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MSRB WEBINAR
The Pilot Municipal Advisor Representative
Qualification Examination
Hosted by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board | June 11, 2015
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• Gail Marshall
Associate General Counsel
• Michael Cowart
Assistant General Counsel
• Loretta Jones
Director, Professional Qualifications
MSRB Presenters
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• Jeanne Hartman
Senior Director, Operations Unit, Testing and Continuing
Education
• Andrew Strait
Manager, Client Services Unit, Testing and Continuing
Education
• Chris Brinkmann
Customer Service Coordinator III, Testing and Continuing
Education
FINRA Presenters
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Today’s Webinar Topics
I. The Pilot Series 50 Qualification Examination
II. The Series 50 Content Outline
III. The Enrollment Process to Take the Pilot Series 50
Qualification Examination
IV. Scoring the Pilot
V. Audience Questions
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• Q & A Chat Box
– Submit a question at any time
• Resources Menu
– Regulatory Notice 2015-06
– Series 50 Content Outline
– Sample Form U10
– Form U10 Instructions
– Webinar Presentation Slides
• Additional Widgets
– Feedback Questionnaire
– Speaker Biographies
– Webcast Help
Webcast Resources
About the MSRB
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About the MSRB
• A self-regulatory
organization created by
Congress in 1975
• Protects investors,
municipal entities and the
public interest
• Promotes a fair and
efficient municipal market
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Background
• Congress granted the MSRB its rulemaking authority in
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which was
amended by the Dodd-Frank Act
• Dodd-Frank Act expanded the MSRB’s jurisdiction to
include the regulation of municipal advisors and
municipal advisory activities
− Included a broad definition of municipal advisor
− Deemed municipal advisors to owe a fiduciary duty to their
municipal entity clients
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MSRB Municipal Advisor Rulemaking
Rule Latest Notice / Filings Rulemaking Status
Professional Qualifications
(Rules G-2, G-3 and D-13)
MSRB Notice 2015-04
Effective April 27, 2015
Supervision and
Compliance Obligations
(Rule G-44)
MSRB Notice 2014-19
Effective April 23, 2015
Core standards of conduct
(Rule G-42)
MSRB Executive Summary
SR-MSRB-2015-03
Filed April 24, 2015
Political Contributions
(Rule G-37)
MSRB Notice 2014-15
Preparing SEC rule filing
Gifts and gratuities
(Rule G-20)
MSRB Notice 2014-18
Preparing SEC rule filing
The Pilot
Series 50 Qualification Examination
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Municipal Advisor Qualifications and
Exam Eligibility Requirements
• Amendments to MSRB Rule G-3 require each municipal advisor
representative and municipal advisor principal to take and pass the
Series 50 Qualification Examination
• Municipal Advisor Representative – as defined under MSRB Rule
G-3(d) is any individual who engages in municipal advisory activities
on behalf of the municipal advisor
• Municipal Advisor Principal – as defined under MSRB Rule G-3(e)
is any individual who engages in the management, direction or
supervision of the municipal advisory activities of the municipal
advisor and its associated persons
• A candidate must be associated with a municipal advisor that is
registered with both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the
MSRB in order to register for the Series 50 Qualification Examination
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About the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination
• Registration for the pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination will be available in the coming months
• The pilot examination will be offered for a 30-day period
–The MSRB will announce the specific dates for the pilot in a
notice published on MSRB.org
• The examination is designed to test a candidate’s
general knowledge of the municipal advisory industry
and its regulatory requirements
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About the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination (continued)
• The pilot Series 50 Qualification Examination will consist
of 100 -125 multiple choice questions
–Each candidate will receive a unique examination
–Each candidate’s exam will cover the same content
• Four and one-half hours will be allotted for completing
the pilot Series 50 Qualification Examination
–30 minutes for a short tutorial covering exam administration
–240 minutes (i.e., 4 hrs.) for competing the 100-125 examination
questions
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About the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination (continued)
• Confidentiality:
Questions comprising the pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination are confidential, as are the questions in all
MSRB examination. Associated persons are prohibited
under MSRB Rule G-3(f) from disclosing questions or
answers to any questions
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About the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination (continued)
• The pilot Series 50 Qualification Examination will assist the
MSRB in validating the exam questions and determining the
passing score for the permanent examination
• Candidates should keep in mind:
–Select one of the four answer choices presented for each
question
–Answer each question, even if uncertain of the correct answer
–Each correct answer will be worth one point
• Any materials needed to complete the examination will be
provided by the testing center or within the examination itself
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About the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination (continued)
• Approximately three months after taking the pilot Series 50
Qualification Examination, candidates will receive a letter
from the MSRB notifying them of their examination results
• Candidates who successfully pass the pilot Series 50
Qualification Examination will be qualified as required
under MSRB Rule G-3
–These individuals will not have to take the permanent Series 50
Qualification Examination
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Series 50 Qualification Examination Content
Outline
• The content outline is intended to assist candidates in
preparing for the Series 50 Qualification Examination
• The “reference materials” section at the end of the content
outline contains a list of resources (available to a candidate)
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Series 50 Qualification Examination Content
Outline (continued)
Function Description Number of Questions
1 Understanding the SEC and MSRB Rules
Regarding Municipal Advisors
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2 Understanding Municipal Finance 35
3
Performing Issuer’s Credit Analysis and Due
Diligence 12
4 Structuring, Pricing and Executing Municipal
Debt Products
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5 Understanding Requirements Related to the
Issuance of Municipal Debt
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• Series 50 Qualification Examination questions cover the
following topics:
The Enrollment Process to Take the Pilot Series 50 Qualification Examination – Via the Form U10
Copyright 2015 FINRA 20
Why Use the Form U10?
