Enhancements to New Issue Information on EMMA

As previously announced, changes to MSRB Rules G-32 and G-34 become effective on May 6, 2013 that will streamline the process by which underwriters submit data to the MSRB’s Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA^®) system[1] in connection with most primary offerings.[2] In conjunction with these changes, MSRB will integrate certain data disseminated from the New Issue Information Dissemination Service (NIIDS), operated by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), into the EMMA Primary Market Disclosure Service. The integration of this data into EMMA is expected to yield several key benefits for brokers, dealers and municipal securities dealers (collectively “dealers”) making submissions of primary market information to EMMA as well as all market participants that use the information displayed on the EMMA website.

For dealers that act as underwriters under Rule G-32, the changes to Rules G-32 and G-34 are designed to streamline the process by which underwriters submit data in connection with primary offerings by using the NIIDS data to pre-populate Form G-32. Pre-populating Form G-32 with data disseminated from NIIDS, which data is required to be submitted to and disseminated from NIIDS by underwriters under Rule G-34, should reduce instances of underwriters needing to rekey and make corrections to data in Form G-32. Underwriters nonetheless will need to confirm the accuracy of all pre-populated information displayed on Form G-32, correct any errors by making changes through NIIDS, and provide those items of information not included in the NIIDS-disseminated data.  

All market participants that use the primary market information displayed on the EMMA website will notice the addition of several new items of information. Beginning May 6, 2013, EMMA will include for new issues the “Time of Formal Award” and “Time of First Execution” as defined in Rule G-34. Time of Formal Award is defined as, for competitive issues, the later of the time the issuer announces the award or the time the issuer notifies the underwriter of the award, and, for negotiated issues, the later of the time the contract to purchase the securities from the issuer is executed or the time the issuer notifies the underwriter of its execution. Time of First Execution means the time the underwriter plans to execute its first transactions in the new issue. Having these items of information displayed on the EMMA website will promote access to these important times by all market participants. Separately, EMMA currently displays the initial offering price for new issues as either a dollar price or yield and beginning May 6, 2013 EMMA will provide the ability to display both of these values on most new issues. While underwriters may not always be able to determine both the initial offering price and yield at the time Form G-32 is submitted, permitting underwriters to provide both of these values, when available, will provide more meaningful information to market participants about the initial offering price and facilitate comparisons to trade data, which is normally displayed with both a dollar price and yield.

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Questions about this notice may be directed to Justin R. Pica, Director, Product Management - Market Transparency at 703-797-6716.

May 6, 2013

[1]  EMMA is a registered trademark of the MSRB.