Books and Records Retention Requirements
Chapters in this video
- 0:00 The 6-year default and FINRA's catch-all rule
- 1:41 The big three at 6 years: blotters, ledgers, and account records
- 2:35 Why SARs break the pattern at 5 years
- 3:43 Customer complaints as the standalone 4-year trap
- 4:33 The 3-year bucket: confirmations, communications, and procedures
- 5:32 The 2-year accessibility rule is inclusive, not additive
- 6:40 WORM versus audit-trail electronic storage standards
- 7:38 Rapid-fire exam recap
What this video covers
- Whether a FINRA-required record with no specified retention period defaults to 3, 4, 5, or 6 years
- Why blotters, general ledgers, and customer account records each get 6 years, and why account records run from account closure, not account opening
- Why Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) get 5 years under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), not the 6-year FINRA default
- Why customer complaints stand alone at 4 years, and how the exam uses 3 years and 6 years as bait
- What the 2-year easily accessible rule actually means, and how it applies within, not on top of, longer retention periods
- Which two electronic storage standards the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accepts: WORM and the audit-trail alternative
- How to apply the 6-5-4-3 memory aid to dissect scenario questions where a broker-dealer violates multiple rules at once
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