The MSRB is in the process of establishing minimum professional qualifications for municipal advisors as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This process started in October 2010 when the MSRB began conducting outreach events and focus groups to gather input from municipal advisors and others about the development of a professional qualification examination to assess the competency of entry-level municipal advisors.
The MSRB subsequently organized a municipal advisor examination working group to consider all comments received by the MSRB, assess commonalities in municipal advisory activities, provide additional input and draft a content outline for an examination. The MSRB expects to survey registered municipal advisors in 2012 about the proposed examination content and use the results of the survey to determine how content will be represented in the examination. This survey will be conducted after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) establishes a final definition of “municipal advisor” to ensure municipal advisors have a full opportunity to participate in the professional qualification development process.
The content outline will be considered by the MSRB Board of Directors and, if approved, filed with the SEC. Once adopted, the municipal advisor examination content outline will provide the basis for examination preparation. At the time the outline is approved by the SEC, the MSRB will also announce the effective date for the municipal advisor professional qualification exam.
Registered municipal advisors interested in participating in the examination content survey should send their contact information (name, company, address, email) to PQMailbox@msrb.org. Please include “municipal advisor survey” in the subject line. As the MSRB is still in the initial phases of drafting the outline, municipal advisors may continue to submit comments to the email address listed above.