Press Releases

For Immediate Release
September 22, 2005

DFI Orders Licensing Exemption for Investment Professionals Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

(Madison) State securities regulators across the country are taking action to ease the burden of stockbrokers and investment advisers in dealing with their customers when one or the other is now temporarily relocated because of Hurricane Katrina. The Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), Division of Securities, has issued an order waiving the usual licensing requirement for any such broker-dealer, securities agent, investment adviser, or investment adviser representative who is staying in Wisconsin

According to DFI's Licensing and Compliance Bureau, the exemption is available only for pre-existing relationships with customers at the time of Hurricane Katrina, if the investment firms or individuals remain properly licensed in the states where they and their customers normally reside. Customers must be informed that their investment firm or individual is able to continue to provide services based on the exemption order rather than being Wisconsin-licensed.

These investment professionals may not solicit new customers in Wisconsin unless they become licensed under the Wisconsin Uniform Securities Law, and they are still subject to the anti-fraud provisions of the law.

The order also provides a securities registration exemption for securities that were qualified for sale in an investor’s home state but may not be otherwise qualified in Wisconsin.

The exemption will remain available, without the need to make any filings with the Division of Securities, until December 31, 2005.