Proposed Amendments to Qualification Examination Fees in Section 4(c) of Schedule A to the FINRA By-Laws

Examination Fees

Proposed Implementation Date: January 2, 2009¹

Executive Summary

FINRA has filed with the SEC a rule change proposing to increase certain qualification examination fees to reflect the rising costs of developing, administering and delivering such examinations.² Pending SEC approval of the amendments to Section 4(c) of Schedule A to the FINRA By-Laws, the new fees will become effective on January 2, 2009. FINRA is issuing this Notice to alert member firms about this proposed fee change to assist in firms' budget planning processes. The text of Section 4(c) of Schedule A to the FINRA By-Laws,³ as amended, is set forth in Attachment A of this Notice.

Questions concerning this Notice should be directed to John C. Kalohn, Associate Vice President, Testing and Continuing Education Department, at (240) 386-5800.

Background & Discussion

Any person associated with a member firm who is engaged in the securities business of the firm must register with FINRA. As part of the registration process, securities professionals must pass a qualification examination to demonstrate competence in each area in which they intend to work. These mandatory qualification examinations cover a broad range of subjects on the markets, products, a person's responsibilities in a given position, securities industry rules and the regulatory structure. Some qualification examinations are sponsored (i.e., developed) solely by FINRA while others are sponsored by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the National Futures Association (NFA), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), other self-regulatory organizations (SROs) or jointly among these entities.⁴

FINRA administers qualification examinations via computer through the PROCTOR^® system⁵ at test centers operated by vendors under contract with FINRA. FINRA charges an examination fee to candidates for FINRA-sponsored and co-sponsored examinations. For qualification examinations sponsored by a FINRA client and administered/delivered by FINRA, FINRA charges a delivery fee that represents either a portion of or the entire examination fee for a particular examination.⁶

Each year, FINRA conducts a comprehensive review of the examination fee structure, including an analysis of the costs of developing, administering and delivering qualification examinations. FINRA's 2008 review revealed that certain operational costs have increased and will continue to increase over the next few years. In particular, these costs consist of: (1) the cost of providing the extensive network of test delivery centers; and (2) technology costs required to maintain the PROCTOR^® system. As a result of these rising costs, FINRA has proposed to increase certain qualification examination fees, effective January 2, 2009 (pending SEC approval), with no single examination increasing more than $20.

Specifically, examination fees would be increased as follows:

The new fees would apply to persons who register for one of these examinations beginning on January 2, 2009. Specifically, the fees would apply for "120-day examination windows" opened in the CRD^® on or after January 2, 2009.

¹ Pending approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

²See SR-FINRA-2008-053.

³ Schedule A sets forth examination fees for those examinations that are sponsored or co-sponsored by FINRA and/or that may be required by FINRA for its members.

⁴ For example, FINRA administers and delivers the Series 6, 24 and 27 examinations, which are sponsored by FINRA. FINRA also administers and delivers client-sponsored examinations, such as the Series 9 and 10, which are sponsored jointly by several SROs (NYSE Alternext US LLC (NYSE Alternext) (formerly American Stock Exchange), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), MSRB, FINRA, NYSE Arca, Inc. (NYSE Arca) (formerly Pacific Stock Exchange, Inc.) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX, Inc. (Phlx) (formerly Philadelphia Stock Exchange)).

⁵ PROCTOR^® is a technology system that supports computer-based testing and training.

⁶ FINRA administers and delivers examinations sponsored by NASAA, MSRB, NYSE Alternext, NFA and NYSE Arca that, while not required by FINRA rules, are taken by persons associated with FINRA members to obtain certain licenses. Fees for the following examinations developed by these sponsors will also be adjusted effective January 2, 2009, as follows:

Attachment A

Below is the text of the proposed rule change. Proposed new language is underlined; proposed deletions are in brackets.

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Schedule A to the By-Laws of the Corporation

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Section 4—Fees

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