Guidance · SEC · 26 Oct 2023
The document establishes narrative, plain English disclosure requirements for Part 2 of Form ADV, requiring investment advisers to deliver firm brochures and supplements to clients and prospective clients. It mandates delivery before entering advisory agreements, annual updates within 120 days of the fiscal year-end, and prompt updates for materially inaccurate information. Specific filing obligations require SEC-registered advisers to file brochures via the IARD system while exempting them from filing supplements, whereas state-registered advisers must file supplements for supervised persons in each state. The instructions further detail content requirements for cover pages, material changes, fees, conflicts of interest, and performance-based fees, including exemptions for clients receiving only impersonal advice with fees under $500 annually.
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Estimated average burden hours per response 23.82 FORM ADV (Paper Version) UNIFORM APPLICATION FOR INVESTMENT ADVISER REGISTRATION
PART 2: Uniform Requirements for the Investment Adviser Brochure and Brochure Supplements
General Instructions for Part 2 of Form ADV
Under SEC and similar state rules you are required to deliver to clients and prospective clients a brochure disclosing information about your firm. You also may be required to deliver a brochure supplement disclosing information about one or more of your supervised persons. Part 2 of Form ADV sets out the minimum required disclosure that your brochure (Part 2A for a firm brochure, or Appendix 1 for a wrap fee program brochure) and brochure supplements (Part 2B) must contain. Read all the instructions, including General Instructions for Form ADV, General Instructions for Part 2 of Form ADV, Instructions for Part 2A of Form ADV, Instructions for Part 2B of Form ADV, and (if you are preparing or updating a wrap fee program brochure) Instructions for Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV, before preparing or updating your brochure or brochure supplements.
Narrative Format. Part 2 of Form ADV consists of a series of items that contain disclosure requirements for
your firm’s brochure and any required supplements. The items require narrative responses. You must respond to each item in Part 2. You must include the heading for each item provided by Part 2 immediately preceding your response to that item and provide responses in the same order as the items appear in Part 2. If an item does not apply to your business, you must indicate that item is not applicable. If you have provided information in response to one item that is also responsive to another item, you may cross-reference that information in response to the other item.
Plain English. The items in Part 2 of Form ADV are designed to promote effective communication
between you and your clients. Write your brochure and supplements in plain English, taking into consideration your clients’ level of financial sophistication. Your brochure should be concise and direct. In drafting your brochure and brochure supplements, you should: (i) use short sentences; (ii) use definite, concrete, everyday words; (iii) use active voice; (iv) use tables or bullet lists for complex material, whenever possible; (v) avoid legal jargon or highly technical business terms unless you explain them or you believe that your clients will understand them; and (vi) avoid multiple negatives. Consider providing examples to illustrate a description of your practices or policies. The brochure should discuss only conflicts the adviser has or is reasonably likely to have, and practices in which it engages or is reasonably likely to engage. If a conflict arises or the adviser decides to engage in a practice that it has not disclosed, supplemental disclosure must be provided to clients to obtain their consent. If you have a conflict or engage in a practice with respect to some (but not all) types or classes of clients, advice, or transactions, indicate as such rather than disclosing that you “may” have the conflict or engage in the practice. Note: The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy has published A Plain English Handbook. You may find the handbook helpful in writing your brochure and supplements. For a copy of this handbook, visit the SEC’s web site at<www.sec.gov/news/extra/handbook.htm> or call 1-800-732-0330.
Disclosure Obligations as a Fiduciary. Under federal and state law, you are a fiduciary and must make full
disclosure to your clients of all material facts relating to the advisory relationship. As a fiduciary, you also must seek to avoid conflicts of interest with your clients, and, at a minimum, make full disclosure of all material conflicts of interest between you and your clients that could affect the advisory relationship. This obligation requires that you provide the client with sufficiently specific facts so that the client is able to understand the conflicts of interest you have and the business practices in which you engage, and can give informed consent to such conflicts or practices or reject them. To satisfy this obligation, you therefore may have to disclose to clients information not specifically required by Part 2 of Form ADV or in more detail than the brochure items might otherwise require. You may disclose this additional information to clients in your brochure or by some other means. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
Full and Truthful Disclosure. All information in your brochure and brochure supplements must be true
and may not omit any material facts.
