Run A Background Check On A Broker or Brokerage Firm

Research Brokers And Brokerage Firms.  Run A Background Check On A Broker or Securities Firm.

Before you invest with a broker or brokerage firm or pay for any investment advice, you may want to make sure your brokers, financial advisers, and investment consultant representatives have not had run-ins with regulators or other investors.

You may also want to check to see whether the broker or brokerage firm is registered or licensed since if you do business with an unregistered securities broker or a firm that later goes out of business, it may be difficult or virtually impossible to recover your money (even if an arbitrator or court rules in your favor).

FINRA’s Broker Check Program

Information concerning brokerage firms and individual brokers is publicly available online through FINRA’s Broker Check program.  BrokerCheck is a free tool to help investors research the professional backgrounds of current and former FINRA-registered brokerage firms and brokers. For instance, you can find out if brokers are properly licensed in your state and if they have had run-ins with regulators or received serious complaints from investors. You’ll also find information about the brokers’ educational backgrounds and where they’ve worked before their current jobs.

Through BrokerCheck, investors can:

  • Search for both brokers and brokerage firms
  • Obtain online delivery of a background report
  • View explanatory information to help them better understand the content, context and source of the information provided

The information made available through BrokerCheck is derived from the Central Registration Depository (CRD®), the securities industry online registration and licensing database. Information in CRD is obtained through forms that brokers, brokerage firms and regulators complete as part of the securities industry registration and licensing process. BrokerCheck features professional background information on approximately 850,000 current and former FINRA-registered brokers and 17,000 current and former FINRA-registered brokerage firms.