From 2005 : Open Letter to Muni Industry Regarding MuniMarket.com
At a minimum, this is what I want:
It is time the Municipal Bond industry have a centralized exchange of some sort. There are many reasons why. Clearly, I am concerned about our need to organize and safeguard fair pricing. Comparatively, a Muni market cannot be an NYSE or NASDAQ. But it can be uniquely and intelligently applied.
1. All customer bid wanteds are to be posted for open view and bidding at MuniMarket.com.
This would be industry wide and apply to all customers; big or small, sophisticated or otherwise, institutional or retail.
2. The bid wanteds will be organized by State, and time of day when bids are due.
This is structurally similar, in fact little different than how our inside markets put out bonds for bid.
3. The broker/dealer presenting the bid wanted to the system will be the "presenting broker."
This may be different than the "holding broker/entity."
4. Any broker/dealer may bid Bonds.
Customers may also bid, but they must do so through a broker/dealer as intermediary to the MuniMarket.com system.
5. To help ensure fair and reasonable markets, the expertize and experience of Municipal Bond "broker's brokers" will be available for all.
Similar to how "specialists" safeguard trading of NYSE listed stocks, the value of these specialized service providers will be utilized.
All bid wanteds and bids are to flow to and through the broker's brokers as Regional / State Muni Market Specialists.
Region / State Muni Market Specialist assignments:
In the NorthEast:
In the SouthWest:
In the SouthEast:
In the Mid-West:
In the West:
Control and/or ownership of this sytem and site, MuniMarket.com, should in all fairness be an association of Muni dealers, or the NASD, or something similar. It is your market. With assurances, I will provide the domain name(s).
Things have changed around us. We must adapt and improve.
If we don't, investors might soon want to put their Bonds out for bid over eBay rather than come to us.
Thank you for reading this.
Please send your questions or comments to Kevin@MuniMarket.com.
Kevin Olson
Kevin@MuniMarket.com