Is FINRA signaling concern over firm members meeting the new annual Regulatory Element CE deadline? It tends to feel that way. With less than five months left in the year, FINRA is delicately reminding firms and registered persons of their continuing education duties and what will happen if they fail to comply in time…
Upcoming Deadline
The regulation requires the completion of Regulatory Element training assessments before the deadline of December 31st. Individuals can find all assigned courses in their FinPro account.
Consequences for Non-Compliance
Registered representatives who fail to comply with the regulation will be automatically designated as CE inactive by FINRA until all necessary training materials are completed. An individual designated CE inactive is prohibited from performing, or receiving compensation for, any activities requiring registration while they remain in a CE inactive status. After two years of CE inactivity, the affected individual’s registration will be administratively terminated.
Regulation Background
The Regulatory Element is composed of online training courses on rule changes and other regulatory developments relevant to each registration category that a registered person holds. FINRA assigns courses to registered persons based on their active registrations and those courses are listed in, and must be completed through their FinPro account.
Along with their Regulatory Element course assignments for a particular year, FinPro provides individuals with information on the status of each course and a reminder of the course’s due date. Dropping or adding a registration may result in a change to the assigned courses included in a learning plan.
To read the official notice, click here.
