Municipal advisers get a schedule of new rules

As hospitals wait for a final definition of municipal advisers, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board continues to press on with the release of new adviser oversight.

The board today released a schedule (PDF) for when advisers can expect to begin adhering to multiple new rules. Some must wait, the board said, for the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle the question of who qualifies as an adviser—a pressing question for some hospital board members and chief financial officers.

I noted in an early blog post that hospitals have opposed proposed rules (PDF) that define adviser to include directors and trustees appointed to not-for-profit hospital governing boards as advisers.

The Dodd-Frank Act required municipal advisers for the first time to register with regulators and provide employment, business relationships and other information on legal, regulatory or bankruptcy actions. Widely known advisers such as Kaufman Hall & Associates, Ponder & Co. and Cain Brothers & Co. have registered and made required disclosures.

The municipal securities board, which operates a publicly accessible website for financial disclosure by municipal borrowers, has proposed adviser rules on conflicts-of-interest, fiduciary duty and other issues.

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