SEC Bags 3 Dozen BrokerDealers in Muni Bond Underwriter Sweep; Siebert & Loop Snagged

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BrokerDealer.com profiles what could be called a “Muni Day Massacre” as the SEC just announced settlement with 36 municipal bond underwriting firms – for a total of $9.3 million– for offerings which they disclosed under the MCDC had compliance violations. The SEC sweep scooped up several MWBE-certified firms, including Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., LLC, which was fined $240,000 and Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets, LLC was fined $60,000.

Here is the official press release from the SEC:

June 18 2015–The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced enforcement actions against 36 municipal underwriting firms for violations in municipal bond offerings. The cases are the first brought against underwriters under the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative, a voluntary self-reporting program targeting material misstatements and omissions in municipal bond offering documents.

“The MCDC initiative has already resulted in significant improvements to the municipal securities market, including heightened awareness of issuers’ disclosure obligations and enhanced disclosure policies and procedures,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White.  “This ongoing enforcement initiative will continue to bring lasting changes to the municipal securities markets for the benefit of investors.”

In today’s actions, the SEC alleged that between 2010 and 2014 the 36 firms violated federal securities laws by selling municipal bonds using offering documents that contained materially false statements or omissions about the bond issuers’ compliance with continuing disclosure obligations.  The underwriting firms also allegedly failed to conduct adequate due diligence to identify the misstatements and omissions before offering and selling the bonds to their

“The settlements announced today reflect these underwriters’ cooperation in self-reporting their own misconduct and agreeing to improve their procedures going forward,” said LeeAnn Ghazil Gaunt, Chief of the Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.   “Because these 36 firms underwrite a substantial portion of the country’s municipal bonds each year, we expect a large number of bondholders will benefit from the resulting improvements in due diligence and disclosure.”

As still remains customary within the wacky regulatory scheme in which the SEC deals with broker-dealers, the 36 firms did not admit or deny the findings, but agreed to cease and desist from such violations in the future.  Under the terms of the MCDC initiative, they will pay civil penalties based on the number and size of the fraudulent offerings identified, up to a cap based on the size of the firm.  The maximum penalty imposed is $500,000.  In addition, each firm agreed to retain an independent consultant to review its policies and procedures on due diligence for municipal securities underwriting. 

The MCDC initiative, which is continuing, is being coordinated by Kevin Guerrero of the Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.  *  *  *

Link to the SEC’s orders and penalty amounts:

  • The Baker Group, LP – $250,000
  • B.C. Ziegler and Company – $250,000
  • Benchmark Securities, LLC – $100,000
  • Bernardi Securities, Inc. – $100,000
  • BMO Capital Markets GKST Inc. – $250,000
  • BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC – $120,000
  • BOSC, Inc. – $250,000
  • Central States Capital Markets, LLC – $60,000
  • Citigroup Global Markets Inc. – $500,000
  • City Securities Corporation – $250,000
  • Davenport & Company LLC – $80,000
  • Dougherty & Co. LLC – $250,000
  • First National Capital Markets, Inc. – $100,000
  • George K. Baum & Company – $250,000
  • Goldman, Sachs & Co. – $500,000
  • Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley & Co. – $220,000
  • J.P. Morgan Securities LLC – $500,000
  • L.J. Hart and Company – $100,000
  • Loop Capital Markets, LLC – $60,000
  • Martin Nelson & Co., Inc. – $100,000
  • Merchant Capital, L.L.C. – $100,000
  • Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated – $500,000
  • Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC – $500,000
  • The Northern Trust Company – $60,000
  • Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. – $400,000
  • Piper Jaffray & Co. – $500,000
  • Raymond James & Associates, Inc. – $500,000
  • RBC Capital Markets, LLC – $500,000
  • Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated – $500,000
  • Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., LLC  – $240,000
  • Smith Hayes Financial Services Corporation – $40,000
  • Stephens Inc. – $400,000
  • Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc. – $80,000
  • Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. – $500,000
  • Wells Nelson & Associates, LLC – $100,000
  • William Blair & Co., L.L.C. – $80,000

SEC Wants To See More Transparency from BrokerDealers Trafficking in Bonds

SEC Chair Mary Jo White is shifting her aim and gunning for increased pricing visibility and transparency from the Wall Street brokerdealers engaged in providing pricing and trade execution in the $14 trillion dollar secondary marketplace for trading corporate and municipal bonds.

According to the Scott Patterson in his WSJ weekend journal column,  :

European Pressphoto Agency

European Pressphoto Agency

“…To even the playing field, Ms. White suggested requiring public dissemination of the best buy and sell orders generated on private electronic networks for corporate and municipal bonds that are accessed primarily by market insiders.

Currently, investors typically see prices only after a trade is executed.

“This potentially transformative change would broaden access to pricing information that today is available only to select parties,” Ms. White said in a speech at the Economic Club in New York.

The effort comes amid a broader push by Ms. White to erode some of the trading advantages enjoyed by certain large traders that aren’t available to most rank-and-file investors. In a speech two weeks ago, Ms. White vowed to ratchet up oversight of computer-driven trading, a push that could ultimately dull the edge such high-speed traders enjoy.

The bond market initiatives, while still in the planning stage, could deliver a blow to big Wall Street banks that dominate bond trading, while benefiting regular investors who have largely been shut out of the inner workings of the bond market, observers said. Wall Street’s fixed-income businesses already are being buffeted by new rules on capital and risk-taking, and a drop in client trading.

Fund managers who invest in corporate and municipal debt would be among the biggest beneficiaries of the move, because they would have a better idea about how much supply and demand existed in the market for bonds they want to trade…”

For the full story from the WSJ, please click here