The Board of Directors of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is expected to discuss modernizing the rule book, including planned requests for comment on draft MSRB Rule G-46 regarding solicitor municipal advisors during its upcoming quarterly meeting.
The MSRB announced these and other agenda items Wednesday, ahead of its Oct. 27-28 board meeting that will take place in Washington, DC. The meeting is the first of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The discussion items center on key MSRB initiatives involving market regulation and transparency as well as market data and the public trust.
The board will consider potential amendments to Rule G-27 related to dealer supervision and regulatory filings to seek approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to update MSRB Rule G-34 with regard to obtaining CUSIP numbers.
The board is slated to receive an update on the implementation of new MSRB Form G-32, as well as an update on the Series 54 examination for municipal advisor principals, which was developed for municipal advisors to meet qualifications standards in MSRB Rule G-3.
The examination was available in November 2019, but due to pandemic-related disruptions to normal business operations, the MSRB extended the exam deadline to Nov. 30 of this year.
The board will also continue its focus on leveraging technology, including the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) website. At the meeting, the MSRB plans to consider how “input from stakeholders is advancing efforts to redesign the EMMA user interface and...experience.”
The technology update is also expected to include a demonstration of a new master data management platform that the MSRB says will “enhance the organization’s data governance and oversight capabilities.”
As part of its focus on public trust, which was unveiled as part of the MSRB's new multi-year strategic plan, the board plans to discuss a number of issues tied to stakeholder engagement, including environmental, social and governance factors, a body of strategies that is becoming increasingly important to municipal securities investors.
MSRB CEO Mark Kim said during a Government Finance Officer Association
“Investors and other market participants are increasingly integrating ESG factors into their investment decisions and credit analysis,” Kim explained.
Kim also mentioned that the MSRB will be issuing a request for information in the coming weeks seeking comment from market participants on ESG trends in the municipal securities market.
The organization is interested in whether issuers are currently providing the market with climate risk and other types of ESG disclosures and if so, what those disclosures look like.
At next week’s board meeting, the MSRB will also consider and discuss its efforts pertaining to diversity, equity and inclusion in the public finance sector and conduct a review of its fee model as described in the
The MSRB
