Overview
- Headquarters
- St Louis, MO
- Total Firm Assets
- $197.5 billion
- Average High-Net-Worth Client Portfolio Size
- $1.9 million
- Minimum Account Size
- $50,000
Fee Structure
Primary Fee Schedule (ADVISORY CONSULTING SERVICES BROCHURE)
| Min | Max | Marginal Fee Rate |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | and above | 1.00% |
Illustrative Fee Rates
| Total Assets | Annual Fees | Average Fee Rate |
|---|---|---|
| $1 million | $10,000 | 1.00% |
| $5 million | $50,000 | 1.00% |
| $10 million | $100,000 | 1.00% |
| $50 million | $500,000 | 1.00% |
| $100 million | $1,000,000 | 1.00% |
Clients
- High-Net-Worth Share of Firm Assets
- 69.57%
- Number of High-Net-Worth Clients
- 73,687
- Total Client Accounts
- 394,160
- Discretionary Accounts
- 302,279
- Non-Discretionary Accounts
- 91,881
Services Offered
Services: Financial Planning, Portfolio Management for Individuals, Portfolio Management for Pooled Investment Vehicles, Portfolio Management for Institutional Clients, Pension Consulting, Investment Advisor Selection, Educational Seminars
Regulatory Filings
- SEC CRD Number
- 793
Additional Brochure: ADVISORY CONSULTING SERVICES BROCHURE (2026-04-06)
View Document Text
SEC Number: 801-10746
ADVISORY CONSULTING SERVICES
Disclosure Brochure
March 31, 2026
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated.
This brochure focuses on our Advisory Consulting Services; we also offer wrap fee programs and fee-based financial planning,
which are covered in separate brochures. If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure, please contact us at the
address or telephone number provided below. The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or by any state securities authority. Additional information about Stifel,
Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated is available on the SEC’s website at adviserinfo.sec.gov. Registration with the SEC does not
imply a certain level of skill or training.
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated
501 North Broadway
St. Louis, Missouri 63102
(314) 342-2000
Stifel.com
INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED • NOT A BANK DEPOSIT • NOT INSURED BY ANY
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE
Page 1 of 45
SF1601-3/26
MATERIAL CHANGES
This section describes the material changes that have been made to Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the
“Firm”)’s brochure since March 2025. This Brochure, dated March 31, 2026, has been prepared according to the SEC’s disclosure
requirements.
The following material changes to this Brochure have occurred since its last annual amendment:
New material changes:
• Stifel Independent Advisors, LLC (“SIA”) has been acquired by Equitable Holdings, Inc. All references throughout this
Brochure to SIA being an affiliate of Stifel Financial Corp or its affiliates, and any mention of an affiliation have been updated to
reflect the new ownership.
• Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies, and Risk of Loss. Section updated to provide additional details regarding the
risks associated with indirect investments in digital assets, including that some recommended funds/ETPs may have exposure to
cryptocurrencies, which are highly speculative and can be extremely volatile—so investors could lose some or all of their
investment and may have fewer protections than with traditional products. It also warns of additional risks like fraud, hacking
and loss of access (e.g., private keys), limited oversight, pricing differences versus net asset value, and the fact that crypto trades
24/7 while related ETFs/brokerage products trade only during market hours, creating potential gaps and price impacts.
• Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies, and Risk of Loss. A new subsection has been added to discuss the firms use of,
and the risks associated with, artificial intelligence (“AI”). Stifel expects to expand its use of AI technologies across investment
and middle-/back-office operations under its governance, security, and risk-management frameworks, with protocols that will
evolve over time. It also notes that AI is rapidly changing and data- and algorithm-dependent, creating risks such as errors,
regulatory constraints/costs, third-party dependency, and potential data leakage or performance failures that could materially
harm Stifel and/or clients.
Instead of providing an updated brochure each year, we generally provide this summary of material changes by April 30 of each year. Because it is a summary, it
does not contain all of the updates that were made to the brochure. Please read the full brochure, which is available to you at no charge at
stifel.com/disclosures/investment-advisory-services/program-disclosures under the section “Stifel Form ADV 2A Disclosure Brochures” or by contacting your
Financial Advisor. Capitalized terms used in this section have the meanings assigned to them in the main body of this brochure.
Page 2 of 45
SF1601-3/26
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................ 4
ADVISORY BUSINESS ................................................................................................................................................................. 4
ADVISORY PROGRAMS OFFERED BY STIFEL ................................................................................................................... 6
WRAP FEE PROGRAMS ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
FEE-BASED FINANCIAL PLANNING ...................................................................................................................................... 6
OTHER ADVISORY PROGRAMS ............................................................................................................................................. 6
STIFEL VANTAGE PROGRAM ................................................................................................................................................. 6
STIFEL SUMMIT PROGRAM .................................................................................................................................................... 7
OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAMS ............................................................................................................ 8
MANAGEMENT AND ADVISORY SERVICES TO PRIVATE FUNDS ............................................................................... 9
FEES AND COMPENSATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 9
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE MANAGEMENT ........................................................................... 20
ACCOUNT REQUIREMENTS AND TYPES OF CLIENTS .................................................................................................. 20
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT STRATEGIES, AND RISK OF LOSS .......................................................... 20
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION………………………………………………………………………………………….....28
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES AND AFFILIATIONS ............................................................................ 30
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST IN CLIENT TRANSACTIONS, AND PERSONAL TRADING
......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
BROKERAGE PRACTICES ...................................................................................................................................................... 33
REFERRAL PROGRAMS .......................................................................................................................................................... 37
CASH SWEEP OPTIONS ........................................................................................................................................................... 39
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS .......................................................................................................................................................... 41
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION ..................................................................................................... 42
CUSTODY ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 42
INVESTMENT DISCRETION ................................................................................................................................................... 43
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES ............................................................................................................................................... 43
FINANCIAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................................... 43
ERISA RULE 408(B)(2) DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLANS .......................... 43
Page 3 of 45
SF1601-3/26
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
standards of care, and separate contracts with clients govern
each. While there are similarities among brokerage and
Advisory services, our firm’s contractual relationship with and
legal duties to you are subject to a number of important
differences, depending on whether we are acting in a
brokerage or Advisory capacity.
ADVISORY BUSINESS
About Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the
“Firm”) is a broker-dealer that has been registered with the SEC
since 1936 and an investment adviser that has been registered
with the SEC since May 7, 1975. Stifel is owned by Stifel
Financial Corp., a publicly held company whose common stock
trades under the symbol “SF.” Stifel is a leading full-service
wealth management, investment advisory, broker-dealer, and
investment banking firm, serving the investment and capital
needs of clients. Stifel is a member of the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), the Securities Investor
Protection Corporation (“SIPC”) and various exchanges.
Information about Stifel’s qualifications, business practices,
portfolio management techniques, and affiliates is accessible on
our website at Stifel.com as well as via publicly available filings
with the SEC at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Types of Advisory Services Offered by Stifel
Our services include discretionary and non-discretionary1
Advisory services, which generally involve account and/or
portfolio management, asset allocation and related services, and
recommendation of, or assistance with the selection of, securities
and/or investment managers (“Managers”). Such Managers
include firms that are independent of our firm (“Independent
Managers”) as well as firms owned by our parent company,
Stifel Financial Corp., or one of its subsidiaries (“Affiliated
Managers”).
