Most of the attention this year has gone to new candidates and which of the nine exams they need. Meanwhile a quieter group has a deadline that ends in an automatic suspension, and a choice that may already have been made for them.
If you were approved as an RR-securities before January 1, 2026 and you still owe a post-approval requirement, this one is yours.
The 30-month clock you already had
Under the rules in force before this year, an RR approved in the securities stream had to clear the Wealth Management Essentials course after approval. From CIRO's transition guidance:
"An individual approved as an RR-securities, prior to January 1, 2026, would need to complete the WME post-approval requirement within 30-months of approval."
That clock didn't stop when the new proficiency model arrived. It carried over, and subsection 2629(2) gave the people on it a choice.
The choice CIRO gave you
"RRs that are required to complete the WME course as of December 31, 2025, may choose to either complete:
- the WME by their required completion date or December 31, 2026, whichever date is earlier as prescribed under the rules that were in effect prior to January 1, 2026, or
- the Retail Securities Exam by their completion date prescribed under the rules that were in effect prior to January 1, 2026."
Two routes to the same place. Read the dates carefully, because they aren't the same:
| Route | Deadline |
|---|---|
| WME | your 30-month date or December 31, 2026, whichever is earlier |
| RSE | your 30-month date, with no year-end ceiling |
If your 30-month date lands in, say, August 2027, the WME route drags it forward to December 31, 2026. The RSE route leaves it where it is. For a chunk of people that difference is eight months of breathing room.
The part that may have already decided it for you
Here's the sentence to check yourself against:
"An important reminder, that if an RR is choosing to complete the WME through the CSI, they must enroll in the course prior to January 1, 2026, as required in subsection 2629(1). The CSI is not obligated to offer CIRO any course enrollments after that date."
That date has passed. If you hadn't enrolled in the WME by New Year's Day, the WME column of that table is closed to you, and the guidance says what happens next:
"Otherwise, they will be required to complete the Retail Securities Exam by their post-approval due date."
So a meaningful number of RRs are walking around believing they have a WME to do at some point, when the requirement sitting against their name is now the RSE. Nobody sends a letter about this. It's one sentence in a guidance note published in April 2025, about a door that shut quietly nine months later.
Worth ten minutes to confirm which side of it you're on.
What happens if the date passes
The same guidance, without softening:
"If an individual does not complete their post-approval requirement by their completion date, they would be automatically suspended of their RR-securities retail approval status."
Automatic, and specific — it's your retail approval that goes. And as with the conduct training deadline, the filing is someone else's job: "Dealers are required to notify CIRO on the completion of the RRs post-approval requirement by their required completion due date." Clearing the requirement and having it reported are two different events, and only one of them is in your hands.
Three things to do this week
- Find your approval date and add 30 months. That's your real deadline, and it's probably not a date you've ever written down. Your dealer's registration team has it.
- Confirm whether you enrolled in the WME before January 1, 2026. If you did, your deadline is that 30-month date or December 31, 2026, whichever comes first — and December is closer than it looks. If you didn't, your requirement is the RSE.
- Ask who files the completion, and when. Get a name. "Compliance will handle it" is how people end up suspended holding a certificate.
If it's the RSE, here's the shape of it
The RSE is a single proctored exam: 120 questions, 3 hours, $475 for a first attempt, with a published syllabus and no mandatory coursework. The preparation is entirely yours to organise, which is a gift if you're disciplined and a trap if you're not.
It also carries a different weight distribution from anything you studied for the CSC. Nine elements, unevenly loaded, with the client-facing material carrying most of the exam. We've written up the full breakdown in What is the RSE?, the honest difficulty picture in Is the RSE Hard?, and a weights-first study plan in How to Pass the RSE.
One advantage you have over a brand-new candidate: you've been doing this job. A lot of the RSE is suitability, KYC and client-conversation judgment, which reads very differently to someone who has sat across from actual clients than it does to someone who has only read about them.
The short version
- RR-securities approved before January 1, 2026 carry a 30-month post-approval requirement.
- You may complete the WME (by your due date or December 31, 2026, whichever is earlier) or the RSE (by your due date).
- The WME route required enrolling through CSI before January 1, 2026. That date has passed.
- If you didn't enrol in time, CIRO's guidance says the requirement is the Retail Securities Exam.
- Missing your completion date is an automatic suspension of your RR-securities retail approval.
- Your dealer reports the completion. Confirm they have, by name.
If the RSE is where you've landed, start with a free readiness check to see which elements actually need your evenings.
Quotes come from CIRO's Guidance Note on the new Proficiency Model for Approved Persons of Investment Dealers — Exemptions, Recognition, Transition and Validity Provisions (17 April 2025), sections 3.5.1 and 3.5.2, and subsection 2629(2). Checked 13 October 2026. Your approval date and completion deadline are specific to you — confirm both with your dealer's registration team before acting on anything here.
