RIA Website Compliance
What compliance actually requires of an RIA or advisor website.
A plain-language 2026 guide for RIAs, breakaway advisors, and hybrid reps. What the SEC Marketing Rule and FINRA Rule 2210 shape on a website, which disclosures need a home, and how to run the build so firm review is fast instead of painful.
Trevor spent a decade in enterprise sales and capital raising across fintech, private wealth, and family offices. This guide describes what a design partner builds around. It is not legal or compliance advice, and your CCO or counsel makes every final call.
Who Reviews What
Your registration decides which rules the website answers to.
The first compliance question about any advisor website is not about design. It is about who regulates the firm, because that decides the review path before launch.
SEC-registered RIA
The SEC Marketing Rule has governed adviser advertising since November 2022. It permits testimonials, endorsements, and third-party ratings with specific disclosures, and it sets strict conditions on any performance content. The CCO reviews the site against the firm's marketing policies.
State-registered RIA
State-registered firms follow their own state's advertising rules, not the SEC Marketing Rule. Some states have adopted similar provisions and some still restrict testimonials more tightly. Confirm the current position of your state administrator before publishing testimonials or ratings.
Broker-dealer and hybrid reps
Advisor sites operating under a broker-dealer are retail communications under FINRA Rule 2210. Expect principal pre-approval before first use, content standards that bar promissory language, and the BrokerCheck link requirement covered below. The BD review desk has final say.
Insurance-licensed advisors
Annuity and insurance content is regulated by state insurance departments, and carrier marketing rules often apply on top. If the practice mixes advisory and insurance work, the site should keep the 2 offers clearly separated so each can be reviewed under the right standard.
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The Marketing Rule, Applied
6 website decisions the SEC Marketing Rule shapes.
The rule is long, but its effect on a website comes down to a handful of concrete decisions. Here is each one in plain language, with the detail your CCO will care about.
What counts as advertising
The rule generally treats a public website as advertising, including service pages, advisor bios, and posts that promote the firm. Plan every page as if a regulator will read it, because the standard applies to all of it.
The baseline standard
No untrue or misleading statements, and every material claim of fact must be substantiated on demand. Benefits must be balanced with the related risks and limitations. Cherry-picked results and unbalanced claims are the classic failures.
Testimonials and endorsements
Permitted with clear and prominent disclosure of client status, compensation, and material conflicts. Compensated promoters generally need a written agreement, and the adviser must oversee the arrangement. Reviews cannot be cherry-picked in a misleading way.
Third-party ratings
Badges like Best Advisor lists are third-party ratings. The site must disclose the rating date, the period it covers, who produced it, and whether the firm paid in connection with it. Undated award badges with no context are a common deficiency.
Performance content
Gross performance must be accompanied by net performance with at least equal prominence over the same periods, and standard presentations generally use 1, 5, and 10 year periods as of the most recent calendar year end. Many firms keep performance off the marketing site entirely.
Hypothetical and target figures
Backtests, models, and target or projected returns are hypothetical performance. The conditions attached to them make a general public webpage a poor fit, so treat any such figure as specialist territory that the CCO must clear first.
Required Furniture
The pages and links compliance expects to find.
Beyond the claims standards, an advisor website has a short list of fixtures that reviewers look for immediately. Building them in from the start is cheap. Retrofitting them later is not.
Form CRS, posted prominently
An SEC-registered adviser that serves retail investors and has a public website must post its current Form CRS prominently on it. A clearly labeled link in primary navigation or an obvious disclosures page is the working pattern.
ADV brochures and privacy notice
Most firms post the firm-supplied ADV Part 2 brochure and the privacy notice with Form CRS on one disclosures page. Delivery obligations still run through the firm's normal process. The website copy simply makes the documents easy to find.
A visible BrokerCheck link
For broker-dealer and hybrid sites, FINRA Rule 2210(d)(8) requires a readily apparent reference and hyperlink to BrokerCheck on the initial retail page and on any page with a registered person's profile. FINRA guidance says a footer-only link generally is not enough.
Registration language that matches reality
Firm names, marketing names, and registration status must match the firm's filings. A DBA works when it is disclosed on Form ADV and used consistently. Fee language matters too, because fee-only and fee-based describe different firms and the wrong word is a misleading claim.
Archiving and books and records
Advisers must keep copies of their advertisements, and the website is one. Firms typically capture versions with an archiving tool or keep dated snapshots and a change log. The build should hand compliance a complete record, not a moving target.
Disclosure placement that survives review
Required disclosures work when they sit near the claim they qualify, in readable type, on the same screen. Burying them behind a link or in fine print invites a rewrite. Good layout makes clear and prominent easy instead of ugly.
