[ by Howard Haykin ] FINRA issued a reminder to member firms that any person identified by the member firm as a "Day-One Operations Professional," who must pass the Series 99 or other appropriate qualification examination to qualify as an Operations Professional, must do so on-or-before 10/17/12.  When scheduling the exam, should keep in mind that there are waiting periods between exam attempts - as per NASD Rule 1070(e).  Such waiting periods apply to all FINRA qualification examinations, including the Series 99 examination. And how long are the waiting periods?  An associated person who fails to pass a qualification exam has to wait at least 30 calendar days before retaking the exam.  There are no exceptions or waivers to this rule. Member firms and Day-One Professionals should consider these waiting periods when scheduling exam dates for Day-One Professionals to ensure they meet the October 17, 2012 deadline. Refer to the Qualifications Web page for further details. Regulatory Notice 11-33:  Governing the Standards for Ops Professionals. FINRA requires certain individuals who are engaged in, responsible for or supervising certain member firm operations functions to register as an Operations Professional and pass the Series 99 or other appropriate qualification exam. Day-One Operations Professionals ... are those persons identified by a member firm as an Operations Professional as of 10/17/11.  They must pass the Series 99 or other appropriate qualification examination to qualify as an Operations Professional on or before 10/17/12. Failure to Complete Series 99 Exam by 10/17/12. Those who are still not registered by the deadline, must cease functioning as an Operations Professional on 10/17, and may not resume those functions until he or she passes the Series 99 exam (or another exam associated with an eligible registration). For further information, go to:   [FINRA CRD Announements, 7/31/12] and ... [FINRA Guide to Operations Professional Qualification Exam] and [FINRA Regnote11-33].