Filing. You must file your brochure(s) (and amendments) through the IARD system using the textsearchable Adobe Portable Document Format (“PDF”). See SEC rules 203-1 and 204-1 and similar state
rules. If you are registered or are registering with the SEC, you are not required to file your brochure supplements through the IARD or otherwise. You must, however, preserve a copy of the supplements and make them available to SEC staff upon request. See SEC rule 204-2(a)(14). If you are registered or are registering with one or more state securities authorities, you must file a copy of the brochure supplement for each supervised person doing business in that state. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
Instructions for Part 2A of Form ADV: Preparing Your Firm Brochure
you have not filed any interim amendments making material changes to the brochure that you filed with last year’s annual updating amendment. If you do not have to prepare a summary of material changes, you do not have to deliver a summary of material changes or a brochure to your existing clients that year. See SEC rule 204-3(b). If you are a state-registered adviser, you should contact the appropriate state securities authorities to determine whether you must make an annual offer of the brochure.
6. Do we need to include the summary of material changes that we prepare in response to Item 2 with our
annual updating amendment filing on IARD? Yes, you need to include the summary in your annual updating amendment. Item 2 permits you to include the summary as part of the brochure (on the cover page or the page immediately following the cover page) or to create a separate document containing the summary. If you include the summary as part of your brochure, the summary will be part of the annual updating amendment filing that you submit on IARD. If your summary of material changes is a separate document, you must attach the summary as an exhibit to your brochure and upload your brochure and the summary together in a single, text- searchable file in Adobe Portable Document Format on IARD for your annual updating amendment. Note: If you include the summary of material changes in your brochure, and you revise or update your brochure between annual updating amendments, you should consider whether you should update the summary as part of that other-than annual amendment to avoid confusing or misleading clients reading the updated brochure.
7. We have determined that we have no clients to whom we must deliver a brochure. Must we prepare one?
No, but see note to Instruction 1 above.
8. May we include a summary of the brochure at the beginning of our brochure? Yes. Although it is not
required, you may choose to include a summary of the brochure at the beginning of your brochure. Such summary, however, may not substitute for the summary of material changes required by Item 2 of
Part 2A.
9. We offer several advisory services. May we prepare multiple firm brochures? Yes. If you offer
substantially different types of advisory services, you may opt to prepare separate brochures so long as each client receives all applicable information about services and fees. Each brochure may omit information that does not apply to the advisory services and fees it describes. For example, your firm brochure sent to your clients who invest only in the United States can omit information about your advisory services and fees relating to offshore investments. See SEC rule 204-3(e) and similar state rules. If you prepare separate brochures you must file each brochure (and any amendments) through the IARD system as required in SEC rules 203-1 and 204-1 and similar state rules.
10. We sponsor a wrap fee program. Is there a different brochure that we need to deliver to our wrap fee
clients? Yes. If you sponsor a wrap fee program, you must deliver a wrap fee program brochure to your wrap fee clients. The disclosure requirements for preparing a wrap fee program brochure appear in Part 2A,
Appendix 1 of Form ADV. If your entire advisory business is sponsoring wrap fee programs, you do not
need to prepare a firm brochure separate from your wrap fee program brochure(s). See SEC rule 204-3(d) and similar state rules.
11. We provide portfolio management services to clients in wrap fee programs that we do not sponsor. Which
brochure must we deliver to these clients? You must deliver your brochure prepared in accordance with
Part 2A (not Appendix 1) to your wrap fee clients. You also must deliver to these clients any brochure
supplements required by Part 2B of Form ADV.
12. May we include information not required by an item in our brochure? Yes. If you include information
not required by an item, however, you may not include so much additional information that the required information is obscured.
13. Item 18 requires us to give our clients an audited balance sheet. May any public accountant perform the
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audit? Your auditor must be independent. Article 2 of SEC Regulation S-X sets out the general rules for auditor independence. Please note that these requirements may be different from the rules of professional organizations.
14. We are a new firm. Do we need a brochure? Yes. Respond to items in Part 2A of Form ADV based on
the advisory services you propose to provide and the practices, policies and procedures you propose to adopt.
