April 4, 2022

In February, Wisconsin announced that it had adopted a rule requiring continuing education (CE) for all investment adviser representatives (IARs) registered in Wisconsin.  The rule is consistent with the model CE rule adopted by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) in November 2020.  Several states have already adopted NASAA’s model rule and many more are currently in the process of doing so.  Wisconsin’s CE requirements are effective January 1, 2023, meaning required CE must first be performed during calendar year 2023.

Under Wisconsin’s new rule, IARs registered in Wisconsin must attain 12 CE credits per year to maintain their IAR registration.  6 of the 12 credits must be ethics and professional responsibility courses (ethics, duties and obligations to clients, fiduciary duty) and the remaining 6 must relate to products and practices (investment products, strategies, standards, compliance practices). We’d expect that Wisconsin will provide more information to those currently registered as IARs, but in the meantime NASAA has published helpful FAQs on its website.