In the municipal securities market, municipal bond issuers assume specific obligations to prepare certain disclosure information for investors throughout the life of the bond. These continuing disclosure documents are prepared by the issuer or someone that acts on the issuer’s behalf.
Continuing disclosure documents generally reflect the financial or operating condition of the issuer over time as well as specific events occurring after the bond is issued that may affect the ability of an issuer to pay amounts owed on the bond.
Each bond has its own unique set of continuing disclosures and not all types of continuing disclosures apply to every bond. All continuing disclosures are important documents for municipal bond investors to consider and review, which can be done on the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) website.
Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 15c2-12 governs municipal bond continuing disclosures and designates the MSRB as the official repository for this information. The rule requires underwriters participating in most municipal bond offerings to enter into legal agreements with issuers or other obligated parties, such as hospitals or universities, to provide continuing disclosure information. Issuers, obligated parties or those acting on their behalf (called obligors), must provide these documents to the MSRB in an electronic format.
Rule 15c2-12 also calls for the MSRB to make these documents available to the public. The MSRB does so by posting them for free in real-time on EMMA.
Read more continuing disclosures and the information they provide.
Read about submission of continuing disclosures to the MSRB.
Read "The Demand for Disclosure," MSRB Executive Director Lynnette Kelly Hotchkiss's interview with Governing Magazine (June 2011).
Investors can sign up to receive email alerts from the MSRB when continuing disclosures are posted for a specific municipal security.
Read more about signing up to receive email alerts.