System and method for managing information related to securities and securities issuers

• US 8,165,937 B1
• Filed: 01/31/2007
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Assurance Certification LLC
• Original Assignee: Digital Assurance Certification LLC
• Inventors: Hebbar, Sharda, Stuart, Paula
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Eric T
• Application Number:
  US11/669,642
• Time in Patent Office: 1,910 Days
• Field of Search: 705/36.R, 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and method that enables a financial institution managing a money market fund to meet the requirements of SEC Rule 2a-7. The system and method may enable an issuer of an instrument or security to provide information to investors that are regulated by SEC Rule 2a-7, in such a manner that the instrument or security of the issuer may be purchased and held by money market funds. This includes enabling the money market fund to verify that one or more securities issued by one or more issuers meet the three of the basic requirements of the Rule, namely (1) portfolio maturity, (2) portfolio quality, and (3) portfolio diversification.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented, network-based system configured to manage files related to securities issued by securities issuers, the system comprising:

electronic storage that stores a list of users associated with money-market funds; and

one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the computer program modules comprising;

a storage module configured to store a plurality of files, the plurality of files including files that are associated with individual ones of a plurality of securities issuers;

an issuer cabinet module accessible by a first issuer, the issuer cabinet module being configured to manage files from the plurality of files stored in the storage module that are associated with the first issuer, wherein the files associated with the first issuer include a first group of files corresponding to one or more municipal bonds issued by the first issuer that must be disclosed to the public under a first set of one or more regulatory rules related to secondary market disclosures for municipal bonds, and a second group of files for which public disclosure is not mandatory under the first set of one or more regulatory rules but are relevant to an assessment as to whether the one or more municipal bonds issued by the first issuer qualify as eligible securities under a second set of one or more regulatory rules regulating the types of securities that can be held by money-market funds;

a disclosure module configured to automatically send files from the first group of files to one or more computer systems associated with an entity that maintains secondary market disclosure data for municipal bonds and makes the first group of files available to the public on a publicly available website; and

a communication module configured to provide access to the second group of files to money-market fund users included in the list of users associated with money-market funds, such that the money-market fund users receive access to the second group of files without the second group of files becoming accessible to unauthorized users not included in the list of users associated with money-market funds.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the list of users associated with money-market funds is defined at least in part by the first issuer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more regulatory rules includes SEC Rule 15 c2-12 as amended at 59 FR 59360, Nov. 17, 1994, and the second set of one or more regulatory rules includes SEC Rule 2a-7 as defined at 66 FR 36156, 36161, Jul. 11, 2001.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more municipal bonds issued by the first issuer comprise one or more municipal bonds that include a demand feature, and wherein the files managed by the issuer cabinet module comprise one or more files that include information related to one or more events that impair a holder'"'"'s ability to exercise the demand feature of one or more of the municipal bonds issued by the first issuer.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the list of users associated with money-market funds is defined at least in part by the first issuer via selection of users from a set of users presented to the first issuer by the communication module, and wherein at least a portion of the set of users presented to the first issuer includes one or more users that are not provided on an issuer-specific basis.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication module is configured to provide access to the second group of files to the list of users associated with money-market funds based on public disclosure of the first group of files by the disclosure module.

7. A computer-implemented method of managing files related to securities issued by securities issuers, the method comprising:

storing a list of users associated with money-market funds;

storing a plurality of files to electronic storage media, the plurality of files including files associated with individual ones of a plurality of securities issuers, wherein the plurality of files include a first group of files associated with one or more municipal bonds issued by a first issuer that must be disclosed to the public under a first set of one or more regulatory rules related to secondary market disclosures for municipal bonds, and a second group of files for which public disclosure is not mandatory under the first set of one or more regulatory rules but are relevant to an assessment as to whether the one or more municipal bonds issued by the first issuer qualify as eligible securities under a second set of one or more regulatory rules regulating the types of securities that can be held by money-market funds;

receiving from the first issuer, via a user interface provided to the first issuer on a client device, a selection indicating whether files associated with the first issuer should be included in the first group of files or the second group of files;

automatically publicly disclosing the first group of files by sending, over one or more computer networks, files from the first group of files to one or more computer systems associated with an entity that maintains secondary market disclosure data for municipal bonds and making files from the first group of files available to the public on a publicly available website; and

providing access to the second group of files to money-market fund users included in the list of users associated with money-market funds, such that the money-market fund users receive access to the second group of files without the second group of files becoming accessible to unauthorized users not included in the list of users associated with money-market funds.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

