How to get a Series 79 license: sponsorship, the SIE, enrollment and keeping it

The registration covers the banker’s side of the desk. Under FINRA Rule 1220(b)(5), anyone at a member firm who advises on or facilitates debt or equity offerings, public or private, or M&A, tender offers and financial restructurings must be registered as an Investment Banking Representative.

What it does not cover is selling. Taking a deal on the road show and talking to investors directly needs a Series 7 or a Series 82 on top of the 79. The banker who builds the model and drafts the offering memo can live on the 79; the one who also pitches the book to buyers needs the second registration.

Two exceptions in Rule 1220(b)(5) matter in practice. A new hire in a training programme may do investment banking work for up to 6 months before registering, within 2 years of the programme’s start. And no registration is needed if your work is limited to direct participation program placements, private offerings under the Series 82 category, or sales and trading.

What the exam itself contains — 75 scored items, 150 minutes, three functions weighted 49/27/24 — is laid out on the Series 79 exam page. This page stays on the paperwork around it.

1. 01

   Pass the SIE

   Any time, no sponsor needed.

2. 02

   Join a member firm

   The registration only exists through a firm.

3. 03

   The firm files Form U4 in CRD

   It requests the Investment Banking Representative position; that filing opens your Series 79 enrollment.

4. 04

   The 120-day window opens

   From the enrollment date you have 120 days to sit the exam.

5. 05

   Book a seat with Prometric

   At a test centre, inside the window.

6. 06

   Pass the Series 79

   75 scored items plus 5 unscored pretest items, 150 minutes, a passing score of 73 on a scaled basis.

7. 07

   Registered

   With both the SIE and the 79 passed, the registration the firm requested on the U4 can take effect, and you may do the work in Rule 1220(b)(5).

The weak point is step 4. The window starts when the firm enrolls you, not when you feel ready, so have the material half-built before the U4 goes in. The study guide sets out the three functions and a prep plan; the free Series 79 practice test shows, function by function, where your answers drift; the front page has a four-item taster of the item style.

The Series 79 exam fee is currently $395 per FINRA (checked Oct 2026), as listed on FINRA’s Series 79 page. The SIE, which you also need, is currently $100 per FINRA (checked Oct 2026) on the SIE page. FINRA changes fees by rule filing, so check both pages before you budget.

Those two fees are FINRA’s whole charge for the license itself. The only extra it can add is a late change of date: rescheduling or cancelling inside the last 10 business days costs half the Series 79 fee or all of it, as the scheduling section above sets out. Prep materials are a separate budget line, and this page does not price them.

While you stay registered with a firm, the license lasts as long as you keep up continuing education. Under FINRA Rule 1240 (as of Oct 2026) that means the Regulatory Element every year by Dec 31, plus the firm’s own Firm Element training. If your first registration was on or after Jan 1, 2023, the first Regulatory Element is due by Dec 31 of the following calendar year.

Skipping the Regulatory Element does not end your career on the spot, but close to it: the registration goes inactive, you may not do registered work, and after 2 years inactive it is terminated.

Leaving the industry starts a different clock. Under Rule 1210, the Series 79 qualification lapses 2 years after your last registration ends; after that, coming back means sitting the exam again. The SIE runs on its own 4-year clock, counted from passing or from the last registration, whichever is later.

1. Day 0

   Registration ends

   The firm files Form U5. You can elect the MQP now or within 2 years.

2. 2 years

   Lapse without the MQP

   The Series 79 qualification expires; a return means a new exam.

3. Up to 5 years

   Outer limit with the MQP

   Annual CE keeps the qualification alive this long.

The Maintaining Qualifications Program (Rule 1240(c)) stretches that to up to 5 years after termination, provided you complete continuing education every year. You need at least 1 year of registration behind you, and you elect it when the Form U5 is filed or within 2 years afterwards. For a banker taking a few years out, that is an annual CE course instead of a second sitting of the 79.