Be aware: a mandatory qualification for back office workers in the US is creeping its way to the UK

Up to now, after the 2008 crash, the focus of regulators on improving the qualifications and professionalism within the financial services industry has largely been on those doling out the advice in the front office.

Now, however, a new mandatory exam rolled out in the US for those working in supervisory positions in the back office is likely to be a requirement for many operations professionals in the UK.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has created a new qualification exam for those working in investment banking operations roles called Series 99 (or S99 Operations Professional Examination/'Ops Plus'). Member firms had to identify "covered individuals" - namely senior managers or supervisors working in the back office who still had the ability to "materially commit capital" - by 17 October.

Over the course of the next 12 months, these employees are required to pass the Series 99 exam. It's mandatory, and it's a case of either taking Series 99, or ensuring that you've made it through some other relevant exam, including Series 6 or 7.

This is a US regulatory push, but a number of investment banks carry out operational functions related to their American business in the UK. Morgan Stanley, for example, has a significant operations division in Glasgow, as does BarCap, Citi and State Street have large Edinburgh offices, while J.P. Morgan employs more than 4,000 people in its operations centre in Bournemouth.

"Investment banks leverage the time advantage to manage some US operational functions from in the UK, the new registration will now be required for certain UK-based operations professionals with supervisory responsibility and firms are currently determining who needs to sit these Series 99 exams," says Stephen Barclay, vice president at Morgan Stanley in Glasgow and president of the CISI in Scotland.

So, what can you expect from this new exam? Thankfully, it shouldn't be too difficult for those with a number of years' industry experience.

It will test three areas: professional conduct and ethical considerations (ie, your knowledge of what would violate industry rules, regulatory red flags and data integrity); product and market knowledge (the basic definitions and characteristics of various asset types) and your understanding of issues related to specific operational functions (e.g. record-keeping requirements, transaction processing or procedures for making payments for securities).

In the operations sector, most industry qualifications have usually been encouraged, rather than enforced, so the new exams do represent something of a sea change.

"There are numerous qualifications available for those working in investment operations. At Morgan Stanley we strongly encourage our employees to take them for professional development and greater industry understanding, but up until now any study has been entirely voluntary," says Barclay.