Contact: Jennifer A. Galloway, Chief Communications Officer
(703) 797-6600
jgalloway@msrb.org
MSRB TO REQUIRE ADDITIONAL POST-TRADE DATA FOR DISPLAY ON EMMA
Alexandria, VA – The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enhance the transparency of municipal securities transactions by collecting additional post-trade data for display on the MSRB’s Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website. Municipal securities dealers will soon be required to use a new indication for trades that occurred on an alternative trading system (ATS), among other changes.
“The MSRB’s EMMA website provides an unrivaled window into the trading of municipal securities for investors and other market participants,” said MSRB Executive Director Lynnette Kelly. “With the addition of useful new data points, the market – regulators included – will gain a better understanding of the ever-evolving practice of trading municipal securities, particularly the growing use of ATSs.”
The new data reporting requirements for dealers are included in amendments to MSRB Rule G-14 on trade reporting and the MSRB’s facility for its Real-Time Transaction Reporting System (RTRS). The requirements take effect on May 23, 2016, giving dealer firms one year to implement the necessary system changes. The MSRB will provide updated technical documentation to assist firms with this process.
In a reflection of current market practices, the amendments expand the application of existing list offering price and takedown indicators as well as add a new indicator to identify trades involving non-transaction-based compensation arrangements. Additionally, the MSRB is eliminating the requirement for dealers to report yield on customer trade reports and, instead, enabling the MSRB to calculate and disseminate yield on customer trades.
The new data will be collected from dealers through RTRS and made available to the public by paid subscription and for free on the EMMA website, the official repository for information on virtually all municipal securities. EMMA provides free public access to official disclosures, trade data, credit ratings, educational materials and other information about the municipal securities market.