Letter from the Board Chair and the CEO (October 2024)
Dear Stakeholders,
As MSRB begins its fiscal year 2025, we are pleased to share that our Board approved a $48.8 million budget to advance our mission to protect investors, issuers and the public interest. This budget represents a relatively modest increase of approximately 2.9% over the prior year and provides the necessary funds to modernize our rulebook and engage in key regulatory initiatives, while also making strategic investments in technology and data to promote the transparency and efficiency of the $4 trillion municipal securities market.
Over the past year, we’ve welcomed the opportunity for increased dialogue with our stakeholders through a series of industry town hall meetings focused on our budget that included broker-dealers, municipal advisors, investors, issuers and other market participants. These town halls not only helped to inform and enhance our budgeting process, but also how we communicate our budget and regulatory priorities to the public. We have taken to heart stakeholder requests for more clarity around our budget, particularly regarding our investments in technology, which represent our largest expense and approximately half of our annual budget. We’ve reorganized our technology functions into more discrete units, which enabled us to provide more relevant budgetary information about these functions. We hope that the additional detail provided in this report continues to bolster confidence and trust in MSRB’s commitment to financial stewardship and stakeholder engagement.
When Congress established MSRB as a self-regulatory organization, it created a budgetary funding model that relied on fees paid by regulated entities as opposed to appropriations from the federal government. We recognize and uphold our commitment to maintaining reasonable fees that are necessary or appropriate to advance our congressional mandate. To this end, MSRB plans to issue a Request for Information (RFI) to inform the ongoing review of our rate card model and fee setting process. As we shared at the town halls, MSRB understands the importance of establishing fair and equitable fees for the entities that we regulate.
In 2025, MSRB will celebrate its 50th anniversary, and we look forward to sharing our reflections on the history and evolution of our market over the last five decades. After all, giving America the confidence to invest in our communities through the municipal securities market remains our vision and highest priority, and together with stakeholders and the public we serve, we look forward to doing just that in 2025 and beyond.
Sincerely,
Warren "Bo" Daniels, Board Chair
Mark Kim, CEO
