Recordkeeping Form G-FIN

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Instructions for the Preparation of

Notice by Financial Institutions of Government Securities
Broker or Government Securities Dealer Activities
Reporting Form FR G-FIN
Effective August 2019

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARATION OF

Notice by Financial Institutions of
Government Securities Broker or
Government Securities Dealer
Activities
FR G-FIN
General Instructions
A. Terms and Abbreviations
For purposes of this report, the following terms shall
be defined as described below:

(1) “Act” refers to the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended by the Government Securities
Act of 1986.
(2) “ARA” refers to the financial institution’s
appropriate regulatory agency, as defined in section 3(a)(34)(G) of the Act. See general instruction (E) below for a listing of appropriate regulatory agencies.
(3) “Government securities” are defined in section 3(a)(42) of the Act. In general, this term
refers to direct obligations of or obligations
guaranteed as to principal or interest by the
United States; securities issued or guaranteed as
to principal or interest by corporations designated by statute or by the Secretary of the Treasury to constitute exempt securities; and puts,
calls, straddles or options on such securities.
Although not all inclusive, the following are the
more common types of government securities
covered by the term: U.S. Treasury bills, bonds,
notes; discount notes, bonds, certain collateralized mortgage obligations, pass throughs, master notes, and other obligations of the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA),
Federal National Mortgage Association
(FNMA), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), Student Loan Marketing
Association (SLMA), Federal Home Loan
Banks and Farm Credit Banks; securitized
Small Business Association (SBA) loans; and
FNMA stock.
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(4) “Government securities broker” is defined in
section 3(a)(43) of the Act. In general, this term
refers to a financial institution that is regularly
engaged in the business of effecting transactions
in government securities for the account of
others.
(5) “Government securities dealer” is defined in section 3(a)(44) of the Act. In general, this term
refers to a financial institution engaged in the
business of buying and selling government securities for its own account but does not include a
financial institution insofar as it buys or sells
securities for its own account but not as a part of
its regular business or in a fiduciary capacity.
(6) “Financial institution” is defined in Section 3(a)(46) of the Act. In general, the term
refers to any national or state chartered bank or
trust company which is supervised and examined by a state or federal bank supervisory
agency, a foreign bank, and any other institution
whose deposits were formerly insured by the
Federal Savings and Loan Insurance
Corporation.
(7) “Associated person” is defined by Treasury
regulation (17 C.F.R. 400.3(c)) to mean a person
directly engaged in any of the following activities in either a supervisory or nonsupervisory
capacity: underwriting, trading or sales of government securities; financial advisory or consultant services for issuers in connection with the
issuance of government securities; other communications with public investors, or research or
investment advice other than general economic
information or advice, with respect to government securities in connection with the activities
described above. The term is further defined in
Section 400.3(c) to cover persons engaged in the
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following activities in a supervisory capacity:
processing and clearance activities with respect
to government securities and maintenance of
records involving any of the activities described
in this paragraph.
This definition does not include directors and
senior officers of the financial institution who
may from time to time set broad policy guidelines affecting the financial institution as a
whole, but are not directly involved in the conduct of the financial institution’s government
securities business on a day-to-day basis. It also
does not cover persons whose functions are
solely clerical or ministerial, persons who are
acting in a fiduciary capacity, or persons who
act solely as order takers without giving investment advice or receiving transaction-based
compensation.

B. Who Must File?
Under Section 15C(a)(1)(B) of the Act, any financial
institution that is a government securities broker or
government securities dealer within the foregoing
definitions must file with its ARA a written notice, on
the form prescribed herein, except as described below.
A financial institution that buys and sells securities
solely for investment for its own account or for
accounts for which it acts as a fiduciary will not generally be classified as a dealer, even though such purchases and sales are made with some frequency. Virtually every financial institution purchases government
securities for investment; and purchases and sales may
occur to accommodate changes in the financial institution’s financial position or to reflect investment decisions. The legislative history of the Act indicates that
the Congress did not intend to require financial institutions engaged in such investment-type activity to register as dealers. The Department of the Treasury has
exempted financial institutions that engage solely in the
following activities:

