MSRB Requests Comment on Continuing Education Proposal for Municipal Securities Dealers
The MSRB requested public comment on a proposal to require dealers to ensure that members of their staff primarily engaged in municipal securities business annually receive training in municipal securities.The proposed change to the continuing education requirements for dealers set out in MSRB Rule G-3 ("Classification of Principals and Representatives; Numerical Requirements; Testing; Continuing Education Requirements") would require a minimum of one hour of training focused on municipal securities for professionals primarily engaged in municipal securities activities. Currently, dealer firms are required to offer continuing education to their staff based on the firm's assessment of its overall needs, but there are no existing obligations under MSRB rules to provide targeted training on municipal securities to dealer personnel.
The MSRB also today provided notice of planned changes to two categories of municipal securities professional qualification. Upon approval by SEC, the MSRB would no longer require the "Financial and Operations Principal" designation since it is a requirement imposed on dealers by other regulators and therefore duplicative of other regulation. Also, those individuals who have been qualified to engage in municipal fund securities activities, such as sales of 529 college savings plans, by passing a Limited Representative examination, would only be permitted to engage in sales-related activity, pending SEC approval.