A few years after World War II, as financial markets returned to normal, a small group of credit analysts decided it was time to band together and focus on the health and welfare of the municipal bond market.
In 1949, the first meeting of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York was held. In the 70 years since its founding, its members have held regular gatherings to discuss the pressing issues of the day and the implications for public finance.
And 70 years later, MAGNY is thriving and expanding, and pushing the boundaries of credit analysis.
In 1983, MAGNY became a charter society within the new National Federation of Municipal Analysts. Since then, its membership rolls have surged, Today more than 500 people belong to the association. It includes members from the buy-side and sell-side of the muni bond community. as well as investment bankers, bond insurers, rating agencies, accountants, financial advisors and bond issuers.
Celebrating its anniversary on Friday, the group will meet at the Yale Club in Manhattan at noon for a lunch that will include a multi-media presentation. There will be a short ceremony where its Next Generation Committee will recognize MAGNY’s past chairs.
Michael Imber, managing director at EisnerAmper and MAGNY’s current chair.
While MAGNY has a storied past, it continues to focus on present and future issues, such as climate change and ESG and cybersecurity.
“I think that there is a responsibility of the buy-side to become more discriminating about issuers and how they are dealing with infrastructure resiliency and how they’re dealing with cybersecurity,” Michael Imber, MAGNY’s current chair, said in a special podcast conducted by The Bond Buyer.
“These are serious issues that can cost governments a lot of money,” said Imber, managing director at EisnerAmper.
There have been many changes in the market in the past decades, as society itself has changed and moved forward technologically.
“I think that the municipal analyst community all over the U.S. is more tied into each other, more aware of each other and closer to each other than they’ve been in earlier eras because of email, social media, podcasts, things of that sort. Everyone is reading everyone elses work,” MAGNY membership chair Michael D’Arcy said in the podcast.
D’Arcy, a director of U.S. Public Finance at Fitch Ratings, added that “I think it’s spurring a whole spirit of competition and a drive for people to differentiate themselves by being thought leaders and doing their best work in their area of expertise.”
And the role of muni analysts looks to remain an important component of the marketplace.
“Although some have questioned the relevance of the analysts’ role over the years and have suggested it could be supplanted by algorithms, the strength of MAGNY suggests there continues to be an important role for analysts to fill,” said John Hallacy, Contributing Editor at The Bond Buyer and a past MAGNY chair.
MAGNY is a not-for-profit organization and is tax-exempt. It’s an association of municipal analysts based in the greater New York City metropolitan area who specialize in evaluating the credit worthiness of municipal securities.
Even as it has grown, MAGNY has kept sight of its original educational mission and its focus on the needs of its members.
“To provide a forum to exchange ideas and to analyze a wide range of timely topics important to the profession, MAGNY organizes periodic luncheon meetings throughout the year featuring prominent figures in the municipal finance industry as well as member analysts themselves,” MAGNY says on its website. “These luncheons are of industry-wide significance and are open to all municipal finance professionals. Individuals whose professional work is devoted to municipal credit analysis and aligned areas are encouraged to join MAGNY.”