Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton touted his increased direct oversight of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Tuesday, telling a Senate panel he has spoken directly to board members.
Clayton discussed the SEC’s oversight of the MSRB along with other topics in testimony given before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Though Clayton’s prepared testimony was largely a rundown of recent regulatory and administrative developments at the SEC, it also included statements of his goals and principles and highlights of what he views as notable achievements.
“The Office of Municipal Securities primarily has day-to-day oversight of the MSRB, and over the past year, I have increased my direct attention to MSRB oversight, including meeting with several of the new board members,” Clayton said in his written testimony.
SEC chairman Jay Clayton
Bloomberg News
Clayton’s Senate testimony comes as the MSRB is in the midst of a search for its next president and CEO. The role has been filled on an interim basis by its CFO Nanette Lawson since longtime leader Lynnette Kelly stepped down at the start of October. The board announced last month that it had hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart to aid the search.
Clayton’s comments are consistent with his record, which has included repeated calls for the MSRB to take steps to be sure investors are aware that issuer financials filed to EMMA can often be many months old.
Those calls were among the driving forces that led the MSRB to last month decide to add a “submission calculator” to EMMA that will show the number of days between the posting of an annual financial disclosure and the end date of the financial period.
Clayton’s testimony also included updates on some other topics of interest to the muni market, including recommendations of the Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee and the adoption of Regulation Best Interest earlier this year. Under Regulation Best Interest, broker-dealers are required to act in the best interest of a retail customer when making a recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities to a retail customer.
The MSRB has said it is reviewing how Reg BI will impact MSRB rulemaking.