MSRB wants to expand voluntary muni disclosures

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board today filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would allow it to collect voluntary-disclosure data from municipal issuers. The MSRB of Alexandria, Va., runs the Electronic Municipal Market Access system, which already handles trade data and required financial disclosures from issuers. Voluntary data could include additional financial information and operating data, municipal budgets, and material provided to ratings agencies and consultants, the MSRB said in a statement. The organization has been pushing EMMA as an important tool for investors and dealers. "We think that accepting voluntary disclosures by issuers ... will create even more-robust resources on EMMA for municipal bond investors,” MSRB general counsel Ernesto Lanza said in a statement. The MSRB wants the SEC to approve the rule change by July 1.