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

MSRB PROVIDES STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WITH TOOL TO IMPROVE DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Alexandria, VA – To assist state and local governments in meeting their obligations to make financial information available to municipal bondholders on a timely basis, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) has created a service to allow state and local governments to schedule automated email reminders about an approaching deadline for providing annual and quarterly financial disclosures. The MSRB operates the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website through which issuers make financial and other disclosures available to the public.  

Recent enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission against municipal bond issuers have brought into focus the legal liabilities and financial harms that can result from incomplete or untimely disclosures.   

“In keeping with the MSRB’s mission to protect both investors and issuers of municipal securities, the MSRB is providing additional tools to help issuers understand and comply with their financial disclosure obligations,” said MSRB Executive Director Lynnette Kelly. “Regular and timely disclosure of financial information has the dual benefit of helping issuers protect their access to the municipal market and helping ensure that investors have the information they need to make informed investment decisions.” 

To further assist state and local governments, the MSRB also today published a new educational resource that explains the importance of timely, accurate and complete disclosure of financial information and provides tips on supporting good disclosure. A new checklist to help issuers prepare to submit disclosures to the EMMA website and an updated tutorial on the financial disclosure submission process have also been made available. 

All of these new resources are available in the MSRB’s online State and Local Government Toolkit, which includes information about understanding municipal bond issuance and using the EMMA website. The MSRB also provides educational resources for investors in municipal securities.

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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