Registered Investment Advisor - RIA

What is a Registered Investment Advisor?

A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) is defined by The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 as a "person or firm that, for compensation, is engaged in the act of providing advice, making recommendations, issuing reports or furnishing analyses on securities, either directly or through publications." A Registered Investment Advisor (or RIA) is an investment manager who is registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and who must comply with SEC regulations.

Most RIAs are partnerships or corporations, but individuals can also register as RIAs.

RIA competitors

RIAs tend to compete with the following groups for the provision of investment services:

• hedge fund
• Mutual Funds
• Wire house firms - via wrap programs or individual brokers
• Do-it-yourselfers

Qualifications required to become an RAI

You need to have a professional qualification like a post-graduate diploma or a degree in accountancy, banking, Capital markets, finance, commerce, Economics, insurance, business management from a recognized university or institution.

In case, you don't have any of these qualifications, you need to be a graduate in any discipline with at least five years of experience in providing financial advice for products like securities, assets, funds and Portfolio management.

Who can apply for RAI India?

A corporate body, individual firm or partnership firm can apply to SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) for registration as an investment advisor.

Certifications to become RAI

There are two certificates offered by National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) that you need to have-

1) NISM-Series-X-A: Investment Adviser Level 1 Certification Examination 2) NISM-Series-X-B: Investment Adviser Level 2 Certification Examination

You can also look for other NISM certification like CFP, CWM, etc.