In this brochure, the pronouns “we,” “our,” “us,” and similar
words will refer to Stifel. The pronouns “you,” “your,” and
similar words will refer to you as the client. References to the
singular throughout this brochure include the plural and vice
versa. Capitalized terms shall have the meanings assigned to
them in this brochure.
Services We Provide
We offer both investment advisory (“Advisory”) and brokerage
services to our Clients. As a dually registered broker-dealer and
investment adviser, most of our registered representatives are
licensed and qualified to provide both brokerage and investment
advisory services. It is important that you understand the cost
and benefits of each option and discuss any questions you may
have with your representative.
We believe that investment advisory services are suitable and
appropriate for a wide variety of our clients; however, these
services are not for everyone. There likely will be situations
where the fees and expenses associated with investment advisory
services may exceed those that would apply for brokerage-only
services. We encourage you to review both options very
carefully before settling on one option.
We enter into written advisory agreements (each, an “Advisory
Agreement”) with clients acknowledging our Advisory
relationship and disclosing our obligations when acting in an
Advisory capacity to the client. We provide Advisory services to
a variety of clients, including individuals, corporations and other
businesses, pension or profit sharing plans, employee benefit
plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, state and
municipal government entities, private funds, educational
institutions, insurance companies, and banks or thrift institutions
(“Clients”). We generally provide Advisory services through our
investment advisory representatives (“Financial Advisors”), who
determine the services that are most appropriate for Clients
based on each Client’s stated individual investment goals,
financial circumstances, and other information provided by the
Client. We are able to fulfill a Client’s wealth management
needs by acting as broker-dealer, investment adviser, or both.
Our Advisory services cover many types of debt and equity or
equity-related securities of domestic and foreign companies, as
well as national, state, and local government issuers, whether
trading on an exchange or over-the-counter. In addition to stocks
and fixed income securities, we recommend or invest Client
assets in other types of investments, such as rights and warrants,
options, certificates of deposit (“CDs”), mutual funds and other
open and closed-end funds, exchange traded products (“ETPs”),
including exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), unit investment
trusts (“UITs”), real estate investment trusts (“REITs”),
American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), foreign ordinary
shares, publicly traded master limited partnerships (“MLPs”),
private investment vehicles (including, but not limited to, hedge
funds and private equity funds), and other investments deemed
appropriate for our Clients.
This brochure focuses primarily on our advisory services;
however, we also discuss various aspects of our brokerage
services throughout this brochure, particularly under the section
“Brokerage Practices” below. You can also obtain additional
information relating to our brokerage services by referencing the
Stifel Account Agreement and Disclosure Booklet provided in
connection with your custodial account at Stifel, a copy of which
is also available under the “Important Disclosures” section of
Stifel.com (“Account Agreement and Booklet”).
You should understand that brokerage services are separate
and distinct from Advisory services, and that different laws,
Throughout this brochure and depending on the type of program
referenced, the term “Portfolio Manager” shall refer to, as
applicable, a) Stifel where our firm or your Financial Advisor (as
1 In discretionary investment services, Financial Advisors have discretion to select and allocate eligible investment products within the
Client’s portfolio. In non-discretionary investment services, Financial Advisors either select for the Client or recommend and assist
the Client in the selection of eligible investment products in which to invest and the Client makes the final decision on when to
invest/divest what investments.
Page 4 of 45
SF1601-3/26
may be purchased or sold by mutual funds, ETFs, private funds,
or other collective investment vehicles in Advisory accounts.
the firm’s agent) provides discretionary portfolio management
services and/or b) an Independent Adviser or Affiliated Adviser
that provides discretionary portfolio management services.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately
$126,839,531,130 of Client assets that were managed on a
discretionary basis and $70,692,702,372 in non-discretionary
assets.
For accounts in which Stifel has discretionary trading authority,
where an investment restriction applies to prevent the purchase
of a security, the funds that would have been invested in the
restricted position will either be invested in cash equivalents
(including short-term fixed income instruments), other substitute
securities, or reallocated among other positions at our discretion.
A higher than usual allocation to cash, cash equivalents, or other
securities as a result of investment restrictions will impact the
performance of the account relative to other accounts that are
fully invested.
We define and/or identify certain permissible category
restrictions (e.g., prohibiting investments in particular industries
or based on social consciousness) by reference to information
provided by a third-party service provider using the provider’s
proprietary methodologies. If you elect to impose investment
category restrictions on a discretionary account, we will apply
the restrictions based on our internal policies, by referencing the
third-party service provider’s information. The service provider
typically flags securities as violating specific category
restrictions based on the issuer’s revenue or asset levels from the
restricted activity(ies). The threshold or level at which revenue
or assets are considered to have violated a particular restriction
can change at any time, without notice to you. In addition, you
should note that Managers with trading responsibility over your
account(s) may use their own trading systems and, as a result,
use different reference points than Stifel in defining prohibited
investments, activity, or revenue levels for category restrictions.
As set forth above, we accept investment restrictions only if we
conclude that those restrictions are reasonable and can be
accommodated through our current monitoring processes. We
will reject any proposed investment restriction that does not
meet this standard, in which case you have the option of (i)
modifying your restrictions until acceptable to us or (ii) not
opening or otherwise terminating your discretionary account(s)
with us.
Our Responsibilities as an Investment Adviser
When serving as an investment adviser to Clients in our
Advisory programs (“Programs”), we are acting as a fiduciary
with respect to the assets held in accounts covered by the
Advisory Agreements. In our capacity as an investment adviser,
we are held to the legal standards set forth in the Investment
Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”), certain state laws,
and common law standards applicable to fiduciaries as well as,
where applicable obligations imposed under the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended
(“ERISA”) or other relevant regulations for Advisory retirement
accounts. Such standards include the duty of care, including the
obligation to have a reasonable basis for believing that our
investment recommendations are suitable and consistent with
Client’s stated objectives and goals (including any applicable
investment restrictions) and the duty of loyalty, including the
obligation to provide Clients with full disclosure of material
conflicts of interest. Our duties of care and loyalty differ
depending on the terms of relationship with the Client, the type
and level of agreed services, and other factors, including whether
we provide non-discretionary versus discretionary services or
when we provide episodic (e.g., financial planning) versus
continuous advice. Our duty of care may be defined in our Client
agreement, and our duty of loyalty may be modified or limited
through Client disclosure and affirmative or implied Client
consent by receiving and not objecting to the disclosure.
Additional information about our fiduciary obligations,
including some of the policies and procedures that we undertake
to fulfill those obligations, is available throughout this brochure,
including under the section entitled “Participation or Interest in
Client Transactions.”
We generally do not accept the responsibility for monitoring
investment restrictions in non-discretionary accounts. As a non-
discretionary account, you must approve recommendations for
your account before the related trades can be implemented. We
expect you to consider your applicable investment restrictions
when considering recommendations for your non-discretionary
account(s), and to approve a trade only to the extent you
conclude that the recommendation does not violate your
investment restrictions.
Investment Restrictions
If you have accounts in our discretionary programs, you may
request investment restrictions on any of those accounts (or
specific assets within the accounts), such as restricting
investments in specific securities, types of securities, industries,
or sectors. We generally require Clients to provide requests for
investment restrictions in writing. If we determine that your
proposed investment restrictions are reasonable and accept them,
we and/or the Adviser you have selected will be responsible for
managing the account consistent with the restrictions that you
have imposed. It is important for you to understand that, if the
restrictions are approved and imposed on your account, the
performance of your account will differ (even significantly)
from the performance of other accounts in the same portfolio,
without similar restrictions. You may request in writing that
specific mutual funds or ETFs not be purchased in your
discretionary Advisory account(s); however, we cannot
accommodate requests to restrict the underlying securities that
Investment Policy Statements
We do not accept any responsibility for monitoring compliance
with a Client’s investment policy statement (“IPS”) unless the
Client account is in one of our discretionary programs and the
Client is using a Stifel-approved template for the IPS, or our
home office personnel have reviewed the Client’s IPS and
determine that the requirements and limitations of the IPS are
reasonable and that we are capable of monitoring them, and we
have confirmed in writing that we have accepted responsibility
for monitoring compliance with the IPS.
