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Contact:        Jennifer A. Galloway, Chief Communications Officer
                    (703) 797-6600
                    jgalloway@msrb.org
 

MUNICIPAL SECURITIES RULEMAKING BOARD FILES PROPOSAL WITH SEC
TO TRANSITION TO MAJORITY PUBLIC GOVERNING BOARD

Alexandria, VA – The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) today filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a proposal to amend its rule on the composition of its governing board to comply with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  

The financial reform law signed by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010 contains a provision that, for the first time, requires the MSRB to establish a board with a majority of public members. The new law also requires the MSRB's board to include at least one municipal advisor representative. Municipal advisors, who provide financial advice to municipal entities or solicit business from municipal entities on behalf of others, will be regulated by the MSRB beginning October 1, 2010. The MSRB’s proposal creates a transitional 21-member board, composed of 11 public members and 10 industry members, including seven broker-dealer and bank dealer members and three municipal advisor members.

“This is an historic change for the MSRB,” said MSRB Executive Director Lynnette Kelly Hotchkiss. “The proposal creates an MSRB governing board with a majority of independent public members and one that fairly represents all regulated entities.”

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) protects and strengthens the municipal bond market, enabling access to capital, economic growth, and societal progress in tens of thousands of communities across the country. The MSRB fulfills this mission by creating trust in our market through informed regulation of dealers and municipal advisors that protects investors, issuers and the public interest; building technology systems that power our market and provide transparency for issuers, institutions, and the investing public; and serving as the steward of market data that empowers better decisions and fuels innovation for the future. The MSRB is a self-regulatory organization governed by a board of directors that has a majority of public members, in addition to representatives of regulated entities. The MSRB is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress.

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