The Securities & Exchange Commission, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), & 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 & 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 staff of the SEC, MSRB, & FINRA on timely regulatory & compliance matters for municipal advisors & dealers. Panel topics will include a discussion of compliance concerns of small dealer & municipal advisor firms, credit rating agency compliance concerns including rules of the road for municipal market participants, unregistered municipal advisory & dealer activity, pricing compliance, & a forward look at regulatory & enforcement priorities.

“This year marks the 10th anniversary of the final municipal advisor registration rule & the 13th year since the passage of Dodd-Frank, & I think it is a great opportunity for the SEC, MSRB, & 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, & FINRA a chance to speak jointly to the municipal market on where the examination, enforcement, & regulatory framework currently stands & where we see it going in the future. It will be a great program, & I am really looking forward to the new expanded scope.”

MSRB Chief Regulatory & Policy Officer Ernesto Lanza said, “Open dialogue among regulators & market professionals is critical to achieving a shared understanding of the rules in place to protect municipal securities investors & issuers. We are pleased to coordinate with the SEC & FINRA to create this opportunity for municipal advisors & 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 & FINRA held with minority-&-women owned & veteran-owned firms in the municipal market.”

Yolanda Trottman-Adewumi, FINRA Vice President of Specialist Programs & Exams said, “We are pleased to partner with the SEC & the MSRB to offer this substantive program designed to help market participants better understand their compliance obligations.”

Registration is being administered by FINRA & is available here: Personal Information – 2023 Compliance Outreach Program For Municipal Advisors | VIRTUAL (cvent.com). The program is free & 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: [email protected].