￭ Typically used for non-CRD filers to request required
examinations
• But, for the pilot Series 50 Qualification Examination both non-dealer
municipal advisor professionals and dealer municipal advisor professionals
will use Form U10
￭ Allows municipal advisor professionals associated with an
MSRB registered municipal advisor to enroll for the pilot
Series 50 Qualification Examination
￭ Allows MSRB to administer the pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination without affecting CRD records
￭ Revised Form U10 will be released to accept Series 50 pilot
requests
Copyright 2015 FINRA
Accessing the Form U10
Step-by-step instructions online at:
http://www.finra.org/industry/formu10
• Payments accepted: credit card or ACH
– Request only if with a registered MSRB non-dealer municipal advisors and
dealer-municipal advisors
– Non-refundable and non-transferrable
￭ Ability to view a sample Form U10
￭ Firms or candidates may submit Form U10 online
• For forms submitted by a firm on behalf of the candidate, a separate user
account is required for each candidate
• If a candidate has previously submitted a Form U10, simply reuse the existing
user account
• If a candidate is new to submitting a Form U10, simply create a user account
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Create an Account - Register New User
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Register a New User
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Register a New User (continued)
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Submit a Form U10
￭ Access the site - http://www.finra.org/industry/formu10
￭ Select Submit Form U10 Online
￭ Enter user name/password
￭ Complete Form U10 in its entirety
• Section 1: Demographic information must be accurate and is required to link
exam results to CRD record
• Section 2: Firm information
• Section 3: Specify MSRB as sponsor
• Section 4: Request Series 50 in Section 4B
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Submit a Form U10 (continued)
￭ Payment must be submitted within 24 hours of
submission
￭ An email confirmation will be sent confirming receipt
of the Form U10 submission
￭ Within two business days, another email confirmation
will be sent notifying candidates of approval of the
30-day enrollment period
￭ Immediately upon receiving notification, an exam
appointment can be scheduled
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Schedule the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination
￭ Able to schedule with either testing vendor:
• Pearson VUE: www.pearsonvue.com/finra
• Prometric: www.prometric.com/finra
￭ Be conscious of the reschedule/late cancel policy
• http://www.finra.org/industry/reschedule-or-cancel-your-appointment
• To avoid a fee, reschedule at least 10 business days in advance
• If a candidate late cancels or no shows, they will forfeit the enrollment thus
unable to participate in the pilot examination
￭ Candidates requiring accommodations
• Must apply and be approved for accommodations prior to scheduling an
appointment http://www.finra.org/industry/special-accommodations
• Allow up to 10 business days for processing of accommodation forms
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Taking the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination
￭ Arrive at the testing center 30 minutes in advance of
scheduled examination time to complete check-in
￭ Pre-exam tutorial to explain exam administration
￭ Post-exam survey allows feedback on examination
experience
￭ Scoring the pilot
• Candidate’s results will not appear on the screen
• Individual score reports will not reflect exam results (candidates will receive
their scores at a later date from the MSRB)
• Scores will not immediately be sent to Web CRD
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Adding Registration to CRD – Dealer
Municipal Advisors
￭ FINRA anticipates that beginning in Q1 of 2016,
candidates associated with a dealer municipal advisor,
who passed the pilot examination will be able to have
the municipal advisor representative qualification
added to Web CRD
• A candidate’s failure of the pilot examination will not be posted to the
candidate’s CRD record
￭ To add the registration to a candidate’s Web CRD
record, submit a Form U4 Amendment to:
• Request the MSRB-MA registration (under Section 4); and
• Specify the date the exam was taken (under Section 7)
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Copyright 2015 FINRA
Adding Registration to CRD – Dealer
Municipal Advisors (continued)
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1. Section 4 – SRO Registration – Request the MSRB-MA registration
2. Section 7 – Examination Request (lower section) – Specify the pilot
Series 50 exam and date the it was taken
Participation in the
Pilot Series 50 Qualification Examination
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Participation in the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination
• Incentives for taking the pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination:
– If a candidate fails the pilot examination, the candidate will have to take and
pass the permanent Series 50 Qualification Examination. However, the MSRB
will waive the total examination fee for that candidate’s first enrollment to take
the permanent Series 50 Qualification Examination
– If a candidate fails the pilot examination, the failure will not count as one of the
three opportunities a candidate has to take and pass the permanent
examination before having to wait 6 months to re-take the examination, as
required under MSRB Rule G-3(f)
– If a candidate fails the pilot examination that failure will not be reflected on the
individual’s CRD record
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Participation in the Pilot Series 50 Qualification
Examination
VOLUNTEER!
Take the Pilot
Municipal Advisor Representative
Qualification Examination
(Series 50 Qualification Examination)
Click the “Email Updates” link on msrb.org to sign up to
receive details and updates about the pilot examination
process
Audience Questions
35
Contact Us
MSRB Online
msrb.org
emma.msrb.org
MSRB Support:
703-797-6668
Hours of Operation:
7:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. ET
MSRB Email Updates
– Subscribe at msrb.org
FINRA’s Candidate Services:
1-800-999-6647
Hours of Operation:
8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. ET
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