15. We are a “separately identifiable department or division” (SID) of a bank. Must our brochure discuss
our bank’s general business practices? No. Information you include in your firm brochure (or in brochure supplements) should be information about you, the SID, and your business practices, rather than general information about your bank. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
Part 2A of Form ADV: Firm Brochure
Item 1 Cover Page
A. The cover page of your brochure must state your name, business address, contact information, website address (if you have one), and the date of the brochure. Note: If you primarily conduct advisory business under a name different from your full legal name, and you have disclosed your business name in Item 1.B of Part 1A of Form ADV, then you may use your business name throughout your brochure. B. Display on the cover page of your brochure the following statement or other clear and concise language conveying the same information, and identifying the document as a “brochure”:
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of [your name]. If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure, please contact us at [telephone number and/or email address]. The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority. Additional information about [your name] also is available on the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
C. If you refer to yourself as a “registered investment adviser” or describe yourself as being
“registered,” include a statement that registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Item 2 Material Changes If you are amending your brochure for your annual update and it contains material changes from your last annual update, identify and discuss those changes on the cover page of the brochure or on the page immediately following the cover page, or as a separate document accompanying the brochure. You must state clearly that you are discussing only material changes since the last annual update of your brochure, and you must provide the date of the last annual update of your brochure. Note: You do not have to separately provide this information to a client or prospective client who has not received a previous version of your brochure. Item 3 Table of Contents Provide a table of contents to your brochure. Note: Your table of contents must be detailed enough so that your clients can locate topics easily. Your brochure must follow the same order, and contain the same headings, as the items listed in Part 2A. Item 4 Advisory Business A. Describe your advisory firm, including how long you have been in business. Identify your principal owner(s). Notes: (1) For purposes of this item, your principal owners include the persons you list as owning 25% or more of your firm on Schedule A of Part 1A of Form ADV (Ownership Codes C, D or E). (2) If you are a publicly held company without a 25% shareholder, simply disclose that you are publicly held. (3) If an individual or company owns 25% or more of your firm through subsidiaries, you must identify the individual or parent company and intermediate subsidiaries. If you are an SEC-registered adviser, you must identify intermediate subsidiaries that are publicly held, but not other intermediate subsidiaries. If you are a state-registered adviser, you must identify all intermediate subsidiaries. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
B. Describe the types of advisory services you offer. If you hold yourself out as specializing in a particular type of advisory service, such as financial planning, quantitative analysis, or market timing, explain the nature of that service in greater detail. If you provide investment advice only with respect to limited types of investments, explain the type of investment advice you offer, and disclose that your advice is limited to those types of investments.
C. Explain whether (and, if so, how) you tailor your advisory services to the individual needs of
clients. Explain whether clients may impose restrictions on investing in certain securities or types of securities. D. If you participate in wrap fee programs by providing portfolio management services, (1) describe the differences, if any, between how you manage wrap fee accounts and how you manage other accounts, and (2) explain that you receive a portion of the wrap fee for your services. E. If you manage client assets, disclose the amount of client assets you manage on a discretionary basis and the amount of client assets you manage on a non-discretionary basis. Disclose the date “as of” which you calculated the amounts. Note: Your method for computing the amount of “client assets you manage” can be different from the method for computing “regulatory assets under management” required for Item 5.F in Part 1A. However, if you choose to use a different method to compute “client assets you manage,” you must keep documentation describing the method you use. The amount you disclose may be rounded to the nearest $100,000. Your “as of” date must not be more than 90 days before the date you last updated your brochure in response to this Item 4.E. Item 5 Fees and Compensation A. Describe how you are compensated for your advisory services. Provide your fee schedule. Disclose whether the fees are negotiable. Note: If you are an SEC-registered adviser, you do not need to include this information in a brochure that is delivered only to qualified purchasers as defined in section 2(a)(51)(A) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. B. Describe whether you deduct fees from clients’ assets or bill clients for fees incurred. If clients may select either method, disclose this fact. Explain how often you bill clients or deduct your fees.
C. Describe any other types of fees or expenses clients may pay in connection with your advisory
services, such as custodian fees or mutual fund expenses. Disclose that clients will incur brokerage and other transaction costs, and direct clients to the section(s) of your brochure that discuss brokerage. D. If your clients either may or must pay your fees in advance, disclose this fact. Explain how a client may obtain a refund of a pre-paid fee if the advisory contract is terminated before the end of the billing period. Explain how you will determine the amount of the refund. E. If you or any of your supervised persons accepts compensation for the sale of securities or other investment products, including asset-based sales charges or service fees from the sale of mutual funds, disclose this fact and respond to Items 5.E.1, 5.E.2, 5.E.3 and 5.E.4.
procedures for disclosing the conflicts to clients. If you primarily recommend mutual funds, disclose whether you will recommend “no-load” funds.
2. Explain that clients have the option to purchase investment products that you recommend
through other brokers or agents that are not affiliated with you.
3. If more than 50% of your revenue from advisory clients results from commissions and other
compensation for the sale of investment products you recommend to your clients, including assetbased distribution fees from the sale of mutual funds, disclose that commissions provide your primary or, if applicable, your exclusive compensation.
4. If you charge advisory fees in addition to commissions or markups, disclose whether you reduce
your advisory fees to offset the commissions or markups.
