Know the background of your broker or investment adviser before you invest your money
The New Jersey Bureau of Securities is charged with protecting investors from investment fraud and regulating the securities industry in New Jersey.
You can obtain information, including the registration status and disciplinary history of any financial professional doing business in or from New Jersey, by contacting the Bureau toll-free within New Jersey at (866) 446-8378 or from outside New Jersey at (973) 504-3600, or by visiting the Bureau’s website.
Investors can also contact the Bureau for assistance or raise issues or complaints about New Jersey-based financial professionals or investment firms.
You can check your broker or adviser’s background for free online using Broker Check. Review the registration records of your investment professional and firm before you make an investment.
You can also review whether the Bureau has filed an action against your broker, adviser, or firm by searching the Bureau’s orders.
The annual N.J. adviser exam
Investment advisers must take an annual test in New Jersey. On June 14, Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Bureau of Securities within the Division of Consumer Affairs announced the release of the Bureau’s annual investment adviser examination.
The Bureau uses the annual examination as a risk assessment tool for the almost 900 registered investment adviser firms that manage hundreds of thousands of clients’ investment accounts in New Jersey.
“Hard-working people sometimes trust their entire life’s savings with investment advisers as they look to build their wealth and create a better future for their families,” Platkin said when announcing this year’s exam is open. “This examination helps the Bureau identify and address problematic business practices before investors are harmed.”
Firms are required to provide responses to questions about their business activities, including portfolio composition, compliance with regulatory requirements, and customer complaints. Officials said the questions are updated each year to reflect changes in the investment adviser industry and the Bureau’s examination priorities, including the proliferation of digital assets as well as the ongoing protection of elderly investors.
“This annual examination is a key tool that we use to protect New Jersey investors and their money,” said Acting Consumer Affairs Director Cari Fais. “It allows the Bureau to assess how investment advisers are operating to ensure they’re complying with securities laws and regulations, especially when it comes to emerging markets and those involving particularly vulnerable investors.”
In addition to assessing compliance with state laws regarding the sale of securities, the examination assesses compliance with other laws that affect the industry, such as the NJ Safeguarding Against Financial Exploitation Act. The act requires financial professionals, including state-registered investment advisers, to promptly notify the Bureau of Securities and county adult protective services if they believe a senior or vulnerable investor is being exploited.
The examination also assesses compliance with Bureau policies and procedures, including a requirement that every firm, regardless of its size, create and maintain a written business continuity plan to respond to an emergency or significant business disruption.
The information collected in the annual examination allows the Bureau to create risk profiles, provide guidance, and when necessary, ramp up oversight.
“The Bureau believes that investor protection begins with prevention. Our Annual Investment Adviser Examination is a way for us to identify and put a stop to practices that expose clients to unnecessary risks,” said Acting Bureau Chief Amy Kopleton. “By working with firms to ensure they’re complying with securities laws and operating in alignment with industry best practices, we are proactively protecting investors and the integrity of New Jersey’s financial services market.”
The annual exam must be taken no later than July 13.
Krystal Knapp is the founder, executive director, and publisher of The Jersey Vindicator and the founder of Planet Princeton. She has more than two decades of experience reporting in New Jersey, including 10 years at The Trenton Times, where she was the newsroom’s public records and computer-assisted reporting expert. Her work has been recognized by the New Jersey Press Association and the Center for Cooperative Media. You can reach her at Krystal AT jerseyvindicator.org.