(ANSI: New York) -- In a crackdown on what the Massachusetts Securities Division calls a marked increase in the use of purported professional designations targeting senior citizens, Massachusetts adopted in May the nation’s first senior financial designation regulations. By requiring investment advisers and broker-dealers for elderly Americans to prove that they have been properly trained and certified, the regulations protect senior investors from misleading titles and unethical business practices. Under the new law, Massachusetts will allow only credentials accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation agency. In an order recently issued by Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William F. Galvin, the American National Standards Institute received recognition to act as an accreditation organization under the new rules.

The regulations govern use of credentials and professional designations that use words such as “senior,” “retirement,” or “elder” in combination with “certified,” “adviser” or “specialist” to imply a special certification or training in advising or servicing investors over sixty-five.

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