Due Date Recap



As the end of the year draws near there are several deadlines approaching. Below is a helpful summary of those deadlines.

November 20th  --Payment due for National Financial Annual Maintenance Fee for IRA Accounts. Click here for more information.

November 30th --Deadline to pay monthly fees through E-bill.

December 1st  --The FSI Renewal Fee of $199 is charged in addition to the FINRA Renewal Fees.

December 1st --Deadline to make any changes to your Outside Business Activities (OBA) through My Compliance Office. Click here for more information.

December 8th  --Deadline to make any registration updates before FINRA's CRD system shuts down for the year. Contact Dawn Bliss at dbliss@kfn.com .

December 14th  --National Financial and IWS Annual Alternative Investment Custody & Valuation Fee applied to accounts with eligible positions. Click here for more information.

December 15th —Deadline to pay FINRA Renewal Fees and FSI Renewal Fee through E-bill.

December 22nd  --FINRA's CRD System is shut down for the remainder of the year.

December 29th --Deadline to pay monthly fees through E-bill.

December 29th  --Pershing & National Financial Inactivity Fee deadline. Click here for more information.

December 31st  –Deadline to complete Regulatory CE through FinPro. Click here for more information.

December 31st  –Deadline to complete the online Firm Element CE and Annual Compliance Meeting

Pershing Monthly Address Forwarding

To provide the most accurate and updated client addresses/services, BNY Mellon’s Pershing compares your client address information monthly with United States Postal Service® (USPS®) databases to significantly reduce the volume of returned mail and potential delays in time-sensitive client mailings. Pershing will then change the clients account mailing address to match the USPS information. This month’s forwarding will be done on November 17, 2023. Updated address will reflect on the clients account on November 18, 2023 If you have any clients that want to opt out of the automatic address forwarding, please send an email to accountservices@kovacksecurities.com by November 15, 2023.

Details on accounts to be updated are available as of November 08, 2023 via Report Center under Report ID below



Corresponding Address Forwarding Report: ID NAD450M0

Coming Soon! Pershing NETX 360+

Effective November 16, 2023, when you log in to NetX360 for Windows, you will automatically be redirected to NetX360+, Pershing’s next-generation professional workstation. You can access all of your NetX360 for Windows features through NetX360+. We encourage you to click the "Switch to NetX360+" link on the top banner to become familiar with NetX360+. You can always switch back to NetX360 for Windows by clicking the NetX360 icon on the top banner of NetX360+. 

To support your transition to NetX360+, there are a number of resources and trainings available. (Click here)

• Feature Comparison Guide, available in NetX360 Learning Center (under Tools > Resources in NetX360+ and under Resources in NetX360 for Windows) and on the NetX360+ Guide Me menu (the slide-out menu on the right side of NetX360+)
• Training: Live Virtual Session: Monday, November 20, 2 p.m. ET
• Register for upcoming live virtual sessions for “Introduction to NetX360+” targeted for users transitioning to NetX360+ by clicking the link https://bnym.webex.com/bnym/k2/j.php?MTID=tf4
• Register for “NetX360+ Navigation” by following the path below.Tools > Resources > Client Training Services > Live Virtual Sessions > Monthly Training Calendar, in NetX360+

Learning Management Video Content: “NetX360+ Introduction and Navigation

• To register for access to the Pershing Learning Management System (LMS), please follow this path: Tools > Resources > Client Training Services > Learning Management Video Catalog>Register, in NetX360+

Pershing Paper Tax Document Fee Changes

Effective March 2024, an annual paper fee of $10 per year will be charged to client accounts not enrolled in eDelivery of tax documents by December 28th, 2023. Any account that elects to receive paper tax documents will be subject to this Pershing paper fee. The paper fee will accrue as of December 31st and be assessed in March.



A statement message will be added to your client statements notifying them of this new fee. Please encourage your clients to enroll in eDelivery by logging into NetXInvestor and subscribing to these features.

Please contact Account Services at accountservices@kovacksecurities.com or 954-358-2836.

Brokerage Summary

As we head into the last few months of the year, we tend to get an increase in communications from our clearing firms. To consolidate the information we have created this Brokerage Summary page.

