Bloomberg | June 17, 2020
"Bill Henderson, BlackRock Inc.’s former headof municipal bond money-market funds and short-term debt, has joined Clarity BidRate ..."
News
Clarity in the Media
BlackRock’s Former Head of Tax-Exempt Money Funds Joins Clarity
The Coronavirus Crisis And E-Trading Tax-Exempt Short Paper: Is The Platform Working?
Forbes | March 23, 2020
"ClarityBidRate was founded to solve the liquidity problem. It is an electronic trading platform where buyers and sellers interact directly..."
US court cases shine light on bonds set in aspic
Financial TImes | June 6, 2019
"US court cases shine light on bonds set in aspic. VRDOs belong to the 1980s world of Rolodexes, landlines and company-paid baseball tickets..."
Why MTA’s $50M remarketing deal on Clarity is bigger than its par amount
The Bond Buyer | June 2, 2019
"The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority is set to issue $50 million of variable rate revenue bonds on Clarity Bidrate Alternative Trading System, highlighting the uptick of variable rate debt since the loss of advanced refundings..."
Wisconsin will use Clarity system on variable-rate note issue
The Bond Buyer | May 24, 2019
"Wisconsin next week will place $53.8 million of variable-rate general obligation notes that will use the Clarity Bidrate Alternative Trading System for competitive remarketing..."
Wisconsin seeks transparency with Clarity’s VRDO bid platform
The Bond Buyer | January 7, 2019
"Wisconsin intends to use the Clarity Bidrate Alternative Trading System to competitively remarket $60 million of floating-rate paper, a decision cemented by recent lawsuits accusing banks and broker-dealers of widespread fraud in the variable-rate demand obligation market..."
Electronic muni debt platform gains traction with Ohio
Financial Times | October 10, 2016
"Electronic muni debt platform gains traction with Ohio. Compared with infrastructure of corporate debt, US municipal bond market is considered ..."
Industry News
Robots Bought Munis Amid Record Sell-Off’s ‘Baptism of Fire’
Bloomberg | April 20, 2020
"The liquidity crisis peaked in mid-March as fears about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic unleashed an unprecedented $40 billion stampede out of municipal-bond mutual funds during a two-week period..."
Treasurer Torsella Announces Program to Provide Relief for PA Hospitals Fighting COVID-19
Pennsylvania Treasury | April 6, 2020
"Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella today announced a bond purchasing program that seeks to provide financial relief to non-profit and public healthcare systems in Pennsylvania. This would help to provide liquidity to healthcare systems, while reducing the extreme borrowing costs they have recently incurred, caused by unusual market volatility..."
Ohio offering $900 million borrowing lifeline for hospitals
The Bond Buyer | March 27, 2020
"Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague launched a program this week to bolster liquidity and ease the financial burden Ohio hospitals face because of the COVID-19 pandemic..."
Dramatic muni rally reverses recent coronavirus-driven selloff
The Bond Buyer | March 26, 2020
"The municipal market experienced an enormous rally Wednesday, swiftly reversing from the pronounced sell off it had experienced over the course of several wrenching, dislocated trading sessions due to the effects of the coronavirus..."
Municipalities Face Short-Term Cash Crunch, Pushing Up Borrowing Costs
Barron's | March 20, 2020
"The municipal bond market may be exempt from taxes, but it hasn’t been sheltered from a record-setting investor cash grab..."
Muni-Bond Liquidity Crisis Hits Governments With Rates Up to 11%
Bloomberg | March 19, 2020
"The sell-off sweeping through the municipal-bond market is hitting cities, public-transit systems, hospitals and local governments with spiraling interest bills on floating-rate debt, dealing a new financial hit just as they contend with the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic..."
Muni-Bond Market’s Favorite No-Risk, Can’t-Lose Trade Is Back
Bloomberg | February 21, 2020
"The municipal-bond market’s favorite can’t-lose trade is back. So called variable-rate demand obligations -- which are virtually risk proof because they can be sold back at full face value to Wall Street banks as frequently as every day -- are yielding 1.18%..."
New York blocks banks from dismissing VRDO lawsuit
The Bond Buyer | February 14, 2020
"The state of New York has blocked dismissal of a lawsuit accusing several major banks of wrongdoing in the variable-rate market, effectively preventing those banks from using the argument that has offered success to them in several similar lawsuits filed around the country..."
Presentations