Page 5 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Clients may submit their IPS for review and will be notified in
writing if and when their IPS has been accepted by Stifel.
Each of these wrap Programs is further described in the Stifel
Wrap Fee Programs Brochure, which is available to you free,
upon request.
Fee-Based Financial Planning
Please note that you are solely responsible for monitoring
compliance with your own IPS, even where you have provided
a copy of the IPS to your Financial Advisor(s) until you have
received written notice from Stifel of its acceptance of your
IPS.
We offer fee-based financial planning services that are covered
in great detail in a separate disclosure brochure. Clients signing
up for our fee-based financial planning services should note that
wealth planning services are generally provided at no charge as a
service incidental to our brokerage relationship with Clients.
Other Advisory Programs
We also offer Advisory services to Clients under a number of
non-wrap fee Programs. You may select from the following
other non-wrap fee Advisory Programs as appropriate for your
needs:
In the event that you update your IPS, you are responsible for
providing Stifel with the updated document for our review and
approval. If we agree that we can continue to monitor your IPS
with the new guidelines, we will notify you in writing of our
acceptance. Stifel will not be responsible for monitoring any
new guidelines until we have notified you of our acceptance.
Stifel’s goal is to follow your IPS. However, market, economic,
or geopolitical conditions may impact our ability to do so and, in
those cases, Stifel’s policy is to do what it deems to be in the
client’s best interest.
Stifel Vantage Program
ADVISORY PROGRAMS OFFERED BY STIFEL
Our Vantage Program (“Vantage”) offers discretionary account
management by certain Financial Advisors who are approved to
participate in the Vantage Program.
Wrap Fee Programs
As set forth on the cover page, we offer various Advisory
Programs to our Clients, including “wrap fee” Programs for
which we are the sponsor and, in certain Programs, both the
sponsor and Portfolio Manager for investment portfolios
(“Portfolio(s)”) within the Program. A “wrap fee” is an annual
fee paid by the Client that is intended to cover applicable
services to the account, including investment advice and, where
applicable, may include portfolio management, trade execution,
clearing, settlements, custody, administrative, and account
reporting services provided by Stifel, as well as investment
advice and/or portfolio management services provided by an
Adviser to the Portfolio. To the extent that portfolio
management or similar services for a Portfolio are provided by
an Adviser, a portion of the wrap fee is paid to the Adviser for
its services – please refer to the section “Fees and
Compensation” below for additional details about our wrap fees
(also called Advisory Account Fees).
If you choose to enroll in the Vantage Program, your Financial
Advisor will assist you in selecting an appropriate strategy for
your Vantage account once you have established your
investment objectives, goals, risk level, and an overall asset
allocation. To implement your investment objectives for the
account and based on your risk level, your Financial Advisor
may utilize fundamental, qualitative, quantitative, and/or
technical research published by Stifel or another source. Your
Financial Advisor may also employ short-term purchases and/or
limited options trading in your Vantage account, provided such
strategies are appropriate for you and, as applicable, approved
for the account. Our Financial Advisors use different strategies
to manage their discretionary Client accounts; your Financial
Advisor may utilize multiple strategies and/or may customize a
strategy to fit your particular situations in ways that are different
from other Clients. As such, the performance of your Vantage
account will differ (at times, materially) from the accounts of
similarly situated Clients for your Financial Advisor and/or other
Stifel Financial Advisors.
Subject to such limitations as we may impose from time to time,
our Financial Advisors invest in various kinds of equity and
fixed income securities in Vantage accounts. You are
encouraged to discuss with your Financial Advisor and review
how your Vantage account will be managed, the types of
investments to be made, as well as the risks that will be
applicable to your Vantage account. As with our other
discretionary Programs, you may impose reasonable investment
restrictions on your Vantage account.
Vantage Commission Schedule: If you enroll an account in the
Vantage Program, you will pay transaction-based charges
(commissions) for the services provided by your Financial
Advisor and Stifel. Commissions are charged based on our
The wrap fee Programs that we offer include the Opportunity,
and Investment Management Consulting Programs, whereby an
Affiliated or Independent Adviser acts as your discretionary
portfolio manager, or provides their model Portfolio to us for our
implementation. Stifel also offers discretionary investment
advisory services through the Solutions and Fundamentals wrap
fee Programs. Our non-discretionary investment advisory wrap
fee Programs include the Horizon and Connect Program (where
Stifel recommends an Adviser with which you enter into a
separate advisory agreement). Finally, under the Custom
Advisory Portfolio (“CAP”) Program, our firm offers clients
investment management services utilizing various investment
products within a single account, whose Portfolios may be a
combination of any of internal and/or external model Portfolios,
mutual funds and/or ETFs. Clients determine their selection of
either the Client-Directed option or the Financial Advisor-
Directed option.
Page 6 of 45
SF1601-3/26
standard commission schedule (subject to negotiation in certain
circumstances) for brokerage transactions.
The Vantage Program is generally not available to IRAs and is
not available to retirement accounts subject to ERISA.
In all cases and without regard to whether our Financial Advisor
is providing discretionary or non-discretionary services under
the Summit arrangement, you will be solely responsible for all
brokerage and custodial charges imposed by your independent
qualified custodian.
If you elect to enroll in the Summit Program in connection
with your assets at other institutions, you should be aware that,
through our wrap Programs, you could pay a wrap fee for
investment management, execution, and custodial services
through Stifel. These wrap Programs may be a cheaper
alternative than using the Summit Program and paying
separate fees to different institutions for advice, custody, trade
execution, and clearing; we highly encourage you to review all
available options at Stifel with your Financial Advisor(s).
Summit Fee Schedule: For our services under a Summit
arrangement, we charge a fee at an annual rate of up to 1.00% of
the total value of investments under the arrangement. You can
typically negotiate the fee for your specific arrangement with
your Financial Advisor. In certain circumstances, we may agree
to a flat dollar fee arrangement, which may be payable at once or
in installments (e.g., monthly, quarterly, or other agreed
frequency).
Conflicts of Interest
It is important that you understand that, due to the
commission-based structure of the Vantage Program, Stifel
and your Financial Advisors have a conflict of interest with
respect to transactions implemented in your Vantage account
due to the fact that your Financial Advisor’s compensation
rises as more transactions are implemented in the account
(conversely, the Financial Advisor is not paid if no
transactions are implemented in the account). You should
carefully consider whether a Vantage account is appropriate
for your investment objectives, risk level, time horizon, and
investment experience. While we do not consider the
appropriateness of the Vantage Program for a Client solely
based on a comparison to wrap fee programs, the Vantage
Program may not be appropriate for you if you (and/or your
Financial Advisor) anticipate a high level of trading activity
where the transaction costs could potentially exceed those that
would otherwise be charged under a discretionary wrap
Program. We highly encourage you to review all available
options at Stifel with your Financial Advisor(s).
