The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that registration is open for a virtual Compliance Outreach Program for municipal market professionals. The free webcast is open to the public and will take place on Thursday, December 7, 2023, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET.
The program will provide municipal market participants an opportunity to hear from SEC, MSRB and FINRA staff on timely regulatory and compliance matters for municipal advisors and dealers. Panel topics will include a discussion of compliance concerns of small dealer and municipal advisor firms; credit rating agency compliance concerns including rules of the road for municipal market participants; unregistered municipal advisory and dealer activity; pricing compliance; and a forward look at regulatory and enforcement priorities.
"This year marks the 10th anniversary of the final municipal advisor registration rule and the 13th year since the passage of Dodd-Frank, and I think it is a great opportunity for the SEC, MSRB, and FINRA to expand the compliance conference to all municipal market participants,” said Dave Sanchez, Director of the SEC’s Office of Municipal Securities. "The conference allows the SEC, MSRB, and FINRA a chance to speak jointly to the municipal market on where the examination, enforcement, and regulatory framework currently stands and where we see it going in the future. It will be a great program, and I am really looking forward to the new expanded scope."
MSRB Chief Regulatory and Policy Officer Ernesto Lanza said, “Open dialogue among regulators and market professionals is critical to achieving a shared understanding of the rules in place to protect municipal securities investors and issuers. We are pleased to coordinate with the SEC and FINRA to create this opportunity for municipal advisors and dealers to hear directly from regulators about matters top of mind. Importantly, our program this year devotes time to the unique compliance concerns of small firms, which is a priority for the MSRB following a series of discussions the MSRB and FINRA held with minority-and-women-owned and veteran-owned firms in the municipal market.”
Yolanda Trottman-Adewumi, FINRA Vice President of Specialist Programs and Exams said, “We are pleased to partner with the SEC and the MSRB to offer this substantive program designed to help market participants better understand their compliance obligations.”
Registration is being administered by FINRA and is available here: Personal Information - 2023 Compliance Outreach Program For Municipal Advisors | VIRTUAL (cvent.com). The program is free and open to all. For those who cannot attend the live virtual program, the recording will be archived on the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities' webpage at https://www.sec.gov/municipal/municipal-sec-conferences, for later viewing. To submit questions in advance of the event, please email: gergana.sellers@finra.org.
About FINRA
FINRA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to investor protection and market integrity. It regulates one critical part of the securities industry—brokerage firms doing business with the public in the U.S. FINRA, overseen by the SEC, writes rules, examines for and enforces compliance with FINRA rules and federal securities laws, registers broker-dealer personnel and offers them education and training, and informs the investing public. In addition, FINRA provides surveillance and other regulatory services for equities and options markets, as well as trade reporting and other industry utilities. FINRA also administers a dispute resolution forum for investors and brokerage firms and their registered employees. For more information, visit www.finra.org.
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