsibilities of municipal advisors and underwriters in a new issue deal.


    Continuing education credit is available. Learn more about MuniEdPro℠.

    EMMA Tip: See New Issues Coming to Market

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    Users of the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website now have free, convenient access to a new issue calendar enabling issuers, investors and other market participants to see new bond issues coming to market as well as final pricing scales for bond issues sold through competitive and negotiated sales.


    State and local governments that may be planning on issuing municipal bonds can identify, monitor and compare prices of similar issues that are coming to market or have been recently sold. Learn more about other tools and resources on EMMA.

    MSRB Outreach Events

    Calendar of Events

    The MSRB conducts in-person and webcast educational outreach events for state and local government organizations to highlight tools and resources to empower bond issuers at the deal table. MSRB outreach events review the regulatory protections governing what issuers should expect from municipal finance professionals, bond issuers' obligations related to continuing disclosure and useful features of the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website specifically for issuers. Recent outreach events include:


    Webinar icon

    Women in Public Finance Mountain Region Chapter

    Webinar - December 8, 2016

    Industry Event Icon

    Rutgers Governmental Accounting and Auditing Update Conference

    New Brunswick, NJ - December 2, 2016 

    Industry Event Icon

    New Mexico Government Finance Officers Association Winter Conference

    Albuquerque, NM - November 30, 2016 


    To inquire about having the MSRB participate in an event, contact Ritta McLaughlin, Chief Education Officer, at rmclaughlin@msrb.org or 202-838-1306.