WEALTH PARTNERS · BROKER-DEALER

The broker-dealer side of a Brokers Alliance practice

Brokers Alliance is an insurance marketing organization. It is not a broker-dealer, it is not a registered investment adviser, and it does not offer securities. Securities business runs through a separate affiliated broker-dealer, a FINRA member firm and a SIPC member. This page explains what that distinction means for your license, your clients and the business you are allowed to write.

Get contracted Talk to a Brokers Alliance VP

01 · WHERE THE LINE SITS

An insurance license and a securities registration are two different things

A state insurance license lets you sell fixed products. It does not let you sell a mutual fund, a variable annuity, a stock or a bond. Those are securities, and a securities registration is the only way to touch them. That registration does not live with you and it does not live with Brokers Alliance. It is held through a broker-dealer, which is the firm that supervises the business, reviews the paperwork, keeps the books and answers to the regulator when something goes wrong. If you have ever had to tell a 401k client that you could not help with the part of the balance still in the market, this is the reason why.

Insurance license is issued by the state Securities registration runs through a broker-dealer One producer can hold both at once Brokers Alliance is not a broker-dealer

02 · WHO ACTUALLY HOLDS THE REGISTRATION

The securities side sits at a separate firm

Brokers Alliance works with an affiliated broker-dealer, and that firm is where securities registration, supervision and customer business live. It is a FINRA member firm and a SIPC member. It is also a different company from Brokers Alliance, with its own management, its own compliance program and its own regulator. Brokers Alliance does not supervise securities business, does not approve securities transactions and does not hold customer assets. When a producer is ready, a Brokers Alliance vice president makes the introduction, and everything that follows is between the producer and that firm.

BDWhat a broker-dealer actually does

It holds the registration, supervises the registered representatives working under it, reviews the business they write, keeps the books and records, and answers to the regulator when something goes wrong. None of that happens at an insurance marketing organization.

MEMFINRA and SIPC membership

Our broker-dealer wealth partner is a FINRA member firm and a SIPC member. SIPC membership covers customer assets if a member firm fails. It is not protection against investment losses, and no honest page should suggest otherwise.

SEPTwo companies, not one

Brokers Alliance, Inc. is an insurance marketing organization, an IMO, FMO and BGA. It is not registered as a broker-dealer or as an investment adviser. Being contracted with Brokers Alliance does not register you to sell securities.

USWhere you can do business

A broker-dealer is approved to operate state by state, and that footprint decides where you may transact. If your book crosses state lines, or a client has moved away, ask which states are covered before you assume the answer.

03 · HOW THE ACCOUNTS ARE ACTUALLY HELD

Introducing broker, with an independent clearing firm

Most producers never ask this question and they should. The broker-dealer acts as the introducing broker. Clearing, custody and settlement run through an independent clearing firm. In plain terms, the firm you register with handles the relationship and the supervision, and a separate institution holds the assets and settles the trades. Client money does not sit at the introducing firm. That separation is standard in this part of the industry, and it is the structure a client is entitled to have explained to them in one sentence when they ask where their money is.

MFMutual funds and variable products

This is the category most Brokers Alliance producers ask about first, because variable annuities live here. A fixed insurance license does not reach them. A securities registration does.

FIEquities and fixed income

Individual stocks, along with government, municipal, corporate and mortgage-backed debt. The tools for the conservative sleeve of a portfolio, not only the growth side.

RARetirement accounts

Traditional and Roth IRAs, and employer plans including 401(k) and SIMPLE arrangements. The rollover conversation you are already having becomes one you can finish.

CSClearing and custody

An independent clearing firm clears and custodies. Introducing firm and clearing firm are separate entities carrying separate roles, and your client is entitled to know which one is which.

04 · WHAT GETTING REGISTERED LOOKS LIKE

The examinations, the sponsorship and the supervision that follows

A securities registration is not a certificate you buy. You pass the qualification examinations, a FINRA member firm sponsors and files the registration for you, the states you intend to work in accept it, and from that day forward the securities business you write is reviewed by somebody at that firm. The examinations are the short part. The supervision is the part that changes how you work, and it is worth understanding before you start rather than after. Requirements do change, so confirm the current ones with the broker-dealer before you schedule anything.

