Rule in Works to Make Bank Fund Salespeople Pass Broker Tests

The federal banking agencies are preparing to release a rule requiring bank mutual fund salespeople to pass the same tests as their counterparts at securities firms.

Richard Ashton, associate general counsel at the Federal Reserve, said Monday that the agencies have completed a draft rule. It must be reviewed by principals at the three agencies before being formally released, he said at the 14th Annual Banking Expansion Institute.

Industry officials praised the proposal, saying it is long overdue. "This will put bank employees on par with the employees of other mutual fund and securities firms," said Richard Whiting, general counsel of the Bankers Roundtable. "It should help the industry serve its customers better."

The proposal also should mitigate criticism from Congress and consumer groups that bankers are not subject to the same rules as nonbank brokers, he said.

Mr. Ashton said the agencies had been working on the proposal for two years.

The National Association of Securities Dealers has refused to let bankers take the Series Six and Series Seven exams, the broker licensing tests. But NASD officials agreed in 1994 to open the exam if the agencies passed a rule requiring all bank brokers to get the certification.

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