Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines

The final chapter covers the legal and ethical framework that defines an investment adviser representative’s role. NASAA expects candidates to understand adviser and IAR registration, the broker-dealer boundary, communications and contracts, remedies and administrator authority, and the fiduciary plus conflict rules that govern ongoing conduct.

Read this chapter as a control framework. It explains not just what an adviser may do, but how the adviser must disclose, document, supervise, and avoid conflicts while acting in the client’s interest.

In this section

• Adviser and IAR Registration Framework
  Review the definitions, registration rules, federal covered adviser concepts, Form ADV, Form U4, and related framework tested on Series 65.
• Broker-Dealer, Securities, and Remedies
  Study the broker-dealer boundary, securities and issuer regulation, administrator authority, and remedies tested in the legal domain of Series 65.
• Communications, Contracts, and Disclosures
  Review adviser communications, contracts, disclosure obligations, advertising, and unlawful representations tested on Series 65.
• Fiduciary Obligations, Compensation, Custody, and Conflicts
  Study fiduciary duty, compensation issues, custody, discretion, conflicts, privacy, cybersecurity, and business continuity tested in the largest legal section of Series 65.