February 10, 2011 Newsletter

21-Mar-2011

Topics: Compliance and Disclosure Changes; Bond Buyer's Conference

Compliance and Disclosure in the Spotlight

A recent article by the Wall Street Journal ("Municipal Bondholders Left in the Dark", January 26, 2011) demonstrates the increased scrutiny falling on public finance from many directions: "This weak disclosure is raising anxiety in the $2.9 trillion market, where investors withdrew more than $20 billion from municipal bond funds in recent weeks." More from the article:

"At the request of The Wall Street Journal, DPC DATA Inc., a specialist in municipal disclosure, did an extensive analysis of disclosure and found the problem growing since a 2008 study. Of 17,000 bond issues it studied, more than 56% filed no financial statements in any given year between 2005 and 2009. More than one-third of borrowers entirely skipped three or more years, and the number grew to 40% in 2009, as credit woes mounted. Another 30% filed extraordinarily late in 2009.

"This works out to insufficient ongoing disclosure information for more than $2 trillion of the $3 trillion in outstanding bonds," says Peter Schmitt, chief executive of DPC of Fort Lee, N.J."

Whether your organization is the borrower, or if your firm partners with borrowers to execute their capital financing, now is the time to ensure that your continuing disclosure, arbitrage rebate reporting, and other compliance issues are up-to-date, especially in the face of rapidly changing regulations in a turbulent market. Please contact CDA if we can assist with your compliance and reporting needs.

See You In Austin

The CDA team is preparing for the Bond Buyer's 14th annual Texas Public Finance Conference, in Austin, Texas on Feb. 13-15. In pursuit of our mission to continually provide CDA clients and partners with the best and most current practices in tax-exempt finance, we look forward to connecting with our friends and colleagues in the industry.

If you will be in Austin next week and would like to visit, please contact Lee McCormick or give us a call at (214) 256-3121. We would be pleased to set aside time to discuss how CDA or one of our conduit issuers can assist you.

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