Stifel Summit Program
In general, the initial fee for any Summit arrangement is
calculated based on the account’s most recent account statement,
quarterly or otherwise. The fee is typically billed quarterly in
advance, although some relationships may bill in arrears and/or
at a frequency that is not quarterly.
Under our Summit Program (“Summit”), our Financial Advisors
serve Clients who are seeking investment advice for assets held
and traded through other custodians or other broker-dealer firms.
Clients that may benefit from a Summit relationship include (but
are not limited to): municipalities, endowments, foundations,
corporations, high-net-worth individuals, and sponsors and/or
trustees of qualified retirement plans subject to the ERISA.
Additional Information on Services to Retirement and
Benefit Plans: We provide investment advice, education, and
other services to various kinds of retirement and benefit plans,
including defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k) plans), defined
benefit plans, nonqualified retirement plans, deferred
compensation plans, and others. Our services to plans typically
include one or more of the following non-discretionary services:
• Assisting plan fiduciaries in reviewing the plan design to
improve efficiency and/or reduce costs. This may include an
analysis of plan terms, as well as an evaluation of service
providers;
• Assisting plan fiduciaries in creating, reviewing, and/or
updating investment policy statements;
• Asset allocation and creating an investment menu, including
diligence of potential investments and/or periodic
monitoring of the selected investments (other than any
securities that are specifically excluded pursuant to the
agreement with the plan); and,
We typically offer non-discretionary advice under the Summit
Program. Our services include, for example: analysis of asset
allocation and style consistency; due diligence and/or advice
regarding use of third-party investment managers; evaluation of
investment risk and performance; and analysis and/or
recommendations on the purchase and sale of individual
investment vehicles including stocks, bonds, mutual funds,
UITs, ETFs, closed-end funds, and/or options. Our Financial
Advisors provide investment advice to Clients in accordance
with each Client’s stated investment objectives, risk level, time
horizon, and investment experience. If you sign up for such an
arrangement, you will be solely responsible for implementing
any non-discretionary advice provided by the Financial
Advisor(s).
• Participant education services on investment-related topics
(under limited circumstances, note that these services may
include provision of investment advice to participants).
We may also provide such other agreed-upon services as are set
forth in our agreement with the plan. For example, from time to
time, we may agree to provide discretionary investment services
to plans, including in selecting and implementing a plan
investment menu, creating and managing default investment
In limited circumstances, we will approve arrangements under
which our Financial Advisors provide discretionary investment
management services through the Summit Program. In such
event, you (not Stifel or the Financial Advisor) will determine
the specific qualified independent custodian and the broker-
dealer firm(s) to execute transactions in your account. In such
cases, while our Financial Advisors may direct the specific
securities to buy and sell for the account, your directed broker-
dealer firm(s) provide brokerage execution services.
Page 7 of 45
SF1601-3/26
options, and/or creating and managing risk-based model
portfolios for the plan.
otherwise authorize enrollment into a Program or Portfolio)
and the eventual investment of the account in the selected
strategy. Prior to enrolling into any Program, you should talk to
your Financial Advisor about the expected processing period for
that Program.
Processing Ongoing Account Maintenance Requests
Availability of Funds/Securities Added to Discretionary
Accounts for Trading – When you add funds or securities to
your discretionary accounts at Stifel, those funds and/or
securities are generally available for trading no earlier than the
next business day.
It is important to note that, in our arrangements with plans under
the Summit Program, our agreement is with the plan and our
Client is the plan (not any individual participant with whom we
may interact). In these arrangements, we may provide fiduciary
advice to participants, but will not assume any discretionary or
other authority over a participant’s selection of any investment
option or product on the plan’s investment menu. In limited
circumstances, we may agree to provide individualized advisory
services to participants in a plan; in those cases, we may require
the participant to, among other things, complete and execute
agreements, certifications, or other documents.
OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAMS
As discussed above, we enter into written Advisory Agreements
with Clients acknowledging our Advisory relationship,
disclosing our obligations when acting in an Advisory capacity,
and describing the roles and responsibilities of each party.
Your Advisory account is expected to hold some level of
otherwise uninvested cash at all times to facilitate its ongoing
operations (“maintenance cash”). Levels of maintenance cash
will fluctuate over time and may vary by investment strategy,
objective or implementation vehicle(s). Maintenance cash is
intended to meet the account’s short-term liquidity needs
(including trade settlement, account and administrative fees, and
rebalancings) and avoid having to liquidate investments at
inopportune times. Clients should refer to the sections “Cash
Balance Risks” and “Cash Sweep Options” below for
information on cash balances in Advisory accounts.
Processing Guidelines for Advisory Accounts
Processing Partial Liquidation/Withdrawal Requests in
Discretionary Accounts – To the extent possible, where your
Financial Advisor has trading discretion over your account, the
Financial Advisor will process liquidation requests promptly. To
the extent other Stifel internal teams and/or an Adviser directs
the investments in your account, liquidation instructions are
processed after our trading and/or processing staff receive those
instructions from your Financial Advisor. If your account is
traded by an Adviser, we will then relay those instructions to the
Adviser for implementation. You should note that, in periods of
unusually high volumes (which may occur, for example, during
highly volatile market conditions), we can take more than one
business day to implement these requests. Additionally, if you
are invested in a Portfolio that is traded by an Adviser, you
should also note that even after we relay a request to an Adviser,
the Adviser may take some time (such as multiple days) to
implement the request. You should refer to each Manager’s
Form ADV 2A for applicable disclosures. In each case, please
note that frequent withdrawals from your account will affect
your account’s performance. We reserve the right to terminate
any account that falls below the minimum account value for the
applicable Program due to partial liquidations/withdrawal
requests.
You should refer to the section “Terminations; Refund of Fees
Upon Terminations” below for a discussion of the processing
guidelines relating to account terminations from our Advisory
Programs.
Other Maintenance Requests – You may also experience delays
in connection with other on-going account maintenance requests.
During times of unusually high volumes of requests from
Clients, it can take multiple business days to process and
implement ongoing maintenance requests.
New Account Processing – As set forth in our Advisory
Agreements, our Advisory relationship with you begins after we
have accepted a fully executed Advisory Agreement (referred to
as the “effective date” in the Advisory Agreements). In general,
this occurs after (i) your Financial Advisor has submitted all
required account opening documentation through the appropriate
channels (typically through our account opening systems); (ii)
all required internal approvals have been documented and
submitted; (iii) our processing personnel have confirmed that the
account documentation is in good form (for example, Client
signatures are generally required to be dated within 90 days of
submission); (iv) your account is funded with no less than the
minimum amount required for the particular Program in which
you are seeking to invest; and (v) the account has been coded as
an Advisory account in our recordkeeping systems.
In each case, we recommend that you communicate your
maintenance requests to your Financial Advisor as early as
possible. You should note that, for certain securities (such as
mutual funds), we are not able to process trade instructions
received after 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Neither Stifel nor any Adviser is responsible for changes in
market prices that occur between the time you communicate an
account maintenance request for any discretionary account to
your Financial Advisor and the eventual implementation of
that request by Stifel and/or an Adviser.
