Trader who tanked IFS Securities is guilty, federal jury finds

A federal criminal jury convicted Keith Wakefield of securities and wire fraud for the unauthorized speculative trades that drove his employer, IFS Securities, out of business.

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The tremendous growth of separately managed accounts in the municipal market has been spurred by higher yields, lower fees, the desire for deeper customization and improvements in technology. Some market participants estimate that SMAs hold as much as $1.5 trillion of munis while others peg it closer to $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion. Regardless of the total — difficult to quantify it because of how they are reported — it is exponentially higher than the $100 billion that was estimated before the financial crisis.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent suspension of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's rate card model is causing some confusion in the market, according to Mark Kim, chief executive officer at the MSRB, as the fees set for 2023 are now in effect for this year.

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Oppenheimer & Co. has brought on a pair of former UBS bankers to its public finance team under new public finance chief Elizabeth Coolidge. New York-based Kristin Stephens will head the firm's Northeast region and Atlanta-based David Moffett will head the Southeast, the firm announced Thursday.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved amendments to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-12 on uniform practices, adding a section to the rule that makes dealers involved in municipal securities transactions subject to the T+1 settlement cycle.

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Jason Lisec was named head of HilltopSecurities’ fixed income capital markets. He had been co-head of the department since 2020. AJ Maggio, who has been the other co-head, left Hilltop in July and joined KeyBanc earlier this year. "Since that time the needs of the department and leadership was reassessed leading to Jason's promotion as the sole head of fixed income sales, trading and analytics and as an active member of the HilltopSecurities executive team," said Hilltop spokesman Ben Brooks.

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