Maintaining Qualifications Program

FINRA has amended the CE rules to provide that beginning March 15, 2022, eligible individuals who terminate any representative or principal registration category have the option of maintaining their qualification for the terminated registration category beyond the current two-year qualification period by completing annual CE through a new program, the MQP. MQP participants will have a maximum of five years following the termination of a representative or principal registration category to reregister without having to re-qualify by examination or having to obtain an examination waiver, subject to satisfying the conditions of the MQP.

Annual Regulatory Element for Each Registration Category

FINRA’s CE rule amendments also require that, beginning January 1, 2023, registered persons complete the Regulatory Element annually by December 31 of each year that they are registered for each representative or principal registration category that they hold. In conjunction with this change, FINRA has developed tailored Regulatory Element content that is specific to each registration category. To provide firms with sufficient time to review the Regulatory Element topics for each upcoming year, FINRA and the CE Council will publish the topics by no later than October 1 of the prior year.