EMMA Labs to be decommissioned

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the roughly $4 trillion municipal securities market's principal regulator, said it will be decommissioning its EMMA Labs website on June 30.

Launched in 2022, EMMA Labs was designed as a platform to enable the MSRB to engage with the industry and seek input on future technology initiatives. But with those goals achieved, it is now time to bid farewell to EMMA Labs, the MSRB said in a notice emailed yesterday to all registered users of the site.

"As MSRB completes the modernization of its technology systems, the decision to decommission the platform was driven by two key factors: the successful accomplishment of the goals of EMMA Labs and our continued commitment to prudently manage our financial resources," the notice said.

EMMA Labs has allowed the MSRB, in partnership with market participants, to test prototypes of potential enhancements to the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access website ? commonly known as EMMA ? and obtain industry feedback before committing funding for full development, the notice said.

"As a result of your feedback, MSRB ceased further investment in certain prototypes while other enhancements, such as the development of an obligor database and an advanced search engine for PDF disclosures, will be incorporated into the forthcoming redesign of the EMMA website," the notice said.

Some market participants said they were sad to see EMMA Labs go.

"RIP EMMA Labs," Puerto Rico Clearinghouse Principal Cate Long said in a June 23 post on X.

"I would add EMMA Labs had some very superior functionality including searching multiple official statements for specific terms and obligors," Long said in response to an email from The Bond Buyer asking what she liked about the soon-to-be-decommissioned website. "The current EMMA platform is rather clunky and not very intuitive for investors who are not familiar with the muni market."

The MSRB appreciates Long's feedback and all the other comments it has received from the industry, an MSRB spokesperson said.

"As a result, we are planning to incorporate an advanced search engine like the one on EMMA Labs in the redesigned EMMA website," the spokesperson said.

Funded and operated by the MSRB, the EMMA website offers free public access to municipal market information and interactive tools. The Securities and Exchange Commission has designated EMMA as the official source for municipal securities data and disclosure documents.

"The redesigned EMMA website and data platform release date has not yet been finalized, but we are targeting an early 2026 launch," the MSRB spokesperson said.