The Mutual Fund Dealers Association has published a notice laying out the registration requirements for sales assistants in branch offices.

The new notice defines the limited conditions under which a licensed assistant with no active clients may be excluded as “Approved Persons” when determining branch versus sub-branch status. Under MFDA guidelines, a “sub-branch” is defined as any branch office having less than four Approved Persons in it.

MFDA rules require firms to designate a person qualified as a branch manager for each branch office, but not for a sub-branch. The main purpose for requiring an on-site branch manager for all fully-staffed branches is to ensure that sales and account opening activities are appropriately supervised.

The MFDA says that where licensed assistants are registered solely to engage in sales support tasks but do not solicit trades or engage in account opening activities, they need not be included in the count of Approved Persons in the office. MFDA staff will exercise discretion and consider the actual activities performed by the assistants in determining whether an appropriate level of supervision is in place at a branch or sub-branch location.

If a firm cannot ensure that its licensed assistants meet the conditions or does not wish to limit the activities of its licensed assistants, the assistant will count as Approved Persons when determining branch versus sub-branch status.