What is an office of supervisory jurisdiction?
An office of supervisory jurisdiction, or OSJ, is a category of broker-dealer office defined in FINRA Rule 3110, the self-regulator's core supervision rule. FINRA's guidance says Rule 3110 describes four classifications of offices and locations: an OSJ, a supervisory branch office, a non-supervisory branch office and a non-branch location.
What makes an office an OSJ is the work done there. Under Rule 3110(f)(1), an office is an OSJ if any of a set of supervisory or operational functions takes place at it, including order execution or market making; structuring public offerings or private placements; maintaining custody of customers' funds or securities; final acceptance (approval) of new accounts on behalf of the firm; review and endorsement of customer orders; final approval of retail communications; and responsibility for supervising the activities of associated persons at one or more other branch offices.
Because the test is functional, a small office can be an OSJ and a large one may not be. A sales office with dozens of advisors whose new accounts and trades are approved elsewhere can be a non-OSJ branch, while a two-person office where a principal signs off on new accounts for other locations is an OSJ. This guide is general information, not legal or compliance advice; firms should rely on the current rule text and their own counsel.
How is an OSJ different from a branch office or a non-branch location?
A branch office is, broadly, any location where one or more associated persons of a firm regularly conduct the business of effecting securities transactions or inducing or attempting to induce securities purchases or sales, or that is held out as such a location, as the SEC summarized the definition when approving FINRA rule changes in 2023. OSJs are registered with FINRA through the same branch office form, Form BR, but most branch offices are not OSJs.
Rule 3110(f)(2)(A) lists exclusions. Locations that fall within those exclusions are non-branch locations and are not registered as branches. Non-branch locations still have to be supervised and inspected, but on a less frequent schedule.
Branch offices that are not OSJs are further split. A supervisory branch office supervises one or more non-branch locations; a non-supervisory branch office does not. The distinction matters mostly for how often the firm has to inspect the office.
Does an OSJ need a registered principal?
Yes. Rule 3110(a)(4) requires a firm's supervisory system to include the designation of one or more appropriately registered principals in each OSJ, and one or more appropriately registered representatives or principals in each non-OSJ branch office, with authority to carry out the supervisory responsibilities the firm assigns to that office.
FINRA Regulatory Notice 14-10, which announced the consolidated supervision rules, says the designated on-site principal for each OSJ must have a physical presence, on a regular and routine basis, at each OSJ for which the principal has supervisory responsibility. Supplementary Material .03 to Rule 3110 sets a general presumption that one principal will not be the on-site principal for more than one OSJ; a firm that does so must weigh a list of factors and document its reasoning.
Form BR reflects the same structure. According to FINRA's Form BR instructions, an OSJ branch needs an on-site principal, while a non-OSJ branch is tied to an off-site OSJ and supervisor and has an on-site person in charge; a person-in-charge designation is not allowed at an OSJ branch.
How often must an OSJ be inspected?
Rule 3110(c)(1)(A) requires a firm to inspect every OSJ, and any branch office that supervises one or more non-branch locations, at least annually. Rule 3110(c)(1)(B) requires inspection of every branch office that does not supervise non-branch locations at least every three years, and the firm's written procedures must explain the cycle it uses and the factors behind it.
Non-branch locations are inspected on a regular periodic schedule under Rule 3110(c)(1)(C). FINRA has said there is a general presumption that a non-branch location will be inspected at least every three years even when there are no red flags.
Inspections no longer always have to be on site. In November 2023 the SEC approved Rule 3110.18, a voluntary three-year pilot that lets eligible firms meet their Rule 3110(c) inspection obligations for eligible OSJs, branch offices and non-branch locations remotely, subject to conditions, according to the Federal Register notice of the approval.
Can an OSJ principal supervise from home?
In limited cases. Rule 3110.19 created the residential supervisory location, a private residence where an associated person performs specified supervisory activities that can be treated as a non-branch location rather than an OSJ or branch. FINRA announced guidance and effective dates for the provision in Regulatory Notice 24-02 on Jan. 23, 2024.
The conditions are narrow. Business at the residence must be conducted by one person or by members of the same immediate family, the location cannot be held out to the public as an office, and customers may not meet there or have funds or securities handled there, according to summaries of the rule. Because it is a non-branch location, a residential supervisory location moves from annual inspection to a periodic schedule presumed to be at least every three years.
FINRA told firms in June 2024 not to close or withdraw existing Form BR filings for locations that are or will be designated as residential supervisory locations until further notice, according to compliance consultancy ACA Group.
How are OSJs registered?
Broker-dealers register branch offices, including OSJs, with FINRA on Form BR, the uniform branch office registration form. FINRA's office-classification guidance points to Article IV, Section 8 of the FINRA By-Laws as the requirement that an OSJ be registered through Form BR.
On the form, the firm indicates whether a branch office is an OSJ or a non-OSJ branch, and identifies the supervisor. The filing is the broker-dealer's, not the advisor's: an advisor affiliated with an OSJ is registered on Form U4 with the broker-dealer, and the office they work in appears on the broker-dealer's Form BR.
Who runs OSJs at independent broker-dealers?
In the independent broker-dealer channel, the term OSJ often describes a business as well as a regulatory designation. Many OSJs are independently owned firms, led by principals registered with the broker-dealer, that supervise and support a network of affiliated advisors registered with the same broker-dealer, rather than offices run directly by the broker-dealer's own employees.
These independent OSJs make much of their money through an override, a percentage of the revenue generated by the advisors they supervise, Financial Planning reported in its 2023 coverage of the model. The size ranges from a few percentage points for supervision alone to much more when the OSJ supplies offices, staff and other support, recruiter Jodie Papike told the publication.
The largest of these businesses are often called super OSJs or enterprises. Examples include Private Advisor Group, an OSJ affiliated with LPL Financial that had about $40 billion in assets when LPL took a minority stake in November 2025, according to Financial Planning, and Wilde Wealth Management, a Scottsdale, Ariz., OSJ affiliated with Cetera Advisors since 2007, in which Cetera made a minority investment in January 2024, according to Cetera. At Osaic, Affiliated Advisors, founded by Rita Robbins in 1994, is a super OSJ for Osaic and has partnered with the broker-dealer Royal Alliance since 2004, InvestmentNews reported in November 2023.