SIEThe entry examination

The Securities Industry Essentials examination covers the fundamentals of the industry and can be taken without a sponsoring firm. On its own it does not qualify you to do business. It is the first half of the qualification, paired with a representative level examination.

S6Series 6 and Series 7

Series 6 is the investment company and variable contracts representative qualification, which reaches mutual funds and variable products including variable annuities. Series 7 is the broader general securities qualification, which adds individual stocks and bonds. Which one fits depends on the business you actually intend to write.

S63Series 63 and the state layer

Passing a qualification examination is not the end of it. Most states also require the Series 63 uniform state law examination before you may transact there. If the conversation moves toward advisory work rather than brokerage, the Series 65 or the Series 66 is the relevant path instead.

SUPSponsorship and principal review

You do not hold a securities registration on your own. A FINRA member firm files it and takes responsibility for you. A registered principal at that firm reviews new accounts, correspondence and the business you submit, and the firm can decline business or decline you. That authority sits with the broker-dealer, not with Brokers Alliance.

05 · WHY A BROKERS ALLIANCE PRODUCER WOULD CARE

The half of the balance sheet you keep handing away

Brokers Alliance has been independently owned since 1982, we hold more than 73 carrier relationships, and we charge our agents no fees, no minimums and no production requirements with the technology included. All of that sits on the insurance side of the line. Every time a client’s 401k, brokerage account or managed money comes up, a fixed-only producer refers it out and never sees it again. A securities registration through the affiliated broker-dealer is one of the routes we can walk you through for that money, and it is a separate arrangement with that firm, carrying its own terms, its own supervision and its own economics. We will tell you honestly which route fits your practice, including when the answer is none of them.

401Start with the overview

The 401k and AUM section lays out how Brokers Alliance approaches retirement plan and at-risk money before you pick a lane.

RIAThe advisory route

If the answer is advisory rather than brokerage, read the RIA opportunity, then the advisor path and the solicitor path. Advisory and brokerage are governed differently and paid differently.

ALTOutside the traded markets

Some of this money does not belong in a fund at all. Alternative investments covers what we make available there.

MACThe tools you already have

MyAdvisorCloud, MyAdvisorGrids, RetirementBrain and LifeBrain are included with a Brokers Alliance contract. The affiliated broker-dealer also places registered representative material, such as commission reporting and compliance forms, behind the MyAdvisorCloud login.

06 · DISCLOSURES AND THE HANDOFF

What this page is, and what it is not

This page is informational. It is not an offer or a solicitation of any security, and nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation. Securities are offered only through the affiliated broker-dealer and only by a properly registered representative of that firm. Registration is granted by the broker-dealer under its own supervisory and compliance standards, not by Brokers Alliance, and being contracted with Brokers Alliance does not make you registered. No performance, ranking or quality claim about any firm is made anywhere on this page, and none should be read into it.

01Affiliation disclosure

The broker-dealer described on this page is an affiliated firm rather than an unrelated vendor we happen to like. We are not a neutral party, and you should weigh what you read here accordingly.

02We are not a broker-dealer

Brokers Alliance, Inc. is an insurance marketing organization, an IMO, FMO and BGA. It is not registered as a broker-dealer or as an investment adviser, and it does not hold customer assets.

03How the introduction works

When a producer is ready, a Brokers Alliance vice president makes the introduction to the broker-dealer. Whether you are accepted, on what terms and under whose supervision is that firm’s decision to make, and it is not ours.

04Verify any broker-dealer

Before you sign with any firm, look it up yourself on FINRA BrokerCheck, which carries every registered firm and every registered representative. Read the firm’s Form CRS, its business continuity plan and its privacy practices, and read the disclosure history of the people you would be working under. Do that for every broker-dealer you ever consider.

Brokers Alliance is an insurance IMO, not a broker-dealer Securities business happens at the affiliated firm Talk to a Brokers Alliance VP

Ask us the securities question before you refer the next one out

Tell us what the money actually looks like and we will tell you which route fits, whether that is a securities registration through the affiliated broker-dealer, an advisory arrangement, or leaving it exactly where it is. Call (480) 210-7892 or reach out and we will walk your practice through it.

Get contracted

This website and information are provided for informational purposes only. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy. This website and information are not intended to provide investment, tax, or legal advice.