FINRA proposed amendments to the fees for the qualification examinations of broker-dealer representatives under FINRA's restructured qualification program. The program goes into effect on October 1, 2018. The rule change will amend Section 4(c) of Schedule A of the FINRA By-Laws to:
- establish a $60 fee for the new Securities Industry Essentials examination;
- reduce the fees for most of the revised representative-level exams; and
- remove references to examinations that FINRA is withdrawing under the new qualification program, including the Options Representative (Series 42), Corporate Securities Representative (Series 62) and Government Securities Representative (Series 72) examinations.
Commentary / Mark Highman
Beginning on October 1, 2018, individuals seeking to qualify as broker-dealer representatives for the first time will be required to pass the new Securities Industry Essentials ("SIE") examination together with the relevant representative-level examination applicable to the individual's securities activities (or obtain a waiver of these examination requirements). These revised examination requirements will also apply to individuals who require a representative-level qualification as a prerequisite to qualify as a supervisory principal. As the SIE will test individuals on general securities knowledge, these questions have been removed from the revised representative qualification examinations. FINRA is amending the fees for these exams accordingly.
As noted above, FINRA is removing certain examinations under the new qualification program. Individuals who currently hold these qualifications will be grandfathered in, so that they may continue to maintain their current registrations unless their registrations lapse. Individuals applying to register after October 1, 2018 to conduct these securities activities will generally be required to pass the SIE and the Series 7 (e.g., to conduct securities activities involving corporate securities, options, or government securities). Note also that beginning on October 1, 2018, individuals applying to register as research analysts will no longer be required to pass the Series 7 (General Securities Representative Exam).
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