Processing times may vary due to a number of factors, including
(but not limited to) the volume of new Advisory accounts being
processed, whether additional verification activities are needed,
etc. In general, you should note that the turnaround time for
processing new Advisory accounts or conversions between
Programs or Portfolios may require several business days to
complete, even under normal market conditions. Stifel is not
responsible for changes in market prices that occur between
the time you execute Advisory account documentation (or
Page 8 of 45
SF1601-3/26
MANAGEMENT AND ADVISORY SERVICES TO
PRIVATE FUNDS
Our firm also serves as investment adviser to private investment
funds (the “Private Funds”), each of which invests in underlying
private funds, including hedge funds and private equity funds
(“Underlying Funds) managed by unaffiliated investment
managers. Further information on the process for selecting the
Underlying Funds for these Private Funds can be found in the
“Portfolio Manager Selection and Evaluation” section of this
brochure.
The actual fee that you pay for your Advisory account(s) will be
set out on the fee schedule(s) to the Advisory Agreement you
have with us for that account. You can generally negotiate the
Stifel Fee with your Financial Advisor, subject in certain cases
to final approval from Stifel (e.g., if the proposed fee is below
certain ranges). Factors that Financial Advisors may consider in
setting the Stifel Fee include (but are not limited to) the nature
and size of the overall client relationship; your particular advice
requirements and product preferences, and/or the level, type, and
frequency of advisory and other services expected to be provided
to you under the relationship.
In each such case, the applicable Financial Advisor will consider
a Client’s eligibility to invest in the Private Funds based on a
review of the Client’s stated investment objectives, goals, and
limitations, and a comparison of the same to the Private Fund’s
stated objectives and other limitations. At a minimum, investors
in each Private Fund must be “accredited investors” within
meaning of the federal securities laws; provided, however, that
depending on the requirements of the Underlying Fund(s) in
which a particular Private Fund invests, we may require that
Clients seeking to invest in that Private Fund meet the “qualified
purchaser” standard of the federal securities laws. Interested
Clients should refer to the applicable Private Fund’s offering
documents for a discussion of the definition of these investor
standards.
As set forth above, you should generally consider the level of
services that you are expecting to receive under the relationship
when negotiating your fee(s) with your Financial Advisor. You
should note, however, that once you agree to a fee for an
account, we will not reduce our fees if you decide not to take
advantage of any of the services that would otherwise be
covered by the wrap fee. For example, if you open an account in
a non-discretionary wrap fee program, your fee will not be
reduced if you decide not to implement your Financial Advisor’s
recommendations and, as a result, experience a low level of
trades in your account. Similarly, we will not reduce our fee if
you decide to move your assets to another custodian and, as a
result, do not receive the custodial services that would otherwise
have been covered by your Stifel Fee. Finally, if you negotiate
fees with different tiers, including flat fees, you may end up
paying a higher fee than as set forth in our brochures as a result
of fluctuations in the amount of your assets under management/
advisement and account performance.
Each Private Fund’s investment objectives are set forth in its
offering documents; a Client that invests in a Private Fund may
not impose restrictions on the investments to be made by such
Private Fund.
Please refer to the section “Fees and Compensation – Private
Fund Management Fee” below for a discussion of our
remuneration in connection with the Private Funds.
FEES AND COMPENSATION
Your Advisory Agreement with us will indicate whether you
must approve, in writing, any increase in the Advisory Account
Fee for your account, or if we can increase the Advisory
Account Fee with prior written notice to you. We may however,
determine to lower any portion of the Advisory Account Fee at
any time, without notice to you.
How We Charge For Advisory Services Covered in This
Brochure
Except with respect to the Vantage Program and certain Private
Funds as discussed below, Clients generally pay an annual
Advisory fee, typically based on a percentage of assets; we may
also agree to a fixed dollar fee covering one or more Client
accounts (the “Advisory Account Fee,” the “fee,” or the
“Advisory fee”). The Advisory Account Fee consists of: (i) a fee
for the services provided by Stifel (referred to as the “Stifel Fee”
or “Stifel Advisory Fee”) and, if applicable, (ii) a fee for the
portfolio management services with respect to each Portfolio in
which a Client’s Advisory account is invested (the “Product
Fee(s)”). For Portfolios with no Product Fee (such as for the
Summit Program), the Stifel Fee constitutes the entire Advisory
Account Fee. If applicable, the fee rate set forth in our brochures
with respect to each Advisory Program represents the maximum
rate that may be charged for the Program. There are certain other
fee schedules that are no longer offered to new Clients or are
only offered to a limited number of Clients, depending on their
individual circumstances. There are also other fee schedules that
may apply to certain strategies in the Programs offered at Stifel.
Calculation of Advisory Account Fees
The Advisory Account Fee is generally due quarterly in
advance. In limited circumstances, we may agree to alternative
billing terms (e.g., monthly, semi-monthly, in arrears, etc.) based
on negotiations with a specific Client. Where the fee is payable
in advance, the initial Advisory Account Fee for an account is
typically charged in full as of the effective date of the Advisory
relationship relating to that account (see the discussion under
Processing Guidelines for Advisory Accounts above), in each
case based on the account’s opening market value. In calculating
quarterly installments of the annual Advisory Account Fee, we
assume a 360-day annual period. For the initial fee, the period
for which the Advisory Account Fee relates is the effective date
through the last day of the calendar quarter in which the account
is opened and is prorated accordingly, based on the actual
number of days remaining in the quarter. Thereafter, the
Advisory Account Fee is based on the account’s closing market
value on the last business day of the previous calendar quarter,
as reflected on your custodial account statement (except as set
forth below). The Advisory Account Fee is generally due on the
business day following the assessment day. If we have agreed to
a different fee billing arrangement for your relationship, please
refer to your Advisory Agreement with us for information on
Page 9 of 45
SF1601-3/26
how that fee will be calculated, including (in certain cases) the
party responsible for the calculation.
there will be separate “Advisory Fee” lines, one described as
“Advisory Fee” and a second as “Manager Fee.”
In valuing assets in all Client accounts held at our firm, we rely
on publicly recorded information, use various vendor systems
that we have reviewed and reasonably believe to be reliable,
and/or rely on valuations provided by the entities holding assets
and/or accounts that are part of a Client’s Advisory relationship
with us (such as, for example, administrators or other service
providers to hedge funds or other private funds in which our
clients are investors or other brokerage firms, banks, or other
entities serving as qualified custodians of our client assets). For
assets held at Stifel, if prices are unavailable, we determine
prices in good faith to reflect an understanding of the assets’ fair
market value.
Billable Value vs. Net Portfolio Value: As set forth above, your
Advisory Account’s Fee is typically calculated based on the
account’s closing market value, generally as reflected on your
custodial account statement for that same period. There may be
times when the amount used to calculate the fee (i.e., the billable
value) does not match the net portfolio value reflected on your
custodial account statement (i.e., the statement value). For
example, the billable value will be less than its net portfolio
value if you hold assets in your account that are excluded from
our Advisory arrangement with you (“unsupervised assets”).
Fee Householding
You may request to household eligible fee-based Advisory
accounts held at our firm (that is, combine multiple eligible
Advisory accounts for purposes of calculating the Stifel Fee in
order to qualify for available lower fee tiers in each Program).
Fee householding can result in lower overall fees if the
aggregate household value is high enough to qualify for lower
fee tiers in the applicable Programs. You can fee household
eligible Advisory accounts across multiple Programs. You
should note, however, that it is your responsibility, not Stifel’s,
to determine whether you have multiple eligible Advisory
accounts that could be placed in a billing household and
potentially result in lower overall fees to you. You should also
note that special tax rules apply to the inclusion of IRAs and
Keogh plans in a household (you should consult your tax advisor
for more information), and that Stifel will not accept requests to
combine retirement accounts subject to ERISA with non-
retirement accounts into a single fee household. Finally, you
should note that, in cases where your assets are held with other
custodians, due to expected lag times in receiving account
information from such unaffiliated custodians for billing
purposes, we usually cannot household these accounts with
accounts held at Stifel. You should contact your Financial
Advisor(s) for more detailed information about householding
fee-based Advisory accounts, including whether your accounts
are eligible to be grouped into a fee household for this purpose.
