Financial advisor candidates will need to pay more to take securities licensing exams beginning in June, the North American Securities Administrators Association announced.
After four years of steadyprices, broker and investment advisor candidates who take the Series 63 exam will be charged $115, up from $96. The Series 63 Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination is the state law test for broker-dealer representatives.
The Series 65 fee -- the Uniform Investment Advisor Law Examination for investment adviser representatives -- will be $155, up from $135.
The Series 66 fee will increase by $17 to $145. Passing the Series 66 -- the Uniform Combined State Law Examination -- qualifies individuals as if they had passed both the Series 63 and Series 65. However, to register as an investment advisor representative based on the Series 66, an individual must also have passed the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7 exam and the exam must be valid (i.e., not expired).
While we are sensitive to the expense to individuals taking these exams, our costs to maintain the exams have increased. We have absorbed these cost increases for the past four years to minimize expenses to those taking the exams, NASAA spokesman Bob Webster told Financial Planning. For example, each year a team of regulators and industry professionals meet to review and prepare questions for the exams. The costs for these review sessions has increased.
The exams, administered for NASAA by FINRA, are usually a prerequisite for a broker or investment advisor state license.
If passed and kept active, advisors are only required to complete the exams once. However, for an advisor who fails to pass the exam or leaves the business for more than two years, they must complete the exams multiple times.
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