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Contact: Jennifer A. Galloway, Chief Communications Officer
       202-838-1500
       jgalloway@msrb.org

MSRB PROPOSES PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS 
FOR MUNICIPAL ADVISOR PRINCIPALS

Washington, DC - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) is charged by Congress with establishing competency standards for municipal advisor professionals. Today, the MSRB filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a proposed rule change to amend MSRB Rule G-3, on professional qualification requirements, to enhance the professional qualification standards for municipal advisor professionals who act in a principal capacity at their firms.

The proposed amendments to Rule G-3, in part, will require municipal advisor principals to pass both the existing MSRB Municipal Advisor Representative Qualification Examination (Series 50) and a new Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54) to be appropriately qualified as a municipal advisor principal. Read the notice.

The establishment of a principal-level examination for municipal advisor professionals by the MSRB ensures that individuals who engage in the management, direction or supervision of the municipal advisory activities of a municipal advisor firm and its associated persons demonstrate a specified level of competence in order to promote compliance with the rules and regulations governing such activities.

The MSRB anticipates offering a pilot version of the Series 54 examination from February 2019 through June 2019. Any municipal advisor principal will be able to take the pilot exam during the pilot period. Thereafter, when the permanent version of the Series 54 examination becomes available, all municipal advisor principals will have one year to become appropriately qualified by taking and passing the exam.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) protects and strengthens the municipal bond market, enabling access to capital, economic growth, and societal progress in tens of thousands of communities across the country. The MSRB fulfills this mission by creating trust in our market through informed regulation of dealers and municipal advisors that protects investors, issuers and the public interest; building technology systems that power our market and provide transparency for issuers, institutions, and the investing public; and serving as the steward of market data that empowers better decisions and fuels innovation for the future. The MSRB is a self-regulatory organization governed by a board of directors that has a majority of public members, in addition to representatives of regulated entities. The MSRB is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress.

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