5.1.2. Opening a Customer Account
To open an account, all customers must fill out a new client account form, which is kept at the brokerage firm. The information required on the client account form depends on the type of customer account.
All accounts require the following information:
• customer’s name and address
• whether customer is of legal age
• name of the associated person who will handle the account
• principal’s signature confirming that the account was properly set up
For each account other than an institutional account and accounts whose investments are limited to purchasing unsolicited mutual funds, the broker should make reasonable efforts to obtain the following information before the account’s first trade settles:
• customer’s social security or tax ID number
• customer’s occupation, and the name and address of the customer’s employer
• whether the customer is an associated person of another FINRA member firm
For discretionary accounts, the form must also include the dated signature of each person authorized to make trades in the account.
For accounts other than institutional accounts, the broker-dealer must seek to obtain from the customer the name and cont