Are there illegal mark-ups in Municipal Bonds?
Do Municipal Bond traders gouge investors?
Are regulators ignoring shockingly large bid/offer spreads in hard to regulate Municipal Markets?

A new public information service from MunicipalBonds.com will help answer these questions.

In its daily listing of “Yesterday’s Trades and Closing Prices”, MunicipalBonds.com will now red flag all Municipal Bond transactions that have a best scenario bid/offer market spread wider than 4 points.

An easily recognizable graphic of a red flag will appear in a column next to the “best bid” and “best offer” price columns.

In tests of its new system, MunicipalBonds.com has uncovered bid/offer spreads of up to 20 points.

The practice of unfair dealer pricing in the Municipal Bond markets has traditionally been a problem. Unlike the stock markets, investors could never know the actual “bid/offer market” for a Municipal Bond, or whether an offering or bid was fair.

In response, the SEC and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board initiated a price reporting program in 1994 whereby brokerages must report all their Municipal Bond trades on a daily basis.

MunicipalBonds.com then compiles and organizes this massive amount of data into a format that looks similar to the closing stock tables seen in any daily newspaper.

What does this new red flag feature mean:

To Investors:

An abnormally wide bid/offer market spread may denote more than just an inefficient market. This red flag feature identifies investments that may be more than just unfair. Your first step should be to ask your broker why there is such a large spread. If you do not like the answer, it perhaps may be time for you to contact the National Association of Securities Dealer (NASD) and register a complaint, or even contact a lawyer.

To Stockbrokers and/or Licensed Investment Reps:

This new red flag feature means that you should reconsider taking that extra couple points on either side of a Municipal Bond trade. This stuff is transparent now, and is being watched!

To Municipal Bond Traders:

Similar to stockbrokers, your trades are being watched and inefficient market spreads are being red flagged.

To Municipal Bond Market Oversight Authorities and Regulators:

Thank you for promoting price transparency in Municipal Bonds by requiring price reporting. It is now time for you do something with the information. This new red flag service should help you focus your enforcement activities.

About MunicipalBonds.com

MunicipalBonds.com is a non-aligned public service information source actively facilitating and promoting price transparency and continuing disclosure in the Municipal Bond market.

Contact: Kevin Olson
Company: MunicipalBonds.com
Phone: 415-922-7870
Email: Kevin@MunicipalBonds.com
URL: http://www.municipalbonds.com