Note: If you receive compensation in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, you should carefully consider the applicability of the broker-dealer registration requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and any applicable state securities statutes. Item 6 Performance-Based Fees and Side-By-Side Management If you or any of your supervised persons accepts performance-based fees – that is, fees based on a share of capital gains on or capital appreciation of the assets of a client (such as a client that is a hedge fund or other pooled investment vehicle) – disclose this fact. If you or any of your supervised persons manage both accounts that are charged a performance-based fee and accounts that are charged another type of fee, such as an hourly or flat fee or an asset-based fee, disclose this fact. Explain the conflicts of interest that you or your supervised persons face by managing these accounts at the same time, including that you or your supervised persons have an incentive to favor accounts for which you or your supervised persons receive a performance-based fee, and describe generally how you address these conflicts. Item 7 Types of Clients Describe the types of clients to whom you generally provide investment advice, such as individuals, trusts, investment companies, or pension plans. If you have any requirements for opening or maintaining an account, such as a minimum account size, disclose the requirements. Item 8 Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss A. Describe the methods of analysis and investment strategies you use in formulating investment advice or managing assets. Explain that investing in securities involves risk of loss that clients should be prepared to bear. B. For each significant investment strategy or method of analysis you use, explain the material risks involved. If the method of analysis or strategy involves significant or unusual risks, discuss these risks in detail. If your primary strategy involves frequent trading of securities, explain how frequent trading can affect investment performance, particularly through increased brokerage and other transaction costs and taxes.
C. If you recommend primarily a particular type of security, explain the material risks involved. If the type
of security involves significant or unusual risks, discuss these risks in detail. Item 9 Disciplinary Information If there are legal or disciplinary events that are material to a client’s or prospective client’s evaluation of your advisory business or the integrity of your management, disclose all material facts regarding those events. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
Items 9.A, 9.B, and 9.C list specific legal and disciplinary events presumed to be material for this Item. If your advisory firm or a management person has been involved in one of these events, you must disclose it under this Item for ten years following the date of the event, unless (1) the event was resolved in your or the management person’s favor, or was reversed, suspended or vacated, or (2) you have rebutted the presumption of materiality to determine that the event is not material (see Note below). For purposes of calculating this ten-year period, the “date” of an event is the date that the final order, judgment, or decree was entered, or the date that any rights of appeal from preliminary orders, judgments or decrees lapsed. Items 9.A, 9.B, and 9.C do not contain an exclusive list of material disciplinary events. If your advisory firm or a management person has been involved in a legal or disciplinary event that is not listed in Items 9.A, 9.B, or 9.C, but nonetheless is material to a client's or prospective client's evaluation of your advisory business or the integrity of its management, you must disclose the event. Similarly, even if more than ten years have passed since the date of the event, you must disclose the event if it is so serious that it remains material to a client’s or prospective client’s evaluation. A. A criminal or civil action in a domestic, foreign or military court of competent jurisdiction in which your firm or a management person
1. was convicted of, or pled guilty or nolo contendere (“no contest”) to (a) any felony; (b) a
misdemeanor that involved investments or an investment-related business, fraud, false statements or omissions, wrongful taking of property, bribery, perjury, forgery, counterfeiting, or extortion; or (c) a conspiracy to commit any of these offenses;
2. is the named subject of a pending criminal proceeding that involves an investment-related
business, fraud, false statements or omissions, wrongful taking of property, bribery, perjury, forgery, counterfeiting, extortion, or a conspiracy to commit any of these offenses;
3. was found to have been involved in a violation of an investment-related statute or regulation; or
4. was the subject of any order, judgment, or decree permanently or temporarily enjoining, or
otherwise limiting, your firm or a management person from engaging in any investment-related activity, or from violating any investment-related statute, rule, or order. B. An administrative proceeding before the SEC, any other federal regulatory agency, any state regulatory agency, or any foreign financial regulatory authority in which your firm or a management person
1. was found to have caused an investment-related business to lose its authorization to do business; or
2. was found to have been involved in a violation of an investment-related statute or regulation and
was the subject of an order by the agency or authority (a) denying, suspending, or revoking the authorization of your firm or a management person to act in an investment-related business; (b) barring or suspending your firm’s or a management person's association with an investment- related business; (c) otherwise significantly limiting your firm’s or a management person's investment-related activities; or (d) imposing a civil money penalty of more than $2,500 on your firm or a management person.
