The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it will hold its second field hearing to examine the municipal securities markets at its Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on December 7. Topics will include market stability and liquidity, investor impact, and self-regulation.
This is the second in a series of hearings, which SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro first announced in May, taking place across the country and examining a wide range of issues that affect investors in the municipal securities market. Following the hearings, the Commission will release a staff report addressing information learned, including their recommendations for further action the Commission should pursue, which may include rulemaking, recommendation for changes in industry “best practices,” or legislation.
The Washington, D.C., hearing will take place from 9 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. The event is open to the public. The hearing also will be webcast live at www.sec.gov.
The first hearing was conducted in San Francisco on September 21. Other hearings will be conducted in Florida, Texas, Alabama and Illinois. Each hearing will include participants from that local region, and will examine different sets of issues.
The SEC invites members of the public and other interested parties to submit comments related to field hearing topics by using the comment form on the SEC website or sending an e-mail to munifieldhearings@sec.gov.
For more about the Commission's oversight of the securities market, see http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/municipalsecurities.shtml.
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Field Hearing on the State of the Municipal Securities Market
December 7, 2010
SEC Auditorium, 100 F Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549
SEC Officials
- The Honorable Mary L. Schapiro, Chairman
- The Honorable Elisse B. Walter, Commissioner and chair of the field hearing
- The Honorable Luis A. Aguilar, Commissioner
- The Honorable Troy A. Paredes, Commissioner
- Robert W. Cook, Director, Division of Trading and Markets
- James L. Kroeker, Chief Accountant
- Lori Schock, Director, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy
Welcoming Remarks 9:00 – 9:15 am
- Commissioner Walter
Market Stability and Liquidity 9:15 – 10:45 am
- Moderator: Amy Starr, Senior Special Counsel for Capital Markets, Office of the Chief Counsel, Division of Corporation Finance
- Alan Greco, Managing Director of Trading and Underwriting, Ramirez & Co., Inc.
- William R. Collins, Managing Director, Scotia Capital
- Thomas G. Doe, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Municipal Market Advisors
- Joseph Deane, Portfolio Manager, Western Asset Management
- Sean McCarthy, Chief Operating Officer, Assured Guaranty
Investor Impact 10:50 – 11:50 am
- Moderator: Martha Haines, Chief, Office of Municipal Securities, Division of Trading and Markets
- Hal Wittman, investor
- Helen Kirkpatrick, investor
- Don Niewiaroski, investor
- James A. Lebenthal, Director, Public Affairs, Lebenthal & Co., LLC
Lunch break 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Self-Regulation 1:10 – 2:10 pm
- Moderator: Martha Haines
- Lynette Hotchkiss, Executive Director, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
- Thomas Selman, Executive Vice President, Regulatory Policy, FINRA
- Benjamin Asher, Senior Managing Director, Public Resources Advisory Group
- John M. Ivan, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
Accounting 2:15 – 3:45 pm
- Moderator: Amy Starr
- Timothy Firestine, Chief Administrative Officer, Montgomery County, Md.
- David Bean, Director of Research and Technical Activities, Governmental Accounting Standards Board
- David Jones, Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Build America Bonds 3:50 – 4:50 pm
- Moderator: Martha Haines
- The Honorable Nancy K. Kopp, State Treasurer, State of Maryland
- John Cross, Associate Tax Legislative Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury
- W. Bartley Hildreth, Professor of Public Management and Policy, Georgia State University
- Derek Wolff, Ph.D., Vice President, Senior Research Analyst, Nuveen Asset Management
