HomeMy WebLinkAboutI - 11 MSRB-MA-Clients-Brochure1Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
Information for Municipal
Advisory Clients
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
(MSRB) provides significant protections for
municipal entities and obligated persons that
are clients of a municipal advisor. Certain of
those protections also apply to potential clients
of a municipal advisor. Municipal advisors
must comply with our rules when engaging in
municipal advisory activities.
This document summarizes key principles of our rules
that protect you. It also provides information on how
to file a complaint against a municipal advisor with
the appropriate federal regulatory authority. For the
complete text of the rules and additional educational
information, visit the MSRB’s website at www.msrb.org.
Professional Competency. Our rules require that
your municipal advisor meet professional qualification
requirements based on its municipal advisory activities.
Beginning January 1, 2018, our rules require that
municipal advisors also meet continuing education
requirements.
Fair Dealing. Our rules require that your municipal
advisor deal fairly with you and not engage in any
deceptive, dishonest or unfair practice. Your municipal
advisor must satisfy a duty of care. Your municipal
advisor’s recommendations must be suitable,
and your municipal advisor’s compensation for its
recommendations must not be excessive.
2Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
To help make sure that your municipal advisor is
providing unbiased advice, our rules address potential
conflicts of interest, including gift-giving and political
contributions. Our rules generally prohibit a municipal
advisor from advising or soliciting a municipal entity
within two years of a political contribution to an official
of that municipal entity.
Our rules also require that you receive certain
disclosures from your municipal advisor so you are
aware of information that is material to your decision-
making. If you are receiving advice from your municipal
advisor, your municipal advisor must disclose, in writing,
all material conflicts of interest, and all legal and
disciplinary events material to your evaluation of your
municipal advisor. We refer to this as a “full and fair”
disclosure under our rules.
You are also protected by our fair dealing rules if you
are solicited by a municipal advisor on behalf of a third-
party municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor or
investment adviser to buy certain products or services.
That municipal advisor must disclose all material facts
about the solicitation, including all material risks and
characteristics of the product or service.
Duty of Loyalty. If you are a municipal entity, our rules
provide extra protections when your municipal advisor
advises you about municipal financial products or the
issuance of municipal securities. Your municipal advisor
must deal honestly and with the utmost of good faith,
and act in your best interests without regard to its
financial or other interests.
Periodic Disclosure. Your municipal advisor must
periodically provide you with the following:
 a statement that it is registered with the MSRB and
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);
 the MSRB’s website address; and
 a statement as to the availability of this brochure.
Documentation. When hiring a municipal advisor
to provide advice, your municipal advisor must give
you a written document outlining certain terms of its
relationship with you.
Remedies for Disputes
If you have a dispute with your municipal advisor firm or
representative, you should try to — but do not have to
— resolve it with the individual or a supervisor. In some
cases, you may not be able to resolve the dispute.
Terms as Used in this Brochure
 You: A municipal advisory client, including:
–Municipal Entity: A state, political subdivision of a state, or municipal corporate
instrumentality of a state, including a public pension plan.
–Obligated Person: Any person (including the issuer) legally committed to
support payment of all or part of an issue of municipal securities, other than
certain unrelated providers of credit or liquidity enhancement.
 Municipal Advisory Activities
–The provision of advice to you with respect to municipal financial products or the
issuance of municipal securities.
–Solicitation of you on behalf of certain third parties to purchase a product or
service.
Information for Municipal Advisory Clients
3Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
Filing a Complaint
Regardless of whether you have tried to resolve your
complaint directly, you may file a formal complaint with
the regulatory agency that examines your municipal
advisor for compliance with MSRB rules. You also may
contact the MSRB, at 1300 I Street NW, Suite 1000,
Washington, DC, 20005, 202-838-1330, complaints@
msrb.org, and we will forward the complaint to the
appropriate enforcement agency listed below.
To expedite the handling of your complaint, please be
as specific as possible as to the nature of the complaint,
including detail about the representative and/or firm
involved. Please provide your name, phone number,
email address and mailing address.
If you have a complaint about a potential violation of
MSRB rules or other federal securities laws, contact:
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
SEC Center for Complaints and Enforcement Tips
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549-5990
https://www.sec.gov/reportspubs/investor-publications/
complaintshtml.html
Or use the online portal at:
https://acadia.sec.gov/TcrExternalWeb/faces/pages/
accept.jspx
If you have a complaint about your municipal advisor
or about the municipal securities market:
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Office of Investor Education and Advocacy
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549-0213
Fax: (202) 772-9295
https://www.sec.gov/complaint/question.shtml
Or use the online portal at:
https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html
If you have a complaint against your municipal
advisor that is also registered with FINRA as a
dealer, contact:
FINRA Investor Complaint Center
9509 Key West Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850-3329
(240) 386-4357
http://www.finra.org/investors/problem
Or use the online portal at:
http://www.finra.org/investors/investor-complaint-center
Municipal advisors
that also act as
municipal securities
dealers must follow
additional rules. For
more information
about the regulatory
protections for
investors, see the
MSRB’s Information
for Municipal
Securities Investors
brochure.
Information for Municipal Advisory Clients
About the MSRB
The MSRB protects investors, state and local governments and
other municipal entities, and the public interest by promoting a
fair and efficient municipal securities market. The MSRB fulfills
this mission by regulating the municipal securities firms, banks
and municipal advisors that engage in municipal securities
and advisory activities. To further protect market participants,
the MSRB provides market transparency through its Electronic
Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website, the official repository
for information on all municipal bonds. The MSRB also serves as
an objective resource on the municipal market, conducts extensive
education and outreach to market stakeholders, and provides
market leadership on key issues. The MSRB is a Congressionally-
chartered, self-regulatory organization governed by a 21-member
board of directors that has a majority of public members, in
addition to representatives of regulated entities. The MSRB is
subject to oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission.