WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is postponing its municipal advisor principal pilot exam by a month to March 2019, hopeful that the move will give more MAs time to think about taking the voluntary pilot test.
Municipal advisor principals — individuals who supervise muni advisor activities at a firm — are required to take and pass a qualifying examination that will be rolled out at the conclusion of the voluntary pilot test. The board wanted to ensure municipal advisor principals had sufficient time to decide whether or not to participate in the pilot, MSRB President and CEO Lynnette Kelly said in a release.
“We want to ensure a successful pilot, and we did hear that, even with the 120 days to schedule the exam date after enrolling, some MAs wanted more time to consider whether to volunteer to enroll for the pilot exam,” said Gail Marshall, MSRB chief compliance officer.
The pilot enrollment period changed to March 4-15, 2019. The self-regulatory board is looking for volunteers to take the test until July 2019.
The requirement to take and pass the final Series 54 exam is important because under MSRB rules, a firm must have at least one principal. Sole practitioners already qualified as muni advisors will have to become qualified as principals.
The National Association of Municipal Advisors asked the MSRB to extend the pilot registration and testing period since there was a short time between the release of the content outline and the beginning of the pilot process, said Susan Gaffney, NAMA executive director.
“With the dates now moved to March, MAs will hopefully be able to acquire professional service test preparation materials prior to March 4 and prepare for the exam,” Gaffney said. “Many MAs successfully took the Series 50 Pilot exam and we anticipate that there will be a large audience who will want to take the Series 54 Pilot.”
The MSRB is hosting a webinar at 3 p.m. EST on January 24 to provide more information on the test and how to participate in the pilot. The board also anticipates publishing a Series 54 exam preparation resource so candidates can evaluate their readiness for the pilot and exam.
The permanent Series 54 exam will be available fall 2019. Muni advisor principals will have one year to take and pass the test. Those who take the exam during the pilot period will be qualified as a principal once the exam is made available in the fall.
The three and a half hour exam has 100 equally-weighted multiple choice questions divided into three categories — Understanding the Municipal Advisor Regulatory Framework, Supervising Municipal Advisory Activities and Supervising Municipal Advisor Firm Operations.
