On September 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule proposal filed by Cboe Exchange, Inc. (CBOE) related to the registration categories and qualification examinations required for Trading Permit Holders and associated persons that engage in trading activities on CBOE (Proposal).

In light of FINRA’s adoption of the Securities Industry Essentials Examination (SIE), which is a general knowledge examination that all new representative-level applicants will need to take as of October 1 (Implementation Date), CBOE proposed a rule change that would require new applicants seeking to register with CBOE in a representative capacity as of the Implementation Date to pass the SIE. To be eligible for such registration, an individual also must be associated with a firm, pass an appropriate qualification examination for a representative or principal, and satisfy certain other requirements. (For additional information regarding the SIE, please refer to the January 26, 2018 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.)

In addition, CBOE proposed to adopt Interpretation and Policy .09 of Rule 3.6A and Interpretation and Policy .02 of Rule 9.3 to provide individuals acting as associated persons of firms who hold foreign registrations an alternative process to obtain a representative-level registration with CBOE. CBOE believes there is sufficient overlap between such foreign qualification requirements and the SIE to permit an exemption from the SIE requirement.

The new rule will go into effect on October 1, to coincide with the Implementation Date.

The Release is available here.

The Proposal is available here.