Regulatory Element CE
Effective January 1, 2023, all registered persons are required to complete FINRA’s Regulatory Element CE by December 31st each year. This represents a change to FINRA’s previous approach to CE as it replaces the previous 3-year anniversary requirement with an annual one. Note that, to ensure compliance with the rule, member firms may set different deadlines based on their business requirements. Accordingly, ESI will require that RRs complete their Regulatory CE by November 30th, each year.
Under the new program, participants will receive content that is specifically tailored to each representative or principal registration category they hold.
Newly-registered representatives will be subject to the annual CE requirement starting with the next calendar year after the year in which they pass their initial registration exam. For example:
- An individual passes their initial registration exam in July 2023.
- They must complete their first Regulatory CE in 2024 (with a November 30, 2024 deadline).
ESI will place individuals who fail to complete their Regulatory Element by the November 30th deadline on “CE Inactive” status with the Firm. “CE Inactive” means you will not be able to submit new business and commissions will be suspended until you fulfill your CE requirement. If you remain CE Inactive for 30 calendar days, your ESI registration may be terminated.
Firm Element CE
Also effective with the Rule, all registered persons are subject to the annual Firm Element CE requirement. This is a change in that, under the previous Rule, Firm Element CE was, effectively, limited to affiliated persons who were client-facing and their supervisors. The new Rule expands the requirement to all registered persons, irrespective of their role. This change will generally impact home office employees who may have previously been exempted from the requirement based on their role and responsibilities.
ESI’s Firm Element CE program will continue to follow its current, historical timeline (i.e. due February 28th, annually). However, the population of individuals subject to Firm Element CE will be expanded to comply with the new Rule.
Resources
You can track your personal CE status from your FinPro account. If you haven’t already registered with FinPro, you can do so https://finpro.finra.org/registerUser/. Existing FinPro users can log in at https://finpro.finra.org.
Additional FINRA CE resources can be found at:
Continuing Education (CE) | FINRA.org
Securities Industry CE Transformation | FINRA.org
Questions
Questions regarding this notice may be directed to ESI Licensing at esi_licensing@nationallife.com or Misty Dodson at mdodson@nationallife.com.
TC131573(0223)1