House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Capital Markets Yesterday, the BDA’s CEO Mike Nicholas testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets during a hearing titled, “The Role of Self-Regulatory Organizations in U.S. Markets: Examining FINRA and the MSRB.“ The BDA was the only industry group representing regulated entities featured in this hearing.…
Category: Testimony
MBFA Submits Testimony to House and Senate Committees Supporting Muni Financing of Infrastructure
Today, the Municipal Bonds for America Council (MBFA) submitted testimony to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee following recent hearings featuring municipal bond financing in the context of infrastructure. While the hearings covered a wide variety of funding and financing measures, bonds were at the center of many bipartisan…
BDA Statement on HBCU Financing
BDA today filed a written statement with the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in the context of their hearing this afternoon on “Examining the Role of Municipal Bond Markets in Advancing – and Undermining – Economic, Racial and Social Justice.” We focus our statement on financing for Historically Black Colleges and…
BDA Submits Testimony and Will Host Capitol Hill Briefing in Support of Infrastructure Proposal
Today, February 12, 2020, after consultation with the Municipal Bond Executive Committee, the BDA submitted testimony to the House Committee on Ways in Means in response to a recent hearing titled, Paving the Way for Funding and Financing Infrastructure Investment and in support of the House infrastructure principles document. The BDA Comments can be found…
BDA Submits Testimony Outlining Priorities to House Ways and Means
Today (April 8, 2019), after consultation with Municipal Bond Committee leadership, the BDA submitted written testimony to the House Committee on Ways and Means in response to their recent hearing titled, “The 2017 Tax Law and Who it Left Behind.” The testimony focused on BDA priorities, including the reinstatement of advance refundings, expansion of PABs, BQ bonds,…
BDA Testifies at the IRS Public Hearing on the Proposed ‘Political Subdivision’ Amendments
On June 6, 2016, John Vahey of the BDA testified at the IRS public hearing on the proposed rule to re-define ‘political subdivision’. The BDA’s testimony is here and the hearing agenda can be viewed here. The testimony focuses on the policy points and recommendations that BDA raised in its May 2016 comment letter. The IRS…
Michael Imhoff of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Testifies at IRS Public Hearing on 'Issue Price' for Municipal Securities
Today, Michael Imhoff, Managing Director of Fixed Income Capital Markets at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. testified on behalf of the BDA at an IRS public hearing on the recently proposed rule to define ‘issue price’ for municipal securities. BDA’s public hearing testimony can be read here. The following people also testified at the public hearing:…
BDA Testifies Before U.S. Department of Labor on Fiduciary Duty
In his remarks, Nicholas focused on how the proposed expansion would significantly limit the ability of dealers to provide investment advice and recommendations to retirement investors. You can find his prepared remarks here. Specifically, Nicholas spoke about how the BDA does not believe the proposed rule or the associated exemptions represent the right approach for improving…
BDA Representing Middle Market and Regional Dealers at House Financial Services Subcommittee Hearing
Today, the BDA, represented by Michael Marz, Vice Chairman of FirstSouthwest, testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises for a hearing entitled, “The Impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on Municipal Finance.” In his testimony, Marz renews the BDA’s call for a level regulatory playing field to protect the…
BDA Opposes Fiduciary Duty Before House Financial Services
The BDA opposes a broker-dealer fiduciary duty because no benefit to investors has been shown, because the current rules protect investors and because a fiduciary relationship is not possible when the broker-dealer has been engaged by an investor to buy or sell securities from that investor. Further, the risk of litigation that a fiduciary duty…