The U.S. Treasury Department is forming a unit on state and local finance to coordinate its responses to developments in the country's $3.7 trillion municipal bond market, a Treasury spokesperson said on Thursday. According to the spokesperson, J.P. Morgan's Managing Director for Public Finance Northeast Region and Housing Groups Kent Hiteshew will become director of the new unit in May. Alongside liaising with state and municipal officials, the unit will monitor developments in the bond market and work on policies on public pensions. The unit, the establishment of which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, will also develop policies for other pressing issues that emerge. Nearly two years ago John Cross left his position as associate tax legislative counsel at Treasury, where he had spearheaded major municipal bond initiatives, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission's municipal securities office. Since then, Treasury has spread its municipal finance activities
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