SEC Chair Jay Clayton Extends FIMSAC Charter for One Year

SEC Chair Jay Clayton extended the charter of the Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee ("FIMSAC") for another year.

In remarks to the Committee, Mr. Clayton noted progress made on FIMSAC recommendations since 2017. He highlighted (i) the proposed framework of a corporate bond block size pilot, (ii) a rule proposal on new reference data for corporate bonds, (iii) consideration of new regulations regarding fixed income electronic trading platforms and (iv) evaluating "pennying" in the corporate bond market.

Mr. Clayton also urged the Committee to work to improve the timeliness in municipal issuer financial reporting. He said that some municipal issuers questioned the legitimacy of the MSRB Electronic Municipal Market Access ("EMMA") system, and whether disclosing information through EMMA poses a risk to investors. In response, Mr. Clayton stated that he directed the Office of Municipal Securities to summarize the application of federal securities laws to various disclosure scenarios.

He also complimented the Committee for working on investor education in connection with "secondary market liquidity in the market for retail notes."