We are pleased to announce that ACI Capital Markets LLC, a direct affiliate of the renowned FinOp consulting firm, ACI LLC, has received FINRA approval to operate as a registered broker-dealer. This marks an important milestone in our continued expansion of services for the broker-dealer community.
This accomplishment reflects the depth of experience behind our FINRA New Member Application (NMA) Support practice and the level of discipline and expertise we attribute to every ACI client engagement.
For decades, we have worked alongside firms navigating FINRA membership, financial responsibility rules and ongoing regulatory obligations. Our end-to-end NMA FinOp support includes FinOp registration, pro-forma financial modeling, regulatory documentation, stress test analysis and ESA coordination in accordance with NMA Standards 7 and 8. This is coupled with strategic introductions to other broker dealer service providers. ACI’s team of licensed FinOps ensures our section of any applicant member firm’s submission reflects industry best practices and exceeds FINRA standards.
That same expertise now directly supports the operation of ACI Capital Markets, building on our FinOp, regulatory financial reporting and NMA support services. We’re pleased to share that our BD license application was approved in 90 days, half of the standard 180 day review period. While speed alone isn’t the goal, our approval timeline reflects the level of preparation, regulatory discipline and operational rigor we bring to our profession and to the clients we serve.
Our official registration as a broker-dealer is not a departure from our core business, but rather a practical extension of it. We established the broker-dealer for two specific purposes: (i) to facilitate introductions and to cultivate relationships between broker-dealers in ways that better support our clients’ success, and (ii) to provide a structured environment for investment banking teams that are in the process of applying for their own FINRA membership. In practice, ACI Capital Markets allows these registered representatives to engage in securities transactions, while their own broker-dealer applications are under review, within a compliant and supervised framework.
The expectation is to only register personnel who are utilizing ACI for FinOp and New Member Application services. In this respect, ACI Capital Markets is a controlled extension of our existing New Member Application practice, designed to support firms through formation, without changing the nature of our core business or client relationships.
ACI LLC CEO and Managing Partner, Jay Gettenberg, will serve as CEO and FinOp of ACI Capital Markets, and Justin Tallaksen will serve as Chief Compliance Officer, bringing significant operational and regulatory experience to the firm’s leadership.
We would also like to thank the FINRA Membership Application team for their professionalism, collaboration and constructive engagement throughout the review process. We appreciate both the thoroughness of the evaluation process and the quality of the dialogue, and view this as a strong example of how effective regulatory review should work in practice.
For more than 40 years, ACI has served as a trusted partner to broker-dealers across the industry, supporting firms ranging from early-stage startups to established institutions with financial regulatory reporting, FinOp services, regulatory bookkeeping and more. The launch of ACI Capital Markets builds directly on that foundation and further strengthens our ability to support clients at every stage of their lifecycle.
Questions? Contact the ACI team to learn more.