(1) Acting as issuing agent, payment agent or
forwarding agent for U.S. Savings Bonds
(17 C.F.R. 401.1);
(2) submission of tenders for the account of customers for purchase on original issue of U.S.
Treasury securities (17 C.F.R. 401.2);
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(3) the sale and subsequent repurchase and the purchase and subsequent resale of government
securities pursuant to a repurchase or reverse
repurchase agreement (17 C.F.R. 401.4); or
(4) sales or purchases in a fiduciary capacity
(17 C.F.R. 401.4).
In general, government securities activities that may
bring a financial institution within the definition of
government securities dealer include the following:
(1) underwriting or participating in a selling group for
the sale of government securities; (2) advertising or
otherwise holding itself out to other dealers or investors as a dealer in government securities; or (3) quoting
a market for government securities, and in connection
with such quotations, standing ready to purchase or
sell government securities.
The Department of the Treasury also has exempted
(17 C.F.R. 401.3) any financial institution from the
definition of government securities broker unless it
(1) holds itself out as a government securities broker or
interdealer broker; or (2) actively solicits individual
purchases or sales of government securities on an
agency basis. In addition, a financial institution will be
exempt if it (a) effects less than 500 brokerage transactions per year or (b) except for U.S. Savings Bonds and
submissions of tenders for U.S. Treasury securities (as
described above), effects all brokerage transactions
through a government securities broker or dealer who
is clearly identified as the entity providing the brokerage services, and who meets the other conditions of the
exemption.
A branch or agency of a foreign bank that engages in
government securities transactions solely with nonU.S. citizens that are resident outside the United States
is also exempt (17 C.F.R. 401.6).

C. When to File
A financial institution that was acting as a government
securities broker or government securities dealer on
July 25, 1987, was required to file a notice with its ARA
on or before that date. Any financial institution that
proposes to act as a government securities broker or
government securities dealer after that date shall file
the notice before it commences operations.
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D. Amendments
In the event any of the information previously submitted on this notice becomes incomplete, inaccurate or
no longer applicable, the notice must be amended. This
amendment must be filed within 30 calendar days of
the notice becoming inaccurate (17 C.F.R. 400.5(b)).
Items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 of the notice shall be completed
for each amendment. Otherwise, only those items
which are being amended need to be completed.

E. How and Where to file: Number of
copies
Each financial institution must file the number of copies of the notice and each amendment as required by its
ARA, a copy of which will be sent by the ARA to the
SEC. The financial institution must retain one exact
copy until at least three years after the financial institution has notified its ARA that it has ceased to function
as a government securities broker or dealer. A financial
institution may determine the name and address of its
ARA from the following:

(1) A national bank, federal savings bank, a bank
operating in the District of Columbia that is
examined by the Comptroller of the Currency,
or a federal branch or federal agency of a foreign bank, files one copy with the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency. New filers may
send the completed form to:
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Market Risk Division
400 7th Street, S.W.
Mail Stop 7W-3
Washington, DC 20 219
Form amendments must be uploaded to the
OCC’s BankNet website www.banknet.gov. For
assistance call (202) 649-6396.

(2) A state member bank of the Federal Reserve
System, a foreign bank, an uninsured state
branch or a state agency of a foreign bank, a
commercial lending company owned or controlled by a foreign bank, or an Edge corporation files one copy with the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System by submitting
Portable Document Format (“PDF”) versions
FR G-FIN

of the form and attachments to the designated
email address [email protected].
An institution that is required to file this form
with the Federal Reserve System should contact
their district Federal Reserve Bank if the institution believes it may not be able to submit the
form electronically.

(3) A bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (other than a bank which is a
member of the Federal Reserve System or a federal savings bank) or an insured branch of a foreign bank files two copies with the:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Division of Risk Management Supervision
Attention: Government Securities
Broker/Dealers
550 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20429
or via email at [email protected]

(4) A state chartered bank or a state chartered trust
company that is not a member of the Federal
Reserve System and whose deposits are not
insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or any other financial institution not
described in the preceding paragraphs, files
with the:
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549

F. Disclosure of Information
Disclosure is mandatory for all financial institutions
that act as government securities brokers or government securities dealers that are not exempted from
filing under Treasury Department regulations (see
17 C.F.R. Part 401). The principal purpose of this
notice is to identify to the appropriate regulatory agencies those financial institutions that act as government
securities brokers or government securities dealers and
are subject to regulation under the Act. Information
supplied on this form will be included routinely in the
public files of the appropriate regulatory agencies and
will be available for inspection by any interested person. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission will maintain copies of all G-FIN notices in the
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public files, and will make them available for public
inspection by any interested person. Financial institutions that do not provide the information solicited on
this form may not lawfully act as government securities

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brokers or government securities dealers unless
exempted from the notice requirement by Treasury
Department regulation (17 C.F.R. Part 401).

FR G-FIN