Forms U4 & U5
Form U4 registers an individual with FINRA through a member firm — disclosing employment history, residences, and disciplinary events; Form U5 reports the termination of that registration within 30 days, with a copy to the rep.
Exam items lean on who files and when: only the member firm files U4 and U5 through Web CRD — a rep can never self-register or self-terminate. Expect a clock question: U5 is due within 30 days of termination, and the firm must give the rep a copy. The classic “tell” is a disclosable event (a customer complaint, a felony charge, an unsatisfied judgment) — the answer hinges on amending the U4 within 30 days (events creating a statutory disqualification demand a faster 10-day amendment), even after the rep left, because U4 amendment duties survive the relationship.
Watch the confusables. A willful false or omitted U4 disclosure can itself trigger statutory disqualification — the form is the trigger, not just paperwork. Don’t mix up a U5 filing with CE inactivity or OBA notice: U5 ends registration, CE keeps an active rep current, and OBA (Rule 3270) is prior written notice of a side job. Memory hook: U-FOUR you’re IN, U-FIVE you’re OUT. A firm’s duty to amend a U5 has no fixed cutoff — it runs until final disposition, not a two-year cap (the U5 “two-year” figures item-writers cite are the defamation and registration-lapse clocks, not an amendment deadline).
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