WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) – Information on trades
executed in the U.S. municipal bond would be available more
quickly and with greater detail under a pending proposal by the
industry’s self-regulatory organization.
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, which writes the
rules for the $3.7 trillion market, will soon publish proposals
to shrink the 15-minute deadline for reporting a trade after it
has been executed and is looking to bar the practice of denoting
trades that exceed $1 million as “1MM+” for the first five days
after the trade, its chairman, Alan Polsky, said.
“The board believes that this practice, which was designed
as a transitional measure to address concerns of some market
participants regarding potential adverse effects on liquidity
when the MSRB first introduced real-time trade reporting in
2005, is no longer needed and that market efficiency and
investor protection would be enhanced by making this information
available immediately,” the MSRB said in a statement.
At its quarterly meeting, the board looked further into
allowing retail investors to trade electronically, calling for a
review of existing practices, Polsky said.
The rules written by the board are enforced by the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
In an effort to improve price discovery in the market, the
board also approved a plan prohibiting underwriters from using
the phrase “not reoffered” to mask prices and yields of new
issues.
The MSRB also said it is re-evaluating current regulations
on dealers’ political contributions to bond ballot campaigns to
assess if there is enough disclosure to address potential
conflicts of interest.
(Reporting By Lisa Lambert; Editing by Leslie Adler)
