NASAA Archives - Page 3 of 4 - MasterCompliance

Form ADV

Posted on March 22, 2021April 14, 2021 by admin

Form ADV is the uniform form used by investment advisers that manage at least $25 million in assets to register with both the SEC and state securities authorities. The Form ADV is divided into 3 parts. Part 1 is a fill-in-the blank form that contains information about the investment advisory business and how it operates. Part 2 is a brochure in narrative form that include plain English disclosures of the adviser’s business practices, fees, conflicts of interest, and disciplinary information. The last part is Part 3, which contains the relationship summary, which investment advisers are required to deliver to retail investors that discloses certain information about the firm.

State Exemptions from Investment Adviser Registration

Posted on March 12, 2021March 12, 2021 by admin

For an investment adviser to qualify for an exemption from state registration, they have to either meet an exemption under the Investment Act of 1940, be a federal covered adviser, or be registered with the SEC. The Dodd-Frank Act has created 3 thresholds for investment advisers based of their assets under management (“AUM”) as well as some more general exclusions, all of which provide advisers the ability to register with the SEC.

Change to New York IAR Registration

Posted on March 3, 2021March 3, 2021 by admin

On December 1, 2020, the state of New York adopted new regulations that amended its Investment Advisory Act to require the registration of investment adviser representatives (“IAR”) including principals, supervisors, and solicitors through the WebCRD/IARD system. Prior to the rule change, New York was the only state that did not license IAR via the WebCRD/IARD system. The change to to New York IAR registration will go into effect on February 1, 2021 for all new registrants, and December 2, 2021 for any New York IARs already providing services, provided they apply for registration by August 31, 2021. The Amendments The Read more about Change to New York IAR Registration[…]

Exclusions from the Definition Investment Advisor

Exclusions from the Definition of Investment Advisor

Posted on February 26, 2021March 19, 2021 by admin

Previously we covered Investment Advisor Registration in our blog When Do You Have to Register as an Investment Adviser?, discussing what the Investment Advisors Act of 1940 defines as an investment advisor and what triggers the registration requirements. In this blog, we will focus on the exclusions from the definition of investment advisor at the federal and state level.

When Do You Have to Register as an Investment Adviser?

Posted on February 19, 2021March 23, 2021 by admin

The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 defines an investment adviser as any person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others as too the value of securities or the advisability of investing in securities or, as part of regular business, issues analyses or reports concerning securities. So when do you have to register as an investment adviser? Any person who is considered an investment adviser will be subject to the Investment Adviser Act of 1940 and be required to register with either the SEC or the States. A person would be considered an investment adviser if they engaged in these three activities:

Provides investment advice, reports, or analysis with respect to securities;
Is in the business of providing advice or analysis; and
Receives compensation, directly or indirectly, for these services.

Investment Advisor Representative Registration

Posted on February 12, 2021 by admin

Individuals looking to be in the business of giving investment advice for compensation will most likely need to register as an investment advisor representative (“IAR”). There are a couple of differences between becoming an IAR and a registered investment advisor(“RIA”). Most notably, only a natural person (a human being and not an entity) can be considered and IAR, and IARs never register with the SEC, only with the individual states. For an example of how to register with a state, check out the process for registering as an IAR with the state of Georgia on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.