SEC Announces Agenda for Fixed Income Roundtable

The SEC announced the agenda for its April 16th roundtable, which will address: (i) market structure for municipal securities, (ii) corporate bonds and asset-backed securities, and (iii) whether steps can be taken to improve the transparency, liquidity, execution quality, and efficiency of the market structure for such securities.The roundtable will be divided into four panels, which will address the general background of each security, the differences between them, how each market has evolved in the last decade given the advances in technology and communications, and the process by which transactions are effected.

Panels 1 and 2 will focus on the current market structure for municipal securities and corporate bonds, respectively. Discussion topics will include:

• trading venues,
• price transparency,
• liquidity,
• transaction costs for individuals and institutional investors, and
• the relationship between the primary offering process and secondary market trading of these fixed income securities.

The market for asset-backed securities (ABS) may be discussed as well.

Panels 3 and 4 will focus on improvements to the municipal securities market, the corporate bond market and other fixed income markets. Discussion topics will include:

• ideas presented for consideration in the SEC's 2012 Report on the Municipal Securities Market,
• better investor information,
• the best execution concept,
• pre-trade and post-trade transparency, and
• whether it can improve the primary offering process.

See: SEC Announcement.See also: Current Topics - Municipal Securities, for a compilation of recent news stories relating to municipal securities, including as to the SEC's 2012 Report.