muni

Former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Arthur Levitt says that America's municipal ('muni') bond needs reform along with private sector bond trading. Muni bonds are more susceptible to default, he says, than commercial bonds because of their greater "opacity" and the lack of consistent and enforced standards.

Bid rigging, tax evasion and other forms of racketeering are rife in the municipal bond business and a huge multijurisdiction criminal investigation has been underway for several years now, the New York Times reports in its business pages. Public toll agencies base almost all their longterm financing on the municipal bond markets so it is of great interest within the US toll industry.