C. A self-regulatory organization (SRO) proceeding in which your firm or a management person
1. was found to have caused an investment-related business to lose its authorization to do business; or
2. was found to have been involved in a violation of the SRO’s rules and was: (i) barred or
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suspended from membership or from association with other members, or was expelled from membership; (ii) otherwise significantly limited from investment-related activities; or (iii) fined more than $2,500. Note: You may, under certain circumstances, rebut the presumption that a disciplinary event is material. If an event is immaterial, you are not required to disclose it. When you review a legal or disciplinary event involving your firm or a management person to determine whether it is appropriate to rebut the presumption of materiality, you should consider all of the following factors: (1) the proximity of the person involved in the disciplinary event to the advisory function; (2) the nature of the infraction that led to the disciplinary event; (3) the severity of the disciplinary sanction; and (4) the time elapsed since the date of the disciplinary event. If you conclude that the materiality presumption has been overcome, you must prepare and maintain a file memorandum of your determination in your records. See SEC rule 204-2(a)(14)(iii). Item 10 Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations A. If you or any of your management persons are registered, or have an application pending to register, as a broker-dealer or a registered representative of a broker-dealer, disclose this fact. B. If you or any of your management persons are registered, or have an application pending to register, as a futures commission merchant, commodity pool operator, a commodity trading advisor, or an associated person of the foregoing entities, disclose this fact.
C. Describe any relationship or arrangement that is material to your advisory business or to your clients
that you or any of your management persons have with any related person listed below. Identify the related person and if the relationship or arrangement creates a material conflict of interest with clients, describe the nature of the conflict and how you address it.
Item 11 Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions and Personal Trading A. If you are an SEC-registered adviser, briefly describe your code of ethics adopted pursuant to SEC rule 204A-1 or similar state rules. Explain that you will provide a copy of your code of ethics to any client or prospective client upon request. B. If you or a related person recommends to clients, or buys or sells for client accounts, securities in which you or a related person has a material financial interest, describe your practice and discuss the conflicts of interest it presents. Describe generally how you address conflicts that arise. Examples: (1) You or a related person, as principal, buys securities from (or sells securities to) your clients; (2) you or a related person acts as general partner in a partnership in which you solicit client investments; or (3) you or a related person acts as an investment adviser to an investment company that you recommend to clients.
C. If you or a related person invests in the same securities (or related securities, e.g., warrants, options or
futures) that you or a related person recommends to clients, describe your practice and discuss the conflicts of interest this presents and generally how you address the conflicts that arise in connection with personal trading. D. If you or a related person recommends securities to clients, or buys or sells securities for client accounts, at or about the same time that you or a related person buys or sells the same securities for your own (or the related person's own) account, describe your practice and discuss the conflicts of interest it presents. Describe generally how you address conflicts that arise. Note: The description required by Item 11.A may include information responsive to Item 11.B, C or D. If so, it is not necessary to make repeated disclosures of the same information. You do not have to provide disclosure in response to Item 11.B, 11.C, or 11.D with respect to securities that are not “reportable securities” under SEC rule 204A-1(e)(10) and similar state rules. Item 12 Brokerage Practices A. Describe the factors that you consider in selecting or recommending broker-dealers for client transactions and determining the reasonableness of their compensation (e.g., commissions).
disclose this fact. d. Disclose whether you use soft dollar benefits to service all of your clients’ accounts or only those that paid for the benefits. Disclose whether you seek to allocate soft dollar benefits to client accounts proportionately to the soft dollar credits the accounts generate. e. Describe the types of products and services you or any of your related persons acquired with client brokerage commissions (or markups or markdowns) within your last fiscal year. Note: This description must be specific enough for your clients to understand the types of products or services that you are acquiring and to permit them to evaluate possible conflicts of interest. Your description must be more detailed for products or services that do not qualify for the safe harbor in section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, such as those services that do not aid in investment decision-making or trade execution. Merely disclosing that you obtain various research reports and products is not specific enough. f. Explain the procedures you used during your last fiscal year to direct client transactions to a particular broker-dealer in return for soft dollar benefits you received.
2. Brokerage for Client Referrals. If you consider, in selecting or recommending broker-dealers,
whether you or a related person receives client referrals from a broker-dealer or third party, disclose this practice and discuss the conflicts of interest it creates. a. Disclose that you may have an incentive to select or recommend a broker-dealer based on your interest in receiving client referrals, rather than on your clients’ interest in receiving most favorable execution. b. Explain the procedures you used during your last fiscal year to direct client transactions to a particular broker-dealer in return for client referrals.