Breakaways and New RIAs
Launching the website while the firm itself is launching.
Breakaway advisors and new RIAs build websites under time pressure with registration in flight. The pattern that works keeps the build private until the firm is cleared to speak publicly. The full sequencing playbook is in the breakaway advisor website guide.
Build private, launch public
Write, design, and review the full site on a private staging URL while registration is pending. The public launch waits for the registration to be effective and for counsel to clear it. Nothing about that sequencing slows the build itself.
Coordinate the exit timing
If you are leaving a broker-dealer or another firm, your existing agreements and solicitation rules govern what you can say and when. Keep the site dark until the resignation and announcement sequence your counsel sets is complete.
Get the identity right once
Firm legal name, marketing name, registration status, custodian relationships, and credential marks should be confirmed in writing before they render anywhere. A lapsed designation on a live website is exactly the kind of detail a review desk catches.
Start the compliance file on day 1
Save the approved launch version, start the change log, and turn on archiving the day the site goes live. The first exam request for advertising records is much easier when the record starts at launch.
TMN Fit
A build process shaped for firm review, run by people who know the buyer.
TMN Creative builds advisor and RIA websites with copy drafted for the firm's review, disclosure placement planned from the first layout, staged drafts on a private URL, and a change log the CCO can file. Trevor's decade across fintech, private wealth, and family-office capital raising means the positioning conversation starts at fluency, not from a template.
Interpretation and approval always remain with the firm's CCO, counsel, or broker-dealer review desk. For category-relevant proof, review our confidential private wealth work, described at category level without naming the client.
FAQ
Compliance questions advisors ask before a build.
Short factual answers. Your CCO or counsel interprets the rules for your firm and approves the final site.
Can financial advisors use testimonials on their websites?
SEC-registered advisers can publish testimonials and endorsements under the Marketing Rule when the required disclosures appear clearly and prominently: whether the person is a client, whether they were compensated, and any material conflicts of interest. Compensated promoters generally also need a written agreement with the adviser. State-registered advisers follow their own state advertising rules, which can be more restrictive, and broker-dealer representatives need principal review under FINRA Rule 2210. The firm's CCO or counsel makes the final call before anything is published.
Does an RIA have to post Form CRS on its website?
An SEC-registered adviser that serves retail investors and has a public website must post its current Form CRS prominently on that website. Most firms put Form CRS, the ADV Part 2 brochure, and the privacy notice together on one clearly linked disclosures page. Form CRS is an SEC requirement, so state-registered advisers should confirm their own state's disclosure expectations instead.
Where does the BrokerCheck link go on an advisor website?
FINRA Rule 2210(d)(8) requires a readily apparent reference and hyperlink to BrokerCheck on the initial page a member firm intends retail investors to view and on any page with a professional profile of a registered person who works with retail investors. FINRA guidance says a footer-only link generally does not satisfy the readily apparent standard, so plan for visible placement near the top of the page or beside each advisor profile. This applies to broker-dealer and hybrid advisor sites, and the firm's compliance team confirms placement.
Do advisor websites need to be archived?
SEC recordkeeping rules require advisers to keep copies of their advertisements, and website content generally qualifies, while FINRA member firms have their own retention obligations. Because a website changes over time, firms typically capture versions with a compliance archiving tool or keep dated snapshots and a change log. A well-run build provides staged drafts, a review copy, and a change log so the compliance file stays complete from day 1.
Can a new RIA publish its website before registration is approved?
Firms typically build, write, and review the website privately while registration is pending, then take it public once the registration is effective and counsel clears launch. What may be published before that point is a legal question that depends on the firm's situation, so the safe operating pattern is a private staging URL, no public holding out as an adviser, and a launch date coordinated with counsel.
Can an advisor website show investment performance?
Showing performance on a public advisor website is possible but heavily conditioned. Under the SEC Marketing Rule, gross performance must be accompanied by net performance with at least equal prominence over the same periods, standard presentations generally use 1, 5, and 10 year periods as of the most recent calendar year end, and hypothetical performance carries conditions that make it a poor fit for a general public webpage. Many firms choose to keep performance off the marketing site entirely and discuss it in one-on-one conversations instead. The firm's compliance team decides.
Does TMN Creative provide compliance approval?
No. TMN Creative designs and builds the website, drafts clear supportable copy for the firm's review, structures disclosure placement, and delivers staged drafts and change logs that fit a compliance workflow. Interpretation of the rules and final approval always remain with the firm's CCO, counsel, or broker-dealer review desk. TMN does not provide investment, legal, or compliance advice.
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