In knowledge check 5.9 of Unit 5, Municipal Securities, I am asked the final question:
A violation of MSRB rules would occur if:
- a registered representative recommended geographic diversification to limit risk.
- an associated person held a joint account with a spouse.
- a representative made a recommendation after gathering customer financial information
- a representative gave a gift valued at $350 to a person in a position to direct municipal business (correct answer).
The explanation is as follows, "Under MSRB Rule G-20, gifts are limited to $300 per person per year to any person in a position to direct municipal securities business. A $350 gift exceeds this limit and violates the rule".
I was able to sniff out the right answer since my understanding was gifting limits are not to exceed $100 per year. It turns out FINRA just increased this to $300 as of March 30th, 2026, but not the MSRB which the unit is focused on. The current MSRB Rule G-20 is still showing $100 as of today. Not to mention the fact that Rule G-20 is not even covered in my Kaplan S7 book (3rd edition). Am I losing it!? I thought maybe this was a play on words granted that the recipient is "in a position to direct municipal securities business", but I would think that would restrict gifting even further. Losing confidence in Kaplan as I seem to find more rules/info that is not covered despite knowledge questions stating so.