• Pershing Cost Basis PES Feature Available
• Pershing Deposit Limit Increase

• Fidelity 2023 Annual W-8 Tax Compliance Mailing]
• NFS/IWS Annual Maintenance Fee for IRA Accounts-Important Dates
• NFS-2023 State Escheatment Filing
• NFS-2023 Alternative Investments Annual Fee Important Dates
• NFS 2023 Annual Custody and Recordkeeping (Inactivity) Fee
• Fidelity (NFS/IWS) IRS Form 5498 Updates for Tax Year 2023

• UTMA/UGMA Accounts Past the Age of Majority

2023 Kovack Annual Compliance Meeting

It was fantastic that over 165 Registered Representatives and Registered Assistants joined us for the Annual Compliance Meeting during our National Conference.

If you were not able to attend the National Conference, a Quest CE course will be available online in a few weeks. You will need to complete the course and then complete the attestation to fulfill your Annual Compliance Meeting requirement.

Save the Date: 2024 Kovack National Conference

Please mark your calendar to join us next year for the 2024 Kovack National Conference. Click here to view the benefit levels.

2024 Kovack InTouch National Conference

Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes

Orlando, FL

October 14-16, 2024

2023 FINRA Continuing Education Reminder

Completion Deadline: Dec 31, 2023

FINRA’s requirements for many decades have been for Registered Representatives (RR) to complete Continuing Education (CE) every three years. In 2022, FINRA changed the requirement for this CE, beginning in 2023. Every RR, regardless of their time in the business, must now complete a number of courses assigned on the FINRA website every year, with a completion date requirement of December 31st. Representatives who fail to complete these courses will be automatically designated as CE inactive by FINRA. There will be NO exceptions, and Kovack will NOT be able to request exceptions. 

Please note: based on research by CE course regulatory vendors, over 400,000 of the current 620,000 FINRA RRs will delay until the last two weeks to complete these courses. Website crashes because of the number of visitors will NOT be an acceptable reason for exceptions. We encourage you to complete this requirement earlier than the Dec 31st deadline.

The regulatory element CE must be completed through FINRA’s online platform, FinPro. You can access the CE by opening the following link:

https://www.finra.org/registration-exams-ce/finpro

First time FinPro users will have to create an account. Registered persons who already have a FinPro account can use their existing log in information.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Jeff Miller at jmiller@kfn.com.

You can read the full notice at https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/notices/information-notice-072623  

Voya Helps Clients Manage Volatility

Helping clients keep their cool may be hard to do when the market is making big waves. It may be useful to have strategies in place that prepare them both financially and psychologically to handle market volatility. There are 11 methods investors may wish to use to prevent themselves from making hasty decisions that could have a long-term impact on their ability to achieve financial goals. Help your clients understand these 11 methods in Managing Volatility. If you are looking for additional client-approved materials to enhance their financial literacy, simply visit Voya’s Investment Insights for Retirement.

Upcoming Select Advantage Webinars:

Topic: Behavioral Finance – Science of Fear & Greed

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 8th 1:00 CST

Registration link:   https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2703102485386722392

This week you’ll learn:

• The Three Pillars of Investment Success
• How to Manage Investing Behavior
• How Fear and Greed can affect a client’s returns

Need to Get Appointed with an Insurance Carrier?

Whether you are new to Kovack or just need to add a new insurance appointment, SuranceBay is the quickest and easiest way to get appointed.

Carriers all ask for the same information on prospective producers: demographic info, licenses, background questions, E&O insurance details, etc. With SureLC™, it takes a producer an average of 7 minutes to input this information. But once it is entered, it does not need to be done again and the producer is then ready to request carrier-contracting paperwork for any of the 460+ different carriers that SureLC™ supports. Approved producers can then use this portal to submit changes, making sure agencies have your most up-to-date information on hand at all times.

Benefits and Features

• Saves you time by auto-populating your information from third-party sources such as:
• NIPR
• LIMRA
• ClearCert
• State Licenses
• Comprehensive transmittals: Includes all requisite transmittal forms for each carrier
• Automatic updating of all carrier contracting paperwork
• Imaging: Optical character recognition and image recognition enabling uploaded documents to be recognized and auto-sorted in a matter of seconds
• 100% paperless e-Signature support

Please click here for instructions on how to register for a new SureLC account with Kovack Securities.

Please click here for support resources.

If you have any questions, please contact Debbie Eppolito at (954) 670-8703 at deppolito@kfn.com.