Customer Protection: Reserves and Custody of Securities
Chapters in this video
- 0:00 The two pillars: possession or control and Special Reserve Bank Account
- 1:36 Excess margin securities and the 140% threshold
- 3:00 Four acceptable control locations and fail-to-receive cures
- 4:07 Customer reserve formula: credits, debits, and the deposit requirement
- 5:15 Weekly Friday-to-Tuesday cycle and exam timing traps
- 6:08 $500 million threshold and the daily computation mandate
- 7:32 Rapid-fire exam recap
What this video covers
- Why the customer protection rule protects specific customer assets while net capital protects the firm, and the two continuous pillars every carrying firm must satisfy
- How to calculate excess margin securities using 140% of the customer's debit balance, not total market value, and why the firm must segregate anything above that threshold
- The four acceptable control locations for possession or control and the required prompt action when a security is not in good control
- How the customer reserve formula balances credits the firm owes customers against debits customers owe the firm, and why a credit excess requires a deposit of cash or qualified securities
- The default weekly computation schedule, the specific Tuesday deposit deadline, and the exam trap of "next business day"
- Why $500 million in average total credits triggers daily reserve computation by June 30, 2026, and how many firms actually cross this threshold
- Why proprietary accounts of broker-dealers use the same reserve formula but must remain entirely separate from retail customer reserves with no netting permitted
Read the full lesson, free
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