3. Directed Brokerage.
a. If you routinely recommend, request or require that a client direct you to execute transactions through a specified broker-dealer, describe your practice or policy. Explain that not all advisers require their clients to direct brokerage. If you and the broker-dealer are affiliates or have another economic relationship that creates a material conflict of interest, describe the relationship and discuss the conflicts of interest it presents. Explain that by directing brokerage you may be unable to achieve most favorable execution of client transactions, and that this practice may cost clients more money. b. If you permit a client to direct brokerage, describe your practice. If applicable, explain that you may be unable to achieve most favorable execution of client transactions. Explain that directing brokerage may cost clients more money. For example, in a directed brokerage account, the client may pay higher brokerage commissions because you may not be able to aggregate orders to reduce transaction costs, or the client may receive less favorable prices. Note: If your clients only have directed brokerage arrangements subject to most favorable execution of client transactions, you do not need to respond to the last sentence of Item 12.A.3.a. or to the second or third sentences of Item 12.A.3.b. B. Discuss whether and under what conditions you aggregate the purchase or sale of securities for various client accounts. If you do not aggregate orders when you have the opportunity to do so, explain your practice and describe the costs to clients of not aggregating. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
Item 13 Review of Accounts
A. Indicate whether you periodically review client accounts or financial plans. If you do, describe the frequency and nature of the review, and the titles of the supervised persons who conduct the review. B. If you review client accounts on other than a periodic basis, describe the factors that trigger a review.
C. Describe the content and indicate the frequency of regular reports you provide to clients regarding
their accounts. State whether these reports are written.
Item 14 Client Referrals and Other Compensation A. If someone who is not a client provides an economic benefit to you for providing investment advice or other advisory services to your clients, generally describe the arrangement, explain the conflicts of interest, and describe how you address the conflicts of interest. For purposes of this Item, economic benefits include any sales awards or other prizes. B. If you or a related person directly or indirectly compensates any person who is not your supervised person for client referrals, describe the arrangement and the compensation. Note: If you compensate any person for client referrals, you should consider whether SEC rule 206(4)-1 or similar state rules regarding solicitation arrangements and/or state rules requiring registration of investment adviser representatives apply. Item 15 Custody If you have custody of client funds or securities and a qualified custodian sends quarterly, or more frequent, account statements directly to your clients, explain that clients will receive account statements from the brokerdealer, bank or other qualified custodian and that clients should carefully review those statements. If your clients also receive account statements from you, your explanation must include a statement urging clients to compare the account statements they receive from the qualified custodian with those they receive from you. Item 16 Investment Discretion If you accept discretionary authority to manage securities accounts on behalf of clients, disclose this fact and describe any limitations clients may (or customarily do) place on this authority. Describe the procedures you follow before you assume this authority (e.g., execution of a power of attorney). Item 17 Voting Client Securities A. If you have, or will accept, authority to vote client securities, briefly describe your voting policies and procedures, including those adopted pursuant to SEC rule 206(4)-6. Describe whether (and, if so, how) your clients can direct your vote in a particular solicitation. Describe how you address conflicts of interest between you and your clients with respect to voting their securities. Describe how clients may obtain information from you about how you voted their securities. Explain to clients that they may obtain a copy of your proxy voting policies and procedures upon request. B. If you do not have authority to vote client securities, disclose this fact. Explain whether clients will receive their proxies or other solicitations directly from their custodian or a transfer agent or from you, and discuss whether (and, if so, how) clients can contact you with questions about a particular solicitation. Item 18 Financial Information SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
A. If you require or solicit prepayment of more than $1,200 in fees per client, six months or more in advance, include a balance sheet for your most recent fiscal year.
D. If you or a management person has been involved in one of the events listed below, disclose all material facts regarding the event.
Instructions for Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV:
Preparing Your Wrap Fee Program Brochure
Read all the instructions, including General Instructions for Form ADV, General Instructions for Part 2 of Form ADV, Instructions for Part 2A of Form ADV, and the instructions below, before preparing or updating your wrap fee program brochure.
When must we update our wrap fee program brochure? You must update your wrap fee program brochure:
(i) each year at the time you file your annual updating amendment, and (ii) promptly whenever any information in the wrap fee program brochure becomes materially inaccurate. You are not required to update your wrap fee program brochure between annual amendments solely because your fee schedule has changed. However, if you are updating your wrap fee program brochure for a separate reason in between annual amendments, and your fee schedule listed in response to Item 4.A has become materially inaccurate, you should update that item as part of the interim amendment. All updates to your wrap fee program brochure must be filed through the IARD system and maintained in your files. See SEC rules 204-1 and 204-2(a)(14) and similar state rules.
May we deliver our wrap fee program brochure electronically? Yes. The SEC has published
interpretive guidance on delivering documents electronically, which you can find at <www.sec.gov/rules/concept/33- 7288.txt>.
What if we sponsor more than one wrap fee program? You may prepare a single wrap fee program
brochure describing all the wrap fee programs you sponsor, or you may prepare separate wrap fee program brochures that describe one or more of your wrap fee programs. If you prepare separate brochures, each brochure must state that you sponsor other wrap fee programs and must explain how the client can obtain brochures for the other programs. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
We provide portfolio management services under a wrap fee program that we sponsor. Must we deliver
both our wrap fee program brochure and our firm brochure to our wrap fee program clients? No, just the wrap fee program brochure. If you or your supervised persons provide portfolio management services under a wrap fee program that you also sponsor, your wrap fee program brochure must describe the investments and investment strategies you (or your supervised persons) will use as portfolio managers. This requirement appears in Item 6.C of this Appendix.
