In recent years, many issuers have privately placed their bonds with financial institutions in lieu of offering their bonds publicly. Financial institutions regard many of these transactions as bank loans. Although not required by the federal securities laws, to enhance disclosure to the market (and in some instances to meet the requirements of financial institutions making these bank loans), it is desirable for issuers to post information about privately placed debt on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s (“MSRB”) Electronic Municipal Market Access (“EMMA”) website.
Until recently, there was not a straightforward process for posting this information on EMMA. This month, the MSRB has enhanced the bank loan disclosure submission process and the display of the documents on its EMMA website. The MSRB believes this simplified method will ultimately enable more issuers to properly submit bank loan disclosure documents for display on EMMA and subsequently facilitate greater transparency of bank loans for current bondholders and prospective investors.