Part 2A of the Form ADV requires advisers to create narrative brochures containing information about the advisory firm. Both federal and state registered advisers must prepare and deliver a brochure to their clients according to the brochure delivery requirements set in 17 CFR § 275.204-3 – Delivery of brochures and brochure supplements.
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.
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[…]
If you find yourself in need of a broker dealer, you have the option to either buy an existing one or start one from scratch. MasterCompliance has years of experience in both brokering broker dealer transactions as well as assisting our clients create new broker dealers, and in our experience buying a broker dealer tends to be the most popular choice. While the speed and convenience of buying a broker dealer are favorable, there are pros and cons to this option you should consider.
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.
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.