As of January 1, 2022, three states have adopted NASAA’s Model Rule on Investment Adviser Representative Continuing Education: Mississippi, Vermont, and Maryland. Investment adviser representatives registered in one of more of these states must complete twelve credit hours of investment adviser representative continuing education (“IAR CE”) in 2022.

Does IAR CE Apply to Me?

If you are registered as an investment adviser representative (“IAR”) in Mississippi, Vermont, and/or Maryland, you must complete twelve hours of IAR CE in 2022, with at least six hours in Products and Practices and six hours in Ethics and Professional Responsibility. The requirement remains in effect even if an investment adviser representative’s home state has not adopted an IAR CE requirement. In that case, the investment adviser representative would follow the IAR CE rule(s) of the state or states where he or she is registered. For more information, view our IAR CE FAQs.

Any state that adopts the Model IAR CE Rule in 2022 will require compliance no earlier than 2023. Currently, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Michigan have proposed an IAR CE rule but have not yet adopted a final rule. It is our understanding that Michigan expects to finalize the adoption of its IAR CE rule in 2022; similarly, the proposed Wisconsin investment adviser representative continuing education rule remains in Wisconsin’s legislative process.

Where Do I Find IAR CE?

RIA Compliance Consultants is an approved IAR CE provider and is developing an extensive catalogue of investment adviser representative continuing education courses taught by our in-house experts in investment adviser compliance: Bryan Hill, President of RIA Compliance Consultants, and Jarrod James, Senior Vice President and Senior Compliance Consultant at RIA Compliance Consultants. New courses will be added throughout the year.ⁱ We currently plan to announce approximately twelve new courses in 2022 at the anticipated rate of one new course per month.

How Do I Report My IAR CE Credits?

When you successfully complete a course in our IAR CE program at www.ce4advisers.com, we will report your attendance to FINRA and provide you with a completion certificate. Investment adviser representatives and firms can monitor IAR CE progress throughout the year using the FINRA Gateway. However, it is still important for each IAR to verify that all credits have been recorded by FINRA and to maintain copies of completion certificates in their books and records. At the end of the year, each IAR’s registration renewal will reflect whether the representative successfully completed the minimum required credit hours of investment adviser representative continuing education.

How Much Does IAR CE Cost?

On an a la carte basis, a customer can purchase a one hour IAR CE course from RIA Compliance Consultants via www.ce4advisers.com for $20, which entitles one student to twelve months of access to the purchases course. You can purchase courses individually or buy a bundle to cover all the investment adviser representatives at your investment adviser firm.

Stay tuned for our new Annual Compliance Program packages which will include a certain number of IAR CE course hours. If your investment adviser firm is not yet an Annual Compliance Program client, set up an introductory call with our Business Development Team.

IAR CE Purchase Disclosures

Price listed is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change. The course fee includes the IAR CE processing fee charged by FINRA. Each student must purchase a separate course. Purchased courses are non-refundable and expire after twelve months regardless of whether the student has successfully completed the course. Visit our continuing education site at www.ce4advisers.com to view the Refund Policy.

General Disclosure

The information contained in this blog post is general in nature, intended for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of this topic. It is not intended to constitute compliance consulting advice or apply to any particular investment adviser firm’s specific situation. Please consult the applicable securities regulator’s rules and published guidance for more details about the topics referenced above. For more information about the limitations of this blog post and information on our website, please see our Disclosures webpage.

ⁱSubject to approval by Prometric, the course management vendor selected by NASAA. Approval of a course by Prometric means that a course meets NASAA’s minimum course requirements and is eligible for IAR CE credit. It does not indicate endorsement by Prometric, NASAA, or any particular securities regulator.

Investment Adviser Representative CE Requirements Are in Effect for 2022

January 20, 2022

Reading time : 5 minutes