How do I register an entity to be a Registered Investment Advisor in New York State?

Hello,

According to the New York attorney general's office, you need to
register if you have more than five clients in the state. You can do
so by completing a Form ADV with the Investment Adviser Registration
Depository at least 10 days before engaging in investment activities
in the state. You must renew your application every year.

The ADV should be filed electonically, except for Part 2, which should
be filed in paper form (more on that below).

Within two years, you must pass either:

(1) the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination (Series 65 examination); 
or
(2) the General Securities Representative Examination (Series 7
examination) and the Uniform Combined State Law Examination (Series 66
examination).

People who meet certain other qualifications can get a waiver from the
exam requirement.

The fee for registering and renewing is $200.

Source; NYS OAG, "Part 11. INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICES," 6 Aug. 2003,
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/investors/investment_advisor_regulations_2003.pdf.

Before you can file the Form ADV, you must register with the IARD. You
then have to put money into an IARD online account to cover the fees,
then register as an adviser on the IARD website.

Source: IARD, "Filing Online," 2003, http://www.iard.com/FilingOnline.asp.

The coversheet, Paper 2 and Schedule F of the ADV are not on IARD. Nor
is Form NY-IAQ, which you should fill out to say you have passed the
required exam or do not need to.

You can get copies of those documents at
(http://www.oag.state.ny.us/investors/form_categ.html) and send them
to:

NYS Department of Law
120 Broadway, 23rd floor
New York, NY 10271 

Source: NYS OAG, "Frequently Asked Questions of the Attorney General,"
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/faqs/faq.html#25c.

Form ADV is available at
(http://www.oag.state.ny.us/investors/investor/fadvpapr.pdf).

The requirements are somewhat different if you are already registered
with the federal SEC. All of the information should be in the
documents listed above.

If you have any questions about the process, you can call the NYS OAG
at 212-416-8285.

I hope this answer meets your needs. If not, please request clarification.

Search strategy:

New York registering investment adviser
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Request for Answer Clarification by koshish-ga on 10 Jul 2004 15:04 PDT

Thanks for the answer. I am looking for advice on what exactly is
needed to register? Do you have to have an office here? What
requirements are there in terms of type of company? Are there any net
worth restrictions? Do I need a lawyer to fill up this form? While I
appreciate your answer, its too general and not very practical. Would
appreciate your being more specific.

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Clarification of Answer by mwalcoff-ga on 11 Jul 2004 05:51 PDT

I'm sorry the answer did not meet your needs. The extra questions were
not part of your initial posting.

The regulations pertaining to the registration of investment advisors
in New York state do not mention any restrictions in terms of
residency, net-worth or the kind of company registered advisors can
set up. As for whether or not you need a lawyer to fill out the form,
that depends on your own expertise. It's not a requirement, but you
may find it necessary.

The answer is way too basic to be of any real help.

Thank you, mwalcoff-ga. I appreciate the time and effort you took in
answering the question offered. I found the information quite adequate
to register for the NYS RIA program. So regardless of koshish-ga
response which I found quite rude (no thanks for even the effort), I
found the effort quite satisfactory. Thanks again,
Nanouk