Approved IAR CE Courses

Investment Adviser Representative: Overview of Alternative Investments provides an overview ofalternative investments and the elements that investment adviser representatives must consider, including their risks, time horizons, investment minimums, fees, suitability/best interest assessmentsand investor goals and perspectives. Since alternative investments are more lightly regulated by theSEC than traditional investments, are complex products, and have a relative lack of liquidity, manyalternative investment assets are considered appropriate only for institutional investors or the accredited, high-net-worth individuals considered capable of evaluating them. Many alternative investments also have high minimum investments and fee structures as compared to mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). IARs have a fiduciary duty and an enhanced need tounderstand these complex investments to best serve customers.

We expect technology to make things easier by doing the work for us'but ethical issues can behidden when humans are taken out of the loop. Because what is right or wrong in the securities industry is still right or wrong, regardless of the tools you use. Even in this wild west era of Artificial Intelligence, the SEC has tools to enforce AI-related misconduct even without adoption of AI-specific SEC rules. And while ignorance of developing law is no excuse, compliance becomes moredifficult because the very nature of AI is its inscrutability. This means, for IARs, an enhanceddiligence towards compliance when using artificial intelligence is an ethical requirement and partof your fiduciary duty to clients. This course, The Ethics of AI steps through what AI is, how itlearns, how it can perform in the financial services industry, and, ultimately, how human advisersare ethically responsible on several levels for the outcome of this mysterious but fully real tool they are using to enhance business. It ends with a recent action against IA firms for 'AI whitewashing.'

Investment advisers and their representatives take on specific obligations in helping customers workthrough the bewildering range of investment offerings. Under the SEC's Investment Advisers Act of1940 and even state rules and regulations, an investment adviser registered under the '40 Act must adopt a Code of Ethics to establish the business conduct standards expected of the IA's supervisedpersons. The Code should reflect the investment adviser's fiduciary obligations to its investment advisory clients and require compliance with the federal securities laws. Many states have similarethical requirements. This course examines the expected and ideal behavior demonstrated by the investment advisers who put their clients first and uphold the standards of the profession-as well asscenarios that reveal the disappointing and unethical behavior of those who fail their fiduciary obligations. This course is not to supersede any firm's Code of Ethics but examines the origin ofof the responsibilities IAs assume when working with clients.

To be most effective, investment adviser representatives must understand human psychology as well as the markets. Traditionally, IARs are taught to head off issues that may arise by uncovering a client's risk tolerance early in the financial planning process so they do not make recommendations that trigger risk-related objections. But there is another factor'the individualclient's unconscious beliefs about money. Working with a client's financial biases means being able to recognize, interpret, and ethically respond to and counterbalance these cognitive shortcuts thatcan negatively influence client decision making. This short, half-credit ethics course is designed tofamiliarize IARs with the financial biases that may be at work in clients and lists practical, respectful methods of addressing them.

Ethical Business Practices & the Modernized SEC IA Marketing Rule provides an overview of theInvestment Advisers Act of 1940, Advertising Rule 206(4)-1. The course explains the SEC's new Marketing Rule, including testimonials and performance advertising and the NASAA Model Rule 102(a)(4)-1 on Unethical Business Practices of Investment Advisers, Investment Adviser Representatives, and Federal Covered Advisers. While this Marketing Rule provides more flexibility to advisers in communicating with prospective clients and investors, the SEC makes itclear that advisers may not present unethical, false, misleading, deceptive, or unbalanced advertisements. The Marketing Rule imposes additional specific obligations on IAs when it comes to compliance with advertising rules, including appropriate due diligence and verification of claims, creation of additional policies and procedures, heightened disclosures, and maintenance ofnew books and records. The course details the specific definitions used in the act, the scenarios inwhich they are applicable, and uses case studies to underscore the regulatory response to breaking*** continued on timed outline