Assets Held With Other Custodians
For the Summit Program, your assets are held with other
qualified custodians that you select, most of which are
independent of our firm. Similarly, you may elect to hold your
assets for accounts enrolled in our wrap fee Advisory Programs
at other custodial firms. We require that such other custodian be
“qualified” within the meaning of the Advisers Act.
Intra-Period Fee Adjustments. Once the quarterly Advisory
Account Fee has been assessed and deducted from your account,
if your account held at Stifel and is subject to an Advisory
Account Fee payable in advance, we will charge a prorated fee
on additional contributions made during a quarter and/or issue a
rebate for withdrawals from your Account, to the extent such
additions or withdrawals are valued at more than $25,000 and
would generate a prorated quarterly fee or rebate of more than
$25. In each case, the fee addition and/or rebate will be
calculated based on the actual number of calendar days
remaining in the quarter. You should refer to the section
“Termination; Refund of Fees Upon Termination” for applicable
rebates in the event of a termination. We may, in our sole
discretion, make changes to these thresholds at any time, without
notice to you. We will neither charge a prorated fee on intra-
quarter contributions nor provide a rebate on intra-quarter
withdrawals from the account if your account is (i) subject to a
flat-fee arrangement, or (ii) held with other custodians, or (iii)
billed in arrears.
In cases where your assets are held by other custodians, the other
custodian (or other service provider, such as the administrator)
determines the value of your account assets and, where our firm
is responsible for calculating the fee, we use the values provided
to us for purposes of calculating the Advisory Account Fees. In
cases where assets are held by other custodians, we require that
you provide us with duplicate copies of account/custodial
statements (preferably directly from the custodian). We do not
independently verify the values in such account/custodial
statements. You should understand that we reserve the right to
terminate the agreement if you consistently fail to promptly
provide us with updated account statements on which to base
our fees.
Fee Charges on Customer Account Statement. Scheduled
quarterly charges of the Stifel Fee and Product Fee are typically
reflected as a single line “Advisory Fee” on the Stifel monthly
account statement that you receive from us for the applicable
period. If your Stifel account experiences activity that results in
intra-period fee adjustments as set forth above, those charges
will show as separate fee line items on the Stifel account
statement for each net fee adjustment. As a result, there may be
times when you will see multiple fee charges on a single
monthly account statement. Where a Product Fee is charged (or
rebated) separate from a Stifel Fee, the Product Fee may be
reflected on your statement as a Manager Fee). If you’ve elected
to utilize a third-party manager through the Connect Program,
Alternatively, you may (with our consent) direct your qualified
custodian or administrator to calculate and remit the advisory fee
directly to us. If you elect to have your other service provider
calculate the fee, you should understand that your other service
provider will be responsible for determining the total value of
your account as well as the dollar value of the fee installment for
each billing period. In such cases, we require that you direct the
service provider to provide us (upon request) the basis of the
service provider’s fee calculation (which may be in the form of
Page 10 of 45
SF1601-3/26
• We similarly reserve the right to terminate our Agreement
with you at any time, for any reason, at our sole discretion.
• Depending on the Portfolio in which your account is
duplicate account statements). You should carefully review the
other service provider’s calculations and confirm that the fees
deducted for Stifel’s services are consistent with the terms of
our Advisory Agreement with you. You are strongly
encouraged to promptly notify us in the event of any
discrepancies.
invested and in our sole discretion, we will also consider
instructions to liquidate all or a significant portion of an
account enrolled in a discretionary Program as direction to
terminate the account from the Advisory Program.
• Finally, we will treat the receipt of any account transfer
instructions from you as termination of your Advisory
relationship with us with respect to that account (once we
have received notice and have had reasonable time to act on
the notice).
In connection with each termination event, we will implement
any accompanying liquidation instructions consistent with the
guidelines set forth below.
Effect of Termination
1. Accounts Billed in Advance:
•
Deduction of Advisory Account Fees
Unless we agree otherwise, the Advisory Account Fee is
automatically deducted each quarter from available cash or cash
equivalents, including money market funds, in your Advisory
account held at Stifel on the due date. Per the direction in our
Advisory Agreements with you, if your account is held at Stifel
and, where necessary, we rebalance or liquidate sufficient
securities in your account at Stifel to generate sufficient funds to
cover the fee in the following order: first, we liquidate mutual
fund positions, followed by equities securities (including ETFs),
unit investment trusts, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and
any other securities. You should note that incidental, special, or
indirect damages (including, but not limited to, lost profits,
trading losses, or tax consequences) may be incurred in the
account as a result of such rebalance or liquidation to pay for
fees. You (not Stifel) are responsible for any such damages or
losses.
In addition, subject to agreement between us, other permissible
fee payment options may include:
• Alternate Billing Account (Alter-Bill): The Advisory
In the event of a termination, you generally will receive
a pro rata refund of any pre-paid quarterly fee based on
the number of days remaining in the quarter of
termination. However, we reserve the right to retain
pre-paid quarterly fees if you terminate the Advisory
Agreement at any time within the first quarter of the
first year of service. This is intended to discourage
clients from opening an Advisory account, executing
multiple trades at no transaction costs, then seeking to
close the Advisory account before the end of the
calendar quarter.
•
Account Fee may be deducted from a separate Stifel account
on the due date each quarter. In certain cases, a signed Letter
of Authorization (“LOA”) will be required. If the designated
account has insufficient funds, we reserve the right to
automatically debit the Advisory account to collect the amount
due.
• Client Invoice: In certain limited cases (such as where the
If you provide liquidation instructions with your
termination request (including where your request for a
significant or complete liquidation of a discretionary
account results in termination), we will liquidate those
positions at no additional cost to you as part of
terminating any fee-based account from the Advisory
relationship. However, any liquidations processed after
your account has been fully terminated from an
Advisory Program and converted into a regular
brokerage arrangement will be subject to customary
transaction fees.
•
account is held at another custodian), we may agree to provide
you with an invoice setting out the fees due each billing period
in return for your agreement to remit the fee payment
promptly. If we do not receive the fee payment from you
within a reasonable time, we reserve the right to automatically
debit your Advisory account to collect the amount due. You
should note that if the fee payment is debited from a qualified
plan and funds are received thereafter, applicable law requires
the receivable to be classified a contribution to your retirement
account.
As set forth above, your custodian or other service provider
may calculate and remit the fee on your held-away account,
based on the fee terms set forth in our Advisory Agreement
with you. We require each Client to establish a Stifel billing
account for the sole purpose of processing fees. You will be
required to sign appropriate agreements with us in order to set
up the billing account at our firm.
In connection with account transfer instruction, if we
are unable to transfer any of the securities in your
account to the new custodian, we typically will
liquidate those securities in order to facilitate the
transfer of your account. Any liquidations to facilitate
the transfer of your account to another institution will
be undertaken in our capacity as a registered broker-
dealer. In our capacity as a broker-dealer, we may
liquidate the securities that cannot transfer by
purchasing them for our own account (that is, through
a principal transaction).
