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The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, or  MSRB, is seeking comment on draft amendments to its professional qualification rules to establish requirements for municipal advisors and their associated persons. The draft amendments would set professional qualification standards for municipal advisor professionals and require municipal advisors and their associated persons engaging in municipal advisory activities to be qualified in accordance with MSRB rules.

Currently, MSRB Rule G-3 establishes the classifications and qualification requirements for associated persons of dealers. The draft amendments would add new registration classifications for municipal advisors under Rule G-3: (a) municipal advisor representatives – for those who engage in municipal advisory activities; and (b) municipal advisor principals – for those who engaged in the management, direction or supervision of the municipal advisory activities of the municipal advisor and its associated persons. The draft amendments would require each prospective municipal advisor representative to take and pass the municipal advisor representative qualification examination prior to being qualified as a municipal advisor representative. The MSRB will consider at a later date a qualification examination for municipal advisor principals. If such an examination is proposed, it is expected that each municipal advisor principal would, as a prerequisite, be required to take and pass the municipal advisor representative qualification examination before taking the municipal advisor principal qualification examination.

To provide for an orderly implementation of the proposed changes to MSRB Rule G-3, the MSRB proposes a one-year grace period for individuals currently engaged in municipal advisory activities to take and pass the municipal advisor representative qualification exam. The proposed qualification standards do not include any apprenticeship requirements.

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