We provide other advisory services outside of our wrap fee programs. May we combine our wrap fee
program brochure into our firm brochure for clients receiving these other services? No. Your wrap fee program brochure must address only the wrap fee programs you sponsor. See SEC rule 204-3(d)(1) and similar state rules.
Must we also deliver brochure supplements to wrap fee program clients? Yes. A wrap fee program brochure
does not take the place of any supplements required by Part 2B of Form ADV.
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Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV: Wrap Fee Program Brochure
Item 1 Cover Page
A. The cover page of your wrap fee program brochure must state your name, business address, contact information, web site address (if you have one), and the date of the wrap fee program brochure. Note: If you primarily conduct advisory business under a name different from your full legal name, and you have disclosed your business name in Item 1.B of Part 1A of Form ADV, then you may use your business name throughout your wrap fee program brochure. B. Display on the cover page of your wrap fee program brochure the following (or other clear and concise language conveying the same information) and identifying the document as a “wrap fee program brochure”:
This wrap fee program brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of [your name]. If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure, please contact us at [telephone number and/or email address]. The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or by any state securities authority. Additional information about [your name] also is available on the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. D. If you refer to yourself as a “registered investment adviser” or describe yourself as being “registered,” include a statement that registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Item 2 Material Changes If you are amending your wrap fee program brochure for your annual update and it contains material changes from your last annual update, identify and discuss those changes on the page immediately following the cover
page of the wrap fee program brochure or as a separate document accompanying the brochure. You must clearly
state that you are discussing only material changes since the last annual update of the wrap fee program brochure, and must provide the date of the last annual update to the wrap fee program brochure. Notes: You do not have to provide this information to a client or prospective client who has not received a previous version of your wrap fee program brochure. Item 3 Table of Contents Provide a table of contents to your wrap fee program brochure. Note: Your table of contents must be detailed enough so that your clients can locate topics easily. Your wrap fee program brochure must follow the same order, and contain the same headings, as the items listed in this
Appendix 1.
Item 4 Services, Fees and Compensation
A. Describe the services, including the types of portfolio management services, provided under each program. Indicate the wrap fee charged for each program or, if fees vary according to a schedule, provide your fee schedule. Indicate whether fees are negotiable and identify the portion of the total fee, or the range of fees, paid to portfolio managers. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
B. Explain that the program may cost the client more or less than purchasing such services separately and describe the factors that bear upon the relative cost of the program, such as the cost of the services if provided separately and the trading activity in the client's account.
C. Describe any fees that the client may pay in addition to the wrap fee, and describe the circumstances
under which clients may pay these fees, including, if applicable, mutual fund expenses and mark-ups, mark- downs, or spreads paid to market makers. D. If the person recommending the wrap fee program to the client receives compensation as a result of the client's participation in the program, disclose this fact. Explain, if applicable, that the amount of this compensation may be more than what the person would receive if the client participated in your other programs or paid separately for investment advice, brokerage, and other services. Explain that the person, therefore, may have a financial incentive to recommend the wrap fee program over other programs or services. Item 5 Account Requirements and Types of Clients If a wrap fee program imposes any requirements to open or maintain an account, such as a minimum account size, disclose these requirements. If there is a minimum amount for assets placed with each portfolio manager as well as a minimum account size for participation in the wrap fee program, disclose and explain these requirements. To the extent applicable to your wrap fee program clients, describe the types of clients to whom you generally provide investment advice, such as individuals, trusts, investment companies, or pension plans. Item 6 Portfolio Manager Selection and Evaluation A. Describe how you select and review portfolio managers, your basis for recommending or selecting portfolio managers for particular clients, and your criteria for replacing or recommending the replacement of portfolio managers for the program and for particular clients.
under what circumstances you provide updated information.
