Any Financial Advisors Have a Copy of Their Compliance Regs?

[Justin Bilyj]

Was wondering if anyone had a copy of their BD's compliance regulations, especially when it comes to marketing?
Please pm me for my email if you are able to share.
Appreciate it!

 

[DHK]

Here's FINRA's publication on advertising, communications with the public, testimonials, etc.

http://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/NoticeDocument/p127014.pdf

B/D's will generally be more stringent than the rules to avoid an over-zealous regulator's interpretation of the rules during an audit.

The biggest challenge will be ARCHIVING all of your marketing activities, whether you're with a B/D or an RIA.

I just picked up a PDF copy of "The Virtual Advisor" by XY Planning Network and it mentions a few things about marketing compliance.

How to Run an RIA and Work as a Virtual Advisor

Compliance of Marketing

In the next chapter, you will learn about marketing your virtual advisory business. There are a couple of challenges that online marketing brings, whether you work virtually or not. The main concern is archiving your activities.

According to compliance regulations, you need to be able to produce copies of all marketing materials, which includes e*mail, social media activity, website, blog posts, and more. This sounds daunting, but there are great, inexpensive technologies available that allow you to meet compliance needs and requirements.

“I love compliance telling me I can’t tweet” isn’t a common phrase we hear from FINRA registered firms. One of the most liberating actions an advisor can take is to end their affiliation with the B/D and simply operate under their own RIA. Instead of answering to a compliance officer, you become the compliance officer, which allows to a lot more flexibility
when managing your firm's compliance. You know what is, and what isn’t, allowed:
● Don’t make guarantees
● Don’t make false statements
● Archive everything

Beyond that, you can simply run some of your question by your compliance firm to ensure that you are doing what’s necessary to remain compliant.

Very few advisors regret dropping their B/D, especially when it comes to the compliance freedom that comes with being an RIA.