State Securities Regulators to Hike Exam Fees for Series 63, 65 and 66

–Series 66, $145, currently $128.

While these exams, if passed and kept active, need only be completed once by an advisor, David Bellaire, executive vice president & general counsel for the Financial Services Institute, says that the fees "would be paid multiple times by those who fail to pass the exam and those who leave the business for more than two years and decide to rejoin."

Says Bellaire: "Any increase in fees in this economy concerns us. While these are not large increases, continued incremental increases in fees could reduce investor access to professional financial advice."

Jonathan Henschen, president of Henschen & Associates, a broker-dealer recruiting firm, notes that "with the shift to more and more advisors" performing advisory services, "it makes sense that [NASAA] would raise the costs in that one area. Having gone four years without raising the fees, it makes sense that they'd be doing it now."

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More about NASAA on AdvisorOne:

• NASAA Sounds Alarm on Private Placement Offerings
• NASAA's Advocacy Agenda: Advisor Regulation, Fiduciary Duty, Arbitration
• NASAA to Push SEC User Fees, 'Stay On Guard' Against FINRA SRO