Welcome to Definition of an Agent of a Broker-Dealer, the rules that decide who counts as an agent, which activities require agent registration, and who falls outside the definition.
Exam Weight: Part of 13% (8 questions across Chapter 4)
What You'll Learn
In this unit, you'll cover:
- Definition of an agent: Who qualifies as an agent under the Uniform Securities Act and the key elements that trigger agent status
- Exclusions from the agent definition: How an exclusion differs from an exemption, who representing an issuer or a broker-dealer is not an agent, and when a partner, officer, or director is one
- Activities requiring agent registration: The general registration requirement, why agent registration is tied to a specific employer, registering with more than one firm, and how the broker-dealer's no-place-of-business exclusion affects its agents
Registration procedure and Form U4 are covered in the next unit. Payments to unregistered persons are covered in the Other Prohibited Activities lesson.
Why This Matters
Agent registration is the Series 63's bread and butter, and the exam loves to test the fine lines: when is a corporate officer an agent? What destroys the issuer-employee exclusion? When does an agent need to register in a state at all? These distinctions separate passing from failing.
Understanding who is an agent also builds a foundation you'll use throughout the exam, because the registration, conduct, and enforcement rules in later units all start from this definition.
Let's start with the statutory definition of an agent.