Quick Answer
A broker-dealer registers per state on Form BD with an irrevocable consent to service of process, effective at noon on the thirtieth day and expiring December 31. Afterward it owes records, financial reports, and prompt correcting amendments. Every disciplinary order needs the public interest AND a statutory ground.
The whole unit on one sheet: how a registration begins, what it owes while it lasts, and how it ends.
How Does a Registration Begin?
- File Form BD plus a consent to service of process and the fee. Registration is per state: registering with the SEC and FINRA satisfies no state.
- Registration is effective at noon on the 30th day after a complete application is filed, and expires December 31 each year.
- The consent appoints the Administrator as legal agent for noncriminal actions. It is one-time and irrevocable, never renews, and survives termination.
What Does a Registered Firm Owe Afterward?
- Keep the books and records the Administrator prescribes. Blotters, ledgers, and customer account records: 6 years. Correspondence, advertising, and WSPs: 3 years. Customer complaints: 4 years. First 2 years of any period easily accessible.
- File the prescribed financial reports. A state may not impose requirements that conflict with or exceed federal standards for capital, custody, margin, records, bonding, or reporting.
- Records are open to examination at any time, inside or outside the state, without a subpoena.
How Does a Registration End?
- The Administrator may deny, suspend, revoke, bar, censure, or restrict. All six need a public-interest finding AND a statutory ground, plus notice, hearing, and written findings.
- Cancellation is different and non-punitive. It needs none of those, but does require one of its own four findings: no longer in existence, ceased business, adjudicated mentally incompetent or under a guardian, or unlocatable after reasonable search.
- Withdrawal takes 30 days and the Administrator may hold it if a proceeding is pending, then still act on willful violations for 1 year.
Which Numbers Must You Lock In?
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Registration effective | noon on the 30th day |
| Withdrawal effective | 30 days after receipt |
| All registrations expire | December 31 |
| Felony or securities-misdemeanor lookback | past 10 years |
| Bar on acting on a disclosed prior order | 90 days from registration |
Which Gotchas Are Tested Most?
- Non-securities misdemeanors are not grounds. Only felonies and securities-related misdemeanors inside 10 years qualify.
- Insolvency alone is grounds, no fraud required, but the finding must be as to the firm itself.
One-Breath Recap
A broker-dealer registers in each state on Form BD with an irrevocable consent to service of process that never renews, becoming effective at noon on the thirtieth day and expiring every December 31. While registered it owes prescribed records, financial reports capped by the federal standard, and examination at any time without a subpoena. Denial, suspension, revocation, bar, censure, and restriction each need the public interest and a statutory ground, while cancellation is pure housekeeping, and a withdrawal takes thirty days and stays reachable for a year.
Need more than the recap? Read the full Registration and Post-Registration Requirements unit.