Dealers applaud SEC approval of MSRB rule change scrapping one-minute reporting standard

Broker-dealer groups cheered the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of a proposed Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule change that called for rescinding a previously approved one-minute trade reporting standard that had yet to take effect.

The SEC’s order approving the proposed rule change – dated Sept. 16 – came after the MSRB announced in June that the board had approved the filing of amendments to MSRB Rule G-14 to rescind previously approved but not-yet-effective rule provisions so that the existing 15-minute standard for reporting municipal securities trades to the MSRB would be maintained.  

The  Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association “strongly supports” the MSRB “reverting to 15-minute trade reporting,” Leslie Norwood, managing director, associate general counsel and head of municipal securities at SIFMA, said in a Sept. 17 statement. 

“The fixed income markets—including the municipal securities market—remain predominantly over-the-counter, where elements of trading and post-execution processing rely on manual processes, or are subject to still developing and non-comprehensive automation,” Norwood said.  “An across-the-board one-minute reporting requirement is not feasible due to the lack of full post-trade automation stemming from the importance of bilateral negotiation in many fixed income markets.”

The SEC’s Sept. 16 order approving the MSRB’s proposed rule change as well as a separate  SEC order – also dated Sept. 16 – approving a similar rule change proposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority were welcomed by the Bond Dealers of America. 

“BDA applauds the commission as well as FINRA and the MSRB on the final withdrawal of the dual one-minute trade reporting amendments,” Michael Decker, senior vice president for research and public policy at BDA, said in a Sept. 17 email. “The rule changes approved last year would have imposed substantial compliance costs on the industry without any material improvement in market transparency.”  

The MSRB’s decision to rescind the one-minute trade reporting standard under Rule G-14 followed “months of dialogue and engagement with market participants,” MSRB President and CEO Mark Kim said in a June 9 press release. The MSRB filed the proposed rule change with the SEC on June 10. 

“The SEC’s approval of our most recent amendments to MSRB Rule G-14 allows us to finalize this appropriate set of rules on trade reporting,”  Ernie Lanza, the MSRB’s chief regulatory and policy officer, said in a Sept. 17 statement. “The approved amendments retain the current 15-minute trade reporting standard and, starting next summer, will require dealers to report trades as soon as practicable.” 

In a notice published Sept. 17, the MSRB said it had received approval from the SEC “of the MSRB’s most recent amendments to Rule G-14 RTRS Procedures under MSRB Rule G-14, on reports of sales or purchases, and MSRB Rule G-12, on uniform practice.” RTRS is short for Real-time Transaction Reporting System. 

The amendments modify certain amendments to those rules that were approved by the SEC in 2024 but had yet to become effective.

The MSRB in a statement relating to the Sept. 17 notice said that together the two sets of rule amendments keep the existing 15-minute timeframe for dealers to report trades to the MSRB instead of reducing the timeframe to one minute. 

In addition, the two sets of rule amendments: set forth a new requirement under Rule G-14 RTRS Procedures that requires dealers to report transactions that are subject to the existing 15-minute reporting timeframe to the MSRB, require under Rule G-12(f) that transactions that are subject to the new as-soon-as-practicable reporting requirement be submitted to the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation for comparison and require that dealers adopt policies and procedures relating to the new as-soon-as-practicable reporting requirement. They also make certain clarifying and technical changes, the MSRB’s statement said. 

The amendments will take effect in two stages, the MSRB said. The amendments that implement the clarifying and technical changes to the Rule G-14 RTRS Procedures, Rule G-12(f) and IF-1 will become effective Oct. 1, the MSRB said. 

The amendments that establish “the new as-soon-as-practicable trade reporting and related policies and procedures requirements under the Rule G-14 RTRS Procedures, and the as-soon-as-practicable submission for comparison requirement under Rule G-12(f),” will take effect on July 1, 2026, the MSRB said.