Registration Requirements

What this video covers

• Why IARs register only at the state level, and why "federal covered IAR" is a decoy answer that does not exist
• The two-part de minimis exemption: no place of business in the state AND no more than five non-institutional clients in the preceding 12 months
• Why institutional investors do not count toward the five-client limit, and which clients the state wants to protect
• Why the de minimis exemption applies only to IARs of state-registered advisers, not to IARs of federal covered advisers
• How federal covered advisers (the firm) register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) while IARs (the people) still register with states
• What Form U4, the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer, is filed through, and why EDGAR is a distractor
• Why consent to service of process is automatic upon filing Form U4, not a separate document
• The qualifying exam combinations (Series 65 alone, or Series 66 plus Series 7 with Securities Industry Essentials (SIE)), their validity windows, and the five designations that waive the exam requirement
• Why CIMA replaced CIC in the model rule, and why a waiver excuses the exam but never the registration itself