Municipal Bond Summit 2011

Taking place September 27^th, 2011 in New York City at the Marriott Marquis, the Municipal Bond Summit 2011 is an SIFMA Event  and very timely as we face new tax laws and uncertainty in the regulatory market. Also the rating agencies: what role will they now play?

MBIA as an agency has faced challenging times, and the bonds that are “escrowed “in Treasuries? How has the debt downgrade weighed upon these securities?

The municipal securities industry faces new challenges in 2012, no doubt. In the face of all this uncertainty there may be some unique opportunities which the speakers will address. In addition, audience participation is encouraged which will surely liven up the atmosphere!

The keynote speaker for the event is The Honorable Dannel P. Malloy, the Governor of Connecticut.

The target audience includes broker-dealers, issuers, municipal advisors, letter of credit banks, portfolio managers, rating agencies, credit analysts and internal and outside counsel for these entities.

Highlights include:

8:30 am-9:14 am Opening Remarks

Elisse B. Walter
Commissioner
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

9:15 am – 10:15 am

Primary Market Dynamics – Back to Basics or Time for Innovation?
This panel will take an in-depth look at the challenges to issuance given a market in flux from everything from the loss of BABs to headline risks to dramatically reduced new issuance. Should the municipal market make a turn back to vanilla or should participants explore innovations to deal with the ever-changing political, economic and market climates? Panelists will speak about alternative sources of funding, such as bank direct purchases, how dealers commit capital, as well as the future of the tax-exemption and taxable and tax-credit bonds’ roles in the market.

Keynote speaker

The Honorable Dannel P. Malloy,
Governor of Connecticut

Special guest speaker

The Honorable Steve Stivers
United States House of Representatives

Member, House Financial Services Committee

Challenges in the Retail Market (this topic is one of special interest in light of the pending tax changes)

With retail investors making up a majority of the purchasers of municipals, this panel will examine what these investors are seeking from the market. Panelists will consider a municipal world without the Federal tax-exemption and whether retail investors would still find value in it. Would mutual funds be an able proxy for retail investors? How do different market participants view the retail-order period and the priority of those orders? Panelists will also consider the implications of FINRA Regulatory Notice 10-41, which many view as expanding broker dealer obligations beyond existing MSRB requirements in secondary market transactions.

Panelists include municipal specialists from some of the top firms such as Goldman Sachs, Citi Bank, Deutsche Bank, Charles Schwab…

Short-Term and Variable Rate Financing Solutions
As in all  credit markets, the municipal market needs a short-term financing option. Whether it is market conditions or new capital levels required by Dodd-Frank or Basel III, the ability for banks to support the short-term municipal market has been dramatically affected. This panel will consider what options are available to issuers for short-term financings and what tools banks have to support such options in light of this changed landscape.

Karen Pierog of Reuters will host this event as moderator.

Panelists include: Nancy Winkler, Treasurer of the city of Philadelphia; James Lansing Managing Director and Head of Capital Debt Markets, JP Morgan Chase; Richard Kolman Managing Director and Head of Municipal Securities, US Bank, and Jeffrey J. Previdi, Sr Director, US Public Finance Ratings Group, Standard and Poor’s Rating Services .

This topic is all important for any municipality which requires short term financing to meet unexpected obligations. Commentary will be of special interest from Mr. Previdi of  S & P in light of the recent US Debt downgrade and how it affects the municipal marketplace.

Entire schedule and additional information can be found online.