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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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 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.
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 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℠.
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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.
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 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:
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 Women in Public Finance Mountain Region Chapter
Webinar - December 8, 2016
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 Rutgers Governmental Accounting and Auditing
Update Conference
New Brunswick, NJ - December 2, 2016
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 New Mexico Government Finance Officers
Association Winter Conference
Albuquerque, NM - November 30, 2016
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To inquire about having the MSRB participate in an event, contact Ritta McLaughlin, Chief Education Officer, at rmclaughlin@msrb.org or
202-838-1306.
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