Terminations; Refund of Fees Upon Termination
2. Accounts Billed in Arrears
Termination Events
Where Advisory Account Fees are billed in arrears, no
refunds are necessary when a Client terminates an account;
• You can terminate your Advisory Agreement with respect to
any account at any time with notice to your Financial
Advisor.
Page 11 of 45
SF1601-3/26
however, a Client will be billed for any earned but unpaid
fees as of the termination date.
dealer effecting transactions for your account. Where Stifel is
providing trade execution services to your account, you should
refer to the “Brokerage Practices” section for more details about
Stifel’s execution services.
Other Fees and Expenses Not Included in the Advisory
Account Fee
In addition to the Advisory Account Fee, you will also be
responsible for and separately bear the cost of (i) any fees or
expenses assessed to your investments or account by third
parties (or by Stifel in order to pay such third parties), and (ii)
other fees and expenses set forth below:
• Brokerage commissions, markups, markdowns, spreads, and
odd-lot differentials on orders effected through a broker and/or
dealer other than Stifel or its affiliates (that is, costs relating to
trades away from our firm).
• All account fees, costs, and expenses, including (but not
limited to) custody and/or account maintenance fees charged
by your custodian or other party in connection with
maintaining your assets outside of Stifel.
• Unless specified otherwise in the applicable Advisory
Agreement, all fees and expenses relating to any third-party
manager managing any part of your Summit Program assets
(whether or not such third-party manager was recommended
by our Financial Advisor).
Processing Liquidations in Connection With Terminations
Termination and related liquidation instructions are processed as
promptly as possible following receipt by our processing staff.
However, you should note that in certain cases, we will not be
able to process liquidation requests on the day that we receive
the request. Those cases include when we experience an
unusually high volume of liquidation and/or termination requests
in a single day (such as during periods of significant market
volatility). Even during relatively normal market conditions and
low liquidation/termination volume, we generally are not able to
process requests received late in the trading day (typically after
3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). You should therefore
communicate your liquidation requests as early as possible
to increase the likelihood that your instructions can be
processed on the same day. If you are invested in an Adviser
Portfolio, you should note that certain Managers (particularly
Managers with complex strategies and/or securities with limited
liquidity) require advance notice of termination, and may take
multiple days to process termination and related liquidation
request(s). You should review each applicable Manager’s Form
ADV 2A for relevant information. Finally, you should note that,
in some Portfolios (for example, those investing in affiliated
mutual fund completion shares), all or some of the positions in
your account will be liquidated upon termination, even if you do
not specifically request a liquidation in connection with your
account termination instructions.
• To the extent permitted by applicable law, markups and
markdowns on principal trades resulting from orders an
Investment Manager places through our firm or an affiliate.
• Any interest expense charged to the account including, but not
limited to, margin interest charged with respect to any direct or
cross-collateralized margin loans).
Compensation in Connection With the Termination of a
Client’s Account Relationship With Stifel. Although we do not
charge additional fees in connection with the termination of an
Advisory Agreement, if you elect to distribute or transfer all of
your assets from the account held at our firm to an account at
another financial institution, you will be charged a $100 account
transfer fee.
• The public offering price (including underwriting commissions
or discounts) on securities purchased from an underwriter or
dealer (including the firm or an affiliate to the extent permitted
by applicable law) in a distribution or public offering of
securities. Even where such securities are purchased from a
broker-dealer other than our firm or an affiliate may directly or
indirectly benefit if our firm or an affiliate is a member of the
underwriting syndicate from which the security is purchased.
• Account maintenance fees and expenses, account
administration fees, transactional expenses, custody fees,
and/or any other expenses charged by the custodian or other
party in connection with maintaining those assets. These
include, but are not limited to, administration and other fees
associated with qualified retirement plans (including IRAs).
Unsupervised Assets
If your account includes “unsupervised assets” that are excluded
from billing (which may include but are not limited to positions
in our parent company stock, Stifel Financial Corp. (SF),
annuities, or other assets that are deemed ineligible for the
Program in which the account is enrolled), you should note that
those unsupervised assets are not considered part of our
Advisory relationship with you. We periodically allow Clients to
hold unsupervised assets in Advisory accounts solely as an
accommodation to the Client. Our firm specifically disclaims
any fiduciary obligations with respect to unsupervised assets
held in an Advisory account. This means that we do not
undertake to monitor any such assets even though they are held
in the Advisory account. You can request a list of the
unsupervised assets (if any) held in your accounts at any time,
without charge, from your Financial Advisor.
• Fees or expenses related to trading in foreign securities (other
than commissions payable to Stifel). This includes “Pass-
through fees” charged by third parties with respect to foreign
securities, including, but not limited to, transaction processing
fees, creation fees and/or conversion fees in connection with
ADRs, custody-related expenses charged by third parties for
such securities, as well as any wire charges related to payments
for transactions in those securities.
• Exchange fees, transfer or other taxes, and other fees required
by law, including (but not limited to) taxes or fees imposed by
Transaction-Based Charges (Commissions)
As set out in the Program descriptions above, you will pay
transaction-based commissions either to (i) Stifel (in the case of
the Vantage Program) in lieu of an Advisory Account Fee for all
transactions executed in your account through Stifel, or (ii) the
separate custodian holding your assets or other executing broker-
Page 12 of 45
SF1601-3/26
any foreign entity in connection with securities transactions in
the account.
responsible for) the short-term redemption fee even in your
Advisory accounts. In certain limited circumstances, a fund may
offer waivers for short-term redemptions – please refer to each
applicable fund’s prospectus or offering document, and discuss
with your Financial Advisor.
• Electronic fund and wire transfer fees (including, but not
limited to, those associated with alternative investment
transactions).
Each Client should carefully consider the overall cost when
selecting a Program.
• Fees or expenses associated with preparing and/or filing tax
forms in connection with privately-issued securities or other
investments that generate unrelated business taxable income
(including, but not limited to Form 990T for IRAs).
• Any fees or charges associated with cash management options
or privileges selected for an account (including, but not limited
to, check-writing, debit or credit card services, and e-bill
services).
• Fees, charges, and other costs and expenses related to
collective investment vehicles, including, but not limited to,
closed-end funds, mutual funds, money market funds, ETFs,
unit investment trusts, REITs, and private funds. These fees
and expenses include, but are not limited to, operating
expenses, portfolio management, distribution and marketing,
redemption fees, and similar fees, in each case as outlined in
the fund prospectus, private offering memorandum, or similar
document. Additionally, the value of account assets invested in
shares of collective investment vehicles is included in
calculating the Advisory Account Fee to the extent permitted
by applicable law.
• Exchange and auction fees, transfer or other taxes, and other
fees required by law.
• Any other costs associated with products or services not
specifically included in the services described in the applicable
Stifel Advisory Agreement, but set forth in the Account
Agreement and Disclosure Booklet, and any other charges
mandated by applicable law.
Private Fund Management Fees
We generally receive a management or advisory fee from each
Private Fund based on the net asset value of such Private Fund,
as described in its offering documents. Each investor is
responsible for its pro rata share of the fee. The management fee
is deducted and paid quarterly, in advance or in arrears, as
specified in each Private Fund’s offering documents. The
amount of the management fee varies by Private Fund and may
also vary by class of interest within a particular Private Fund.