Item 8 Client Contact with Portfolio Managers
Explain any restrictions placed on clients’ ability to contact and consult with their portfolio managers. Item 9 Additional Information A. Respond to Item 9 (Disciplinary Information) and Item 10 (Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations) of Part 2A of Form ADV. B. Respond to Items 11 (Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions and Personal Trading), 13 (Review of Accounts), 14 (Client Referrals and Other Compensation), and 18 (Financial Information) of Part 2A of Form ADV, as applicable to your wrap fee clients. If you are registered or are registering with one or more state securities authorities, you must respond to the following additional Item. Item 10 Requirements for State-Registered Advisers Respond to Item 19.E of Part 2A of Form ADV. SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
Instructions for Part 2B of Form ADV: Preparing a Brochure Supplement
Part 2B of Form ADV: Brochure Supplement
Item 1 Cover Page
A. Include the following on the cover page of the supplement:
the event. Similarly, even if more than ten years have passed since the date of the event, you must disclose the event if it is so serious that it remains currently material to a client’s or prospective client’s evaluation. If you deliver a supplement electronically and if a particular disclosure required below for the supervised person is provided through either the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) BrokerCheck system or the IAPD, you may satisfy that particular disclosure obligation by including in that supplement (i) a statement that the supervised person has a disciplinary history, the details of which can be found on FINRA’s BrokerCheck system or the IAPD, and (ii) a hyperlink to the relevant system with a brief explanation of how the client can access the disciplinary history. The BrokerCheck link is www.finra.org/brokercheck; the IAPD link is www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. A. A criminal or civil action in a domestic, foreign or military court of competent jurisdiction in which the supervised person
1. was convicted of, or pled guilty or nolo contendere (“no contest”) to (a) any felony; (b) a
misdemeanor that involved investments or an investment-related business, fraud, false statements or omissions, wrongful taking of property, bribery, perjury, forgery, counterfeiting, or extortion; or (c) a conspiracy to commit any of these offenses;
2. is the named subject of a pending criminal proceeding that involves an investment-related
business, fraud, false statements or omissions, wrongful taking of property, bribery, perjury, forgery, counterfeiting, extortion, or a conspiracy to commit any of these offenses;
3. was found to have been involved in a violation of an investment-related statute or regulation; or
4. was the subject of any order, judgment, or decree permanently or temporarily enjoining, or
otherwise limiting, the supervised person from engaging in any investment-related activity, or from violating any investment-related statute, rule, or order. B. An administrative proceeding before the SEC, any other federal regulatory agency, any state regulatory agency, or any foreign financial regulatory authority in which the supervised person
1. was found to have caused an investment-related business to lose its authorization to do business; or
2. was found to have been involved in a violation of an investment-related statute or regulation and
was the subject of an order by the agency or authority (a) denying, suspending, or revoking the authorization of the supervised person to act in an investmentrelated business; (b) barring or suspending the supervised person's association with an investment-related business; (c) otherwise significantly limiting the supervised person's investment-related activities; or (d) imposing a civil money penalty of more than $2,500 on the supervised person.
C. A self-regulatory organization (SRO) proceeding in which the supervised person
1. was found to have caused an investment-related business to lose its authorization to do business; or
2. was found to have been involved in a violation of the SRO’s rules and was: (i) barred or
suspended from membership or from association with other members, or was expelled from membership; (ii) otherwise significantly limited from investment-related activities; or (iii) fined more than $2,500. D. Any other hearing or formal adjudication in which a professional attainment, designation, or license of the supervised person was revoked or suspended because of a violation of rules relating to professional conduct. If the supervised person resigned (or otherwise relinquished the attainment, designation, or SEC 1707 (08-22) File 3 of 5
license) in anticipation of such a hearing or formal adjudication (and the adviser knows, or should have known, of such resignation or relinquishment), disclose the event. Note: You may, under certain circumstances, rebut the presumption that a disciplinary event is material. If an event is immaterial, you are not required to disclose it. When you review a legal or disciplinary event involving the supervised person to determine whether it is appropriate to rebut the presumption of materiality, you should consider all of the following factors: (1) the proximity of the supervised person to the advisory function; (2) the nature of the infraction that led to the disciplinary event; (3) the severity of the disciplinary sanction; and (4) the time elapsed since the date of the disciplinary event. If you conclude that the materiality presumption has been overcome, you must prepare and maintain a file memorandum of your determination in your records. See SEC rule 204-2(a)(14)(iii) and similar state rules. Item 4 Other Business Activities A. If the supervised person is actively engaged in any investment-related business or occupation, including if the supervised person is registered, or has an application pending to register, as a broker-dealer, registered representative of a broker-dealer, futures commission merchant (“FCM”), commodity pool operator (“CPO”), commodity trading advisor (“CTA”), or an associated person of an FCM, CPO, or CTA, disclose this fact and describe the business relationship, if any, between the advisory business and the other business.
Item 7 Requirements for State-Registered Advisers A. In addition to the events listed in Item 3 of Part 2B, if the supervised person has been involved in one of the events listed below, disclose all material facts regarding the event.
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“the client must be registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or be a business development company as defined in that Act”
“consider the applicability of the broker-dealer registration requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934”
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