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The Series 24 is the General Securities Principal Qualification Examination administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Passing it makes you a General Securities Principal, which is the broadest supervisory license available for broker-dealers. You can oversee registration, sales activities, trading, customer accounts, underwriting, investment banking activities, communications, and overall regulatory compliance. Most firms require at least one Series 24 principal on staff.
Think of the Series 24 as the master supervisor license that covers the whole brokerage operation, not just one part of it.
As a Series 24 principal, you can supervise most of the business lines at a broker-dealer. The license covers corporate securities including stocks and bonds, investment company products, variable contracts, government securities, direct participation programs, and real estate investment trusts. You can review and approve advertising, sales literature, and customer communications.
However, the Series 24 has specific gaps. It does not qualify you to supervise municipal securities activities. That requires the Series 53. It does not make you a Registered Options Principal. That requires the Series 4. It does not cover financial operations. That requires the Series 27. Many firms require principals to hold multiple licenses to fill these gaps.
The Series 24 exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions. You have three hours and 45 minutes to complete it. The passing score is 70%, meaning you need 105 correct answers. The exam fee is $175. You must be sponsored by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority member firm to register.
The exam covers five major content areas: supervision of registration and personnel management, supervision of investment banking, supervision of trading and market-making, supervision of retail sales and customer accounts, and regulatory compliance and financial responsibility.
To hold the Series 24 registration, you must first pass the Securities Industry Essentials exam and at least one representative-level qualification exam. The qualifying exams include the Series 7, Series 57, Series 79, Series 82, or Series 16 Supervisory Analyst examination. The representative-level exam you hold determines which supervisory activities you are qualified to oversee. A Series 24 principal whose only representative-level credential is the Series 79, for example, can supervise investment banking activities but is limited in supervising broader retail sales operations.
When a new broker-dealer registers with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, it must designate at least two qualified principals before it can commence business. One typically holds the Series 24 for general securities supervision. The other holds the Series 27 for financial operations oversight. Without both principals in place, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will not approve the firm's membership application.
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