MSRB Publishes 2012 Municipal Bond Fact Book

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) has published the 2012 edition of its Fact Book, an online sourcebook that analyzes trading data and other statistics for the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market. This year, the Fact Book includes new statistics on municipal market trading activity based on the credit rating and average yields of customer trades of municipal securities. It also includes analysis on the more 50 million trades that occurred in the municipal market over the last five years as well as data on disclosures made by municipal bond issuers over the last two years.

In 2012, the MSRB received data on approximately 9.7 million municipal trades, more than 150,000 continuing disclosure and primary market documents and nearly 830,000 interest rate resets for municipal variable rate securities.

The 2012 Fact Book includes monthly, quarterly and yearly aggregate market information from 2008 to 2012, and covers different types of municipal issues, trades and rate resets. In addition to statistics based on parameters such as sector, maturity, source of repayment, the Fact Book includes trade data by credit rating. The ratings from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s are displayed on the MSRB’s Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website for all individual municipal securities that have ratings assigned by the two agencies. Additionally, this year’s report includes new statistical distributions by trade size and type as well as yearly and quarterly average yields for customer trades.

The MSRB’s market transparency products and research programs promote transparency and access to real-time, municipal market bond information. The MSRB makes this information available free of charge on its EMMA website. Daily and historical summaries of trade data based on security type, size, sector, maturity, source of repayment and coupon type are housed in EMMA’s Market Statistics section.

Past editions of the MSRB’s Fact Book can be found on the MSRB's website.

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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.