What is a Form BD filing? (2026)

A Form BD filing is how a firm becomes a registered broker-dealer in the United States. Its full name is the Uniform Application for Broker-Dealer Registration, and it is the document a firm files to register with the SEC under Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and at the same time with the self-regulatory organisations and state jurisdictions where it intends to do business. This guide explains what a Form BD filing is, what it discloses, and how to look up the result. It is not investment advice.

What does a Form BD filing disclose?

Form BD is an identity-and-history document rather than a financial report. It records who the firm is and who stands behind it: the legal name and any business names, the form of organisation and where it is organised, the addresses of its offices, the types of securities business it intends to conduct, and the SROs and states it is registering with.

It also names the people and entities with control: direct and indirect owners, executive officers, and control affiliates. The part that carries the most weight is the disciplinary disclosure, where the firm must report criminal, regulatory, and civil-judicial events involving the firm or its control persons. That history is why the form matters to anyone checking a counterparty rather than just the regulator processing it.

Once registered, the firm keeps Form BD current by filing amendments when the answers change, so the record is a living file rather than a snapshot at entry.

How long does registration take?

Section 15(b)(1) of the Exchange Act generally requires registration to be granted within 45 days after the Form BD is filed, unless the applicant consents to a longer period.

Registration with the SEC alone does not put a firm in business. A broker-dealer must also become a member of at least one self-regulatory organisation, in practice FINRA or a national securities exchange, and satisfy that SRO's own membership requirements. The SEC clock and the SRO process run in parallel.

Where Form BD is filed, and how to look a firm up

Form BD is filed electronically through the Central Registration Depository, known as Web CRD, operated by FINRA. This is the practical difference from most filings covered here: a Form BD does not land on EDGAR the way a 10-K or a 13F does. It goes into CRD.

The public window into CRD is FINRA BrokerCheck, which reports a firm's registration status, history, and disclosure events, along with the same for its registered individuals. For investment advisers the equivalent public window is the SEC's IAPD system, described in how to read a Form ADV.

To leave, a firm files Form BDW, the Uniform Request for Broker-Dealer Withdrawal. A full withdrawal terminates registration with the SEC, FINRA, other SROs, and all jurisdictions at once. A partial withdrawal ends registration with named jurisdictions or SROs while SEC registration continues.

How Form BD relates to the adviser filings

Broker-dealers and investment advisers sit under different statutes and file different forms, which is the single most common source of confusion. A broker-dealer registers on Form BD under the Exchange Act. An adviser registers on Form ADV under the Advisers Act. Some firms are dually registered and file both. The retail-facing summary that either type must deliver is covered in what is Form CRS, and the two registrations are set side by side in Form BD vs Form ADV.

So, what is a Form BD filing in one line: the application that registers a firm as a broker-dealer with the SEC, filed through Web CRD and readable through BrokerCheck. Flock reads public regulatory filings and keeps each one stamped with its date and source. What any of it means for your money is your call to make.