The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is gearing up to move on two measures — qualification exams and its elder fraud rule, the self-regulator's chief legal officer, Robert Colby, said Tuesday.
Speaking on a panel at FINRA's annual conference in Washington, Colby said that FINRA is "on the verge" of making changes to broker qualification exams and plans to file soon with the Securities and Exchange Commission its rule to allow brokers to delay disbursement of funds if elder fraud is suspected.
Colby said that FINRA plans to "split" the Series 7 exam into two levels – basic and specialized. The basic course can be taken by "anyone," he said, "you don't have to be [a broker] to take it." The specialized exam track would be taken by someone "who wants to do business" such as a trader or a broker working in "general securities."
Colby said FINRA also plans to ask the SEC to give license holders more time in maintaining their securities licenses if they leave the U.S. brokerage business.