enabling the first issuer to define at least a part of the list of users associated with money-market funds.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the list of users associated with money-market funds is determined prior to receiving the selection from the first issuer indicating whether files associated with the first issuer should be included in the first group of files or the second group of files.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the first set of one or more regulatory rules includes SEC Rule 15 c2-12 as amended at 59 FR 59360, Nov. 17, 1994, and the second set of one or more regulatory rules includes SEC Rule 2a-7 as defined at 66 FR 36156, 36161, Jul. 11, 2001.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more municipal bonds issued by the first issuer comprise one or more municipal bonds that include a demand feature, and wherein the files that are (i) associated with the first issuer and (ii) relevant to an assessment as to whether the one or more municipal bonds issued by the first issuer qualify as eligible securities under the second set of one or more regulatory rules comprise one or more files that include information related to one or more events that impair a holder'"'"'s ability to exercise the demand feature of one or more of the municipal bonds issued by the first issuer.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein enabling the first issuer to define at least a part of the list of users associated with money-market funds comprises presenting a set of users associated with money-market funds to the first issuer via the user interface, and receiving one or more selections of users associated with money-market funds made by the first issuer via the user interface, and wherein at least a portion of the set of users presented to the first issuer are automatically included in sets of users presented to a plurality of issuers.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein providing access to the second group of files to the list of users associated with money-market funds is initiated automatically based on the public disclosure of the first group of files.

14. A computer-implemented, network-based system that manages files related to securities issued by securities issuers, the system comprising:

electronic storage that stores a list of users associated with money-market funds; and

one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the computer program modules comprising;

a storage module configured to store a plurality of files, the plurality of files including files that are associated with individual ones of a plurality of securities issuers;

an issuer cabinet module accessible by an issuer, the issuer cabinet module being configured to manage files from the plurality of files stored in the storage module that are (i) associated with the issuer, and (ii) relevant to an assessment as to whether municipal bonds issued by the issuer qualify as eligible securities under one or more regulatory rules regulating the types of securities that can be held by money-market funds; and

a communication module configured (i) to enable the issuer to select one or more of the files managed by the issuer cabinet module that are relevant to an assessment as to whether one or more of the municipal bonds issued by the issuer qualifies as an eligible security under the one or more regulatory rules, and (ii) to provide access to the selected one or more files to money-market fund users included in the list of users associated with money-market funds, such that the money-market fund users receive access to the selected one or more files without the selected one or more files becoming accessible to unauthorized users not included in the list of users associated with money-market funds.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the list of users associated with money-market funds is defined at least in part by the issuer.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more regulatory rules includes SEC Rule 2a-7 as defined at 66 FR 36156, 36161, Jul. 11, 2001.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the one or more municipal bonds issued by the issuer includes a demand feature, and wherein the selected one or more files include information related to the qualification of the demand feature as an eligible security under the one or more regulatory rules.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the list of users associated with money-market funds is defined at least in part by the issuer via selection of users from a set of users associated with money-market funds presented to the issuer by the communication module, and wherein at least a portion of the set of users associated with money-market funds presented to the issuer includes one or more users that are not provided on an issuer-specific basis.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the communication module is configured such that the list of users associated with money-market funds can be updated by a system administrator not associated with the issuer subsequent to definition of the list of users associated with money-market funds by the issuer.

20. A computer-implemented method of managing files related to securities issued by securities issuers, the method comprising:

storing a list of users associated with money-market funds;

storing a plurality of files in electronic storage media, the plurality of files including files associated with individual ones of a plurality of securities issuers;

receiving from an issuer, via a user interface provided to the issuer on a client device, a selection of one or more stored files associated with the issuer that are relevant to an assessment as to whether one or more municipal bonds issued by the issuer qualify as an eligible security under one or more regulatory rules regulating the types of securities that can be held by money-market funds; and

providing access to the selected one or more files to money-market fund users included in the list of users associated with money-market funds, such that the money-market fund users receive access to the selected one or more files without the selected one or more files becoming accessible to unauthorized users not included in the list of users associated with money-market funds.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

enabling the issuer to define at least a part of the list of users associated with money-market funds.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the list of users associated with money-market funds is determined prior to receiving the selection from the issuer of the one or more of the stored files.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more regulatory rules includes SEC Rule 2a-7 as defined at 66 FR 36156, 36161, Jul. 11, 2001.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein at least one of the one or more municipal bonds issued by the issuer includes a demand feature, and wherein the files that are associated with the issuer and relevant to an assessment as to whether the one or more municipal bonds issued by the issuer qualify as an eligible security under one or more regulatory rules include information related to one or more events that impair a holder'"'"'s ability to exercise the demand feature.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein enabling the issuer to define at least a part of the list of users associated with money-market funds comprises presenting a set of users to the issuer that are associated with money-market funds, and receiving one or more selections of users from the set of users associated with money-market funds from the issuer, and wherein at least a portion of the set of users presented to the issuer are automatically included in sets of users associated with money-market funds presented to a plurality of issuers.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising enabling a system administrator not associated with the issuer to update the list of users associated with money-market funds subsequent to definition of the list by the issuer.