E-Signature Eligible Documents - NFS (Brokerage Accounts)

Owned by Brittany Noethen
Mar 25, 2020
2 min read

National Financial has the following policy on Accepting Electronic Signatures

Effective July 31, 2012, National Financial will accept electronic signatures (e-Signatures) on NFS-required documents, with certain noted conditions as described below. 

Signature Acceptability Criteria

After careful consideration of operational requirements and of the variety of e- Signature options available in the market, National Financial has determined that the following criteria must be met, in order for National Financial to accept the electronic signature on an NFS-required document:

  1. The signature must appear on the signature line of the form

  2. The signature must visually display either:

    1. the client's hand-drawn, manual signature; OR

    2. the client’s name presented in a legible font

  3. The date of the signature must be displayed with the client’s signature

  4. If multiple parties’ signatures are required on a single form, all signatures must appear on the same signature page.

For further clarity: electronic signatures must meet the above-noted criteria in order to be accepted; National Financial will NOT accept any other electronic records, marks, or files as evidence of an electronic signature, including (but not limited to ) the following examples:

  • The signature may not be an audio file attached to the document

  • The signature may not be solely represented by a separate "click-stream report" or other separate document denoting a client's agreement/acknowledgement

  • The signature may not be solely represented by a code, symbol, or picture on the signature line

Impacted Forms

All NFS-required forms that are currently accepted by NFS in electronic image format (i.e., those for which originals are not required), will be accepted with e-Signatures. 

Exceptions

The following notable exceptions will not be accepted:

  1. Check-writing signature cards are designed for signature-comparison purposes and must therefore reflect the client’s actual, physical signature. Thus, only hand-drawn, manual signatures should be used here. Signature cards that contain signatures not reflecting the client’s actual physical signature present the strong risk of client checks failing a signature comparison.

  2. Transfer of Assets (TOA) forms may be subject to review and approval by the delivering firm. Therefore, TOA forms that have been e-Signed may or may not be accepted by the delivering firm. Correspondents who submit e-Signed TOA forms run the risk of potential rejection of the transfer request. Note: currently, e-Signature eligible transfers are typically those initiated with ACAT participant firms, certain mutual fund companies (with whom NFS has agreements), and most transfer agents.