Resources
This is a partial list of press releases, articles and sites to help direct your information-gathering related to regulatory compliance of the municipal securities market.
- SEC Adopts Temporary Rule Requiring Municipal Advisors to Register With Agency
- MSRB Expresses Concern About Municipal Advisor Registration Compliance and Recommends Municipal Entities Check the Status of Their Advisors
- Possible Registration of EDA & HRA Board Members as Municipal Advisors
- MSRB Adopts Dealer Role-Switching Prohibition to Eliminate Conflict of Interest in Municipal Securities Underwriting
- MSRB for Municipal Advisors
- Securities Exchange Act Section 15B (Revised)
- Proposed Rules on Registration of Municipal Advisors (File # S7-45-10)
- Financial Reforms Will Clarify Professionals' Roles in Municipal Bond Sales
- Financial Advisors to be Prohibited from Switching Roles
Fiduciary Duty and Regulatory Compliance
Since 1955, Ehlers has been committed to a fiduciary relationship with our clients. This means that we serve only your community’s best interests in any financial transaction – not the interests of investors, underwriters, or banks. An idea as simple as that has now come into its own.
The federal government recently passed legislation that will affect how financial advisory firms like Ehlers provide advisory services. The legislation requires a fiduciary responsibility to you by Ehlers – which is how we have always viewed our relationship. There are certain processes Ehlers will need to follow as a regulated “municipal advisor”. So far, the only requirement has been to complete a temporary registration process with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); we have complied with this requirement. These changes are the result of President Obama signing into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act") on July 21, 2010. The Dodd-Frank Act includes several requirements for agents in the municipal bond market. Specifically, the Dodd-Frank Act has an impact in three areas:
- Requiring registration and regulation of previously unregulated municipal advisors.
- Changing the composition and authority of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (the "MSRB"), who will write new municipal advisor regulations.
- Directing a number of studies regarding the municipal securities market.
Mary L. Schapiro, SEC Chairman, explains “This law [Dodd-Frank Act] creates a new, more effective regulatory structure, fills a host of regulatory gaps, brings greater public transparency and market accountability to the financial system.”
How does this impact you? Probably not much at the current time, because you are already using an independent financial advisor that has always viewed its relationship as one of a fiduciary responsibility to you and your community.
Over the course of the next several years, there will be other changes that will affect the municipal finance industry; all to make certain your financial interests as an issuer are protected. Ehlers’ fiduciary responsibility to you has always been our commitment to you, and as independent financial advisors, we have always recommended financial solutions that are in solely in your best interests. Therefore we support language that requires fiduciary responsibility of all advisors in our industry.
We encourage you to speak to your Ehlers financial advisor should you have any further questions, and for specific information about the Act and up-coming activities, visit the MSRB and SEC websites provided below.
http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/dodd-frank.shtml
http://emma.msrb.org/educationcenter/BeforeInvesting.aspx
