Introduction
“The Series 99” … it sounds important and mysterious.
A new vehicle powered by human thought? A secret government program to end all secret government programs? A bio-engineered food that tastes like steak but is made out of old socks with holes in them?
More exciting and mysterious than any of those possibilities, the Series 99 is an exam that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) requires to ensure operations professionals in the securities industry “possess the knowledge needed to perform the critical functions of an operations professional, including customer on-boarding; financial control; receipt and delivery of securities and funds and account transfers; and collection, maintenance, reinvestment and disbursements of funds.”
FINRA licensing exams are not easy and your job may be riding on this exam, so for anyone reading this, know that FINRA says that if you hold any of the following registrations, you may qualify as an Operations Professional without taking the Series 99 exam:
- • Registered Options Principal (Series 4)
- • Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative (Series 6)
- • General Securities Representative (Series 7)
- • General Securities Sales Supervisor (Series 9/10)
- • Supervisory Analyst (Series 16)
- • United Kingdom Securities Representative (Series 17)
- • General Securities Principal (Series 24)
- • Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Principal (Series 26)
- • Financial and Operations Principal (Series 27)
- • Introducing Broker-Dealer Financial and Operations Principal (Series 28)
- • Canada Securities Representative (Series 37 or Series 38)
- • Municipal Fund Securities Limited Principal (Series 51)
- • Municipal Securities Principal (Series 53)
However, if you’re not lucky enough to have one of the above registrations already, you must first take and pass the Securities Industry Essential