Contact: Jennifer A. Galloway, Chief Communications Officer
(703) 797-6600
jgalloway@msrb.org
MSRB MAKES ADDITONAL CONTINUING DISCLOSURE INFORMATION
AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC
Alexandria, VA – Municipal securities investors can now get information about the expected timing of continuing disclosures made by municipal bond issuers and easily identify the most recent disclosures on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA website. The enhancements support the MSRB’s mission to provide broad and timely access to key municipal market documents and data.
Continuing disclosures indicate the financial or operating condition of an issuer over time, as well as specific events occurring after issuance that can have an impact on the ability of the issuer to repay the bond, the value of the bond if it is bought or sold prior to its maturity, the timing of repayment of principal and any number of other key features of the bond. Since July 1, 2009, the MSRB’s Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) website has been the official repository for continuing disclosures submitted by issuers and obligated persons on a voluntary basis or pursuant to a continuing disclosure agreement.
For new issues of securities beginning February 14, 2011, EMMA will display information about whether the issuer or other obligated person has undertaken to provide continuing disclosures in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 15c2-12. EMMA also will display the identity of any obligated persons other than the issuer and the timing by which issuers or obligated persons have agreed to provide annual financial and operating data. This information is available on the continuing disclosure tab for each security.
The MSRB has also redesigned EMMA’s display of continuing disclosures for individual securities to highlight the most recently submitted documents and to more clearly classify continuing disclosures as either financial information, material event notices or advance refunding documents.
EMMA users can sign up for an unlimited number of email alerts regarding the availability of disclosures made for municipal securities. With the alerts feature, investors and others who track particular securities—identified by their unique "CUSIP" numbers—receive an email notification from EMMA every time a new disclosure document is posted for that security. The “Alerts” link is located in the upper-right corner of every EMMA webpage.