SEC Keeps Municipal Advisor Registration Forms in Paperwork Rotation
Published Date: 10/22/2026
Notice
Summary
The SEC is asking to keep the rules and forms that municipal advisors use to register with them. This affects anyone giving financial advice to cities or towns about bonds and money matters. No big changes or new costs are coming, but the paperwork rules will stay in place to keep things clear and fair.
Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 6 costs, 0 mixed.
Firm registration stays required (Form MA)
If you run a municipal advisory firm (including sole proprietors), you must continue to file Form MA to register with the SEC. The SEC estimates about 15 new Form MA filings per year, each taking about 3.5 hours on average, and an aggregate annualized burden of 851 hours ($230,621) over a three-year period for Form MA activity.
Reporting for individual advisors (Form MA-I)
If you are an associated person who provides municipal advisory activities, your firm must file Form MA-I about you. The SEC estimates about 370 new MA-I filings per year (about 3 hours each) and, including amendments, estimates a total three-year burden of 20,541 hours ($5.6 million), or annualized 6,847 hours ($1.9 million), with an average reporting burden per respondent of about 17.16 hours ($4,650) per year when annualized.
Non-resident advisors must file MA-NR and counsel opinion
If you are a non-resident municipal advisor, you must file Form MA-NR (appoint a U.S. agent for service of process) and submit an opinion of counsel that you can provide access to books and records and submit to inspection. The SEC estimates about 4 non-resident firms and about 7 MA-NR filings per year, and estimates outside-counsel costs of about $1,584 per non-resident respondent.
Books and records retention requirement (5 years)
All registered municipal advisors must maintain true, accurate, and current books and records relating to municipal advisory activities for not less than five years so the SEC or other regulators can review them during examinations. The requirement applies to the universe of registered municipal advisors (about 419 as of December 31, 2025).
Public transparency of municipal advisors' records
Forms MA and MA-I make information about municipal advisors and their associated persons publicly available, including conflicts of interest and disciplinary history, so municipal entities, obligated persons, and investors can be more fully informed about advisors.
Removal of certain personal identifiers from filings
Forms MA and MA-I were amended effective May 14, 2018 to remove requests for certain personally identifiable information of natural persons (including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and foreign identity numbers), reducing the amount of sensitive personal data submitted to the SEC.
Consent to service of process requirement (retain 5 years)
Municipal advisory firms must obtain and retain written consents to service of process from each natural person engaged in municipal advisory activities and keep those consents for at least five years. The SEC estimates drafting a template (one-time) and ongoing collection work totaling 156 hours ($42,276) over three years, equal to about 0.39 hours ($106) per respondent over three years (about 0.13 hours/$35 per year when annualized).
Withdrawals from registration must use Form MA-W
If a municipal advisor stops registering, you must file Form MA-W to notify the SEC. The SEC estimates about 21 Form MA-W withdrawals per year, each taking about 0.5 hours, for a total three-year burden of 31.5 hours ($8,537) or about 0.5 hours ($136) per respondent one time.
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