Release of Certain Statistical Information on Transaction Patterns in the Municipal Securities Market

Today, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) is releasing certain statistical information on transaction patterns in the municipal securities market.  These data are based on trade information submitted to the MSRB’s Transaction Reporting System for the period May 1998 – April 1999.  Dealers are required to submit information on all their municipal securities trades with customers and with other dealers to the MSRB by midnight on trade date.

 

MSRB Chairman Robert A. Estrada, Chairman and CEO of Estrada Hinojosa & Company, in Dallas, Texas, noted, “This is the first time anyone has been able to compile comprehensive data and produce statistics on trading patterns in the municipal securities market.  We believe that investors, issuers, and dealers will benefit from knowledge of these patterns; it also will help us focus our regulatory efforts.”  The MSRB is releasing these data so that all market participants can have a better understanding of the arena in which they operate.

 

“We expect each person looking at these data will draw their own conclusions about what these data “mean,” depending on that person’s perspective; issuers will view the data differently than investors,” stated Christopher A. Taylor, MSRB Executive Director.  The MSRB is not providing an analysis of the data, allowing users to develop their own interpretations of the information.  The MSRB notes that these data cover a single, one-year period and that data for other time periods may or may not be substantially different from those being released today.  The MSRB expects to release additional data in the future.

 

“One thing is clear,” Chairman Estrada pointed out, “whether a person is buying in small lots where the most trades occur or in large lots where the dollar volume of trading is the greatest, the MSRB is committed to maintaining a fair and efficient market for municipal securities.  We believe the release of these data helps us meet that objective.”

 

January 19, 2000