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Contact: Jennifer A. Galloway, Chief Communications Officer
             (703) 797-6600
             jgalloway@msrb.org

MSRB ADOPTS POLICY FOR INTEGRATING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
INTO RULEMAKING PROCESS

Alexandria, VA – The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) announced today that it has adopted a policy for the formal use of economic analysis in MSRB rulemaking to ensure regulations that support a fair and efficient municipal market appropriately balance the benefits of protections for investors and municipal issuers with the burdens placed on regulated entities.  

The policy incorporates the core principles of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s guidance on economic analysis in rulemakings, including identifying the need for a proposed rule, articulating a baseline against which to measure a rule’s likely economic impact, evaluating alternative regulatory approaches and assessing the benefits and costs, both quantitative and qualitative, of the proposed rule, among other principles.  

“The MSRB recognizes industry concerns about the costs of regulation and designed the policy to provide additional rigor to its existing practice of evaluating possible alternatives and assessing potential burdens and benefits of rule proposals,” said MSRB Board Chair Jay Goldstone. “The policy will inform the MSRB rulemaking process and better establish the basis for future rule proposals.”  

The policy was developed over the last year by a working group of the MSRB Board of Directors focused on further integrating economic analysis into the MSRB rulemaking process. 

The formal policy comes at a time when the MSRB will begin to advance municipal advisor rulemaking in a series of key areas, including fiduciary duty, fair dealing and supervision. The MSRB is also continuing to streamline its existing rules for municipal securities dealers to promote regulatory efficiency.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) protects and strengthens the municipal bond market, enabling access to capital, economic growth, and societal progress in tens of thousands of communities across the country. MSRB fulfills this mission by creating trust in our market through informed regulation of dealers and municipal advisors that protects investors, issuers and the public interest; building technology systems that power our market and provide transparency for issuers, institutions, and the investing public; and serving as the steward of market data that empowers better decisions and fuels innovation for the future. MSRB is a self-regulatory organization governed by a board of directors that has a majority of public members, in addition to representatives of regulated entities. MSRB is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress.

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