Additionally, in our capacity as investment adviser to the Private
Funds, we may (in our sole discretion) waive, rebate, reduce, or
calculate differently all or a portion of the management fee
attributable to any investor in a Private Fund, particularly for
investors that hold such Private Fund shares in accounts enrolled
in our Advisory Programs. If you invest in a Private Fund as part
of any of our other Advisory Programs (e.g., the Horizon
Program or other wrap fee Programs), either (i) the Private Fund
position is excluded from the billable value of the Advisory
account, or (ii) the Private Fund position is included in the
billable value of the account; however, as an investor in the
Private Fund, you will pay no management fee or a reduced
management fee intended to approximate the annual fee rate
payable by the Private Fund to the Fund Manager for its
services. Because Advisory Account Fees are negotiable
between Stifel and the applicable Client, to the extent that
you do not pay Private Fund-level fees but instead pay an
Advisory Account Fee attributable to the Private Fund’s
shares held in your Advisory account, the Client may pay
more or less than other investors in the Private Fund for
Stifel’s services to such Private Fund.
If applicable, you will be separately charged said fees, charges,
and expenses in addition to the Advisory Account Fee or (in the
case of Vantage) commissions to Stifel for trades in the account.
If an investment product purchased for the benefit of your
account is offered by a prospectus or other offering document,
you should review the information about the related fees,
charges, and expenses set forth in such prospectus or other
offering document.
Compensation to Financial Advisors
We pay a percentage (“Payout Rate”) of the Stifel Advisory Fee
or, if applicable, commissions that we receive from you to your
Financial Advisor(s). Payout Rates generally range from 25% to
50%; the applicable percentage paid to your Financial Advisor
will depend on your Financial Advisor’s employment agreement
and arrangements with us, and the total amount of revenue your
Financial Advisor generates from all clients (including from
brokerage clients) (referred to as “Production”). Our
compensation to the Financial Advisor can also include a bonus
that is also based on the Financial Advisor’s Production.
Additional Information on Certain Fund-Related Charges and
Fees. As set forth above, any fees or expenses charged by
investment funds in which your account invests are excluded
from the Advisory Account Fee or commissions charged in
connection with your Vantage account, and, therefore, are your
sole responsibility. You should pay particular attention to each
investment fund’s prospectus and/or other offering documents
for a full understanding of all applicable charges and fees. For
example, certain mutual funds and closed-end funds also charge
short-term redemption fees if shares of the fund to be redeemed
have been held for less than the fund’s prescribed minimum
holding period (typically anywhere from less than thirty (30)
days to twelve (12) months). Where applicable, short-term
redemption fees are imposed without regard to the share class
held – which means that you may incur (and be separately
Your Financial Advisor’s Payout Rate will be the same
regardless of the Advisory Program in which your accounts are
enrolled. However, as a general matter, your Financial Advisor’s
total cash compensation increases as his or her Production
increases, and this creates an incentive for your Financial
Advisor to recommend certain Programs or Portfolios over
others and/or other products or services in order to increase his
or her Production. In connection with the Programs covered by
this brochure, we mitigate these conflicts by limiting Advisory-
Page 13 of 45
SF1601-3/26
related Production compensation to Stifel’s share of the
Advisory Account Fees or commissions (that is, your Financial
Advisor generally does not share in any additional fees and
expenses that your account incurs as a result of types of
investments made (or transactions effected) in the account). We
also seek to mitigate these conflicts by disclosing them to you,
and by establishing other risk-based supervision policies and
procedures (including, e.g., to review certain new Advisory
account enrollments).
supervision and administrative or sales support. When a
supervisor is compensated based on the Production of the person
he or she is supervising, this creates a conflict of interest since
the supervisor has an incentive for you to make investments that
generate greater compensation for the supervisor. The particular
compensation arrangements between your Financial Advisor and
his or her branch manager also create incentives for your
Financial Advisor to recommend transactions, investment
products, and services that generate greater amounts of revenue
for us, the branch manager, and your Financial Advisor.
Discount Sharing. Financial Advisors receive less than their
standard payout when accounts are priced below the set
minimum fee level for the applicable Program. While Financial
Advisors may be allowed to set the Stifel Fee for an account
below the minimum fee level, doing so typically results in a
reduction to the Financial Advisor’s Payout Rate (generally
referred to as discount sharing) potentially down to 0%. The fee
levels at which discount sharing starts to apply vary by Program
and/or style: for example, the discount sharing level for equity
strategies is different than for fixed income strategies. In general,
discount sharing creates an incentive for Financial Advisors to
price accounts above the set minimum fee level in order to
receive their standard Payout Rate.
Outside Business Activities. Your Financial Advisor is permitted
to engage in certain business activities approved by us, other
than the provision of brokerage and advisory services through
Stifel. In certain cases, these outside business activities can
cause conflicts with the Advisory services that your Financial
Advisor provides to you and your account(s). We mitigate these
conflicts by requiring your Financial Advisor to disclose to us
and obtain approval for outside business activities by
establishing certain other policies and risk-based procedures to
the approval of outside business activities. Where such activities
are deemed material (as determined by regulation), we disclose
them to you through the Financial Advisor’s Form ADV Part
2B.
Other Benefits. Equity awards from our parent company, SF, are
a standard component of our Financial Advisors’ compensation.
Your Financial Advisor is eligible to receive other benefits based
on his or her Production. These benefits include recognition
events, conferences (e.g., for education, networking, training,
and personal and professional development), and other forms of
noncash compensation that generally increase in value as the
amount of the Production your Financial Advisor generates
increases. These benefits create an incentive for your Financial
Advisor to recommend certain Programs over others and/or
transactions, products, and services that generate additional fees
and expenses in order to obtain the most benefits.
Certain Compensation in Addition to the Stifel Advisory Fee
or Direct Commissions
Stifel, our Financial Advisors, and our affiliates may receive
additional compensation in connection with certain types of
assets in which your Advisory accounts are invested, as
discussed in more detail below. To the extent received in
connection with Advisory accounts, this compensation is in
addition to the Advisory fee (or in the case of Vantage account,
to the direct commissions) that you pay to us for our Advisory
services. The receipt of such additional compensation
presents a conflict of interest for us as it creates an incentive
for our Financial Advisors to recommend investment
products based on the additional compensation received
from third parties rather than solely based on your
investment needs. You have the option to purchase
investment products that we recommend through brokers
who are not affiliated with us.
Recruiting Transition Assistance. Some Financial Advisors are
eligible for special incentive compensation and other benefits
based on client assets in accounts at our firm (including assets
held in your retirement accounts) and the Production the
Financial Advisor generates for us (including in connection with
brokerage accounts). These incentives and benefits can be in the
form of recruitment and retention bonuses, and eligibility for
repayable loans or loans for which repayment is made under
certain conditions, for your Financial Advisor by an entity
affiliated with us. These incentives and benefits generally
increase as the Financial Advisor brings more client assets to us
and generates more revenue. These benefits create an incentive
for your Financial Advisor to recommend that you transition
accounts held at other financial institutions to our firm, as well
as to recommend certain transactions, products, and services
over others in order to obtain the benefits.
Compensation From Funds
If you invest in mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, UITs
and/or money market funds (collectively, referred to as
“Funds”), you will bear your proportionate share of each Fund’s
fees and expenses, including, but not limited to, investment
management fees and performance-based compensation paid to
the Fund’s investment adviser, fees paid to service providers,
transaction costs, and other operating costs. Each Fund’s fees
and expenses are included in the price of a Fund’s shares, are
described in the Fund’s prospectus or other offering document,
and are in addition to the Advisory fee you pay in the Programs.
Branch Manager/Supervisory Activities. In addition, we pay
compensation to branch managers based on aggregate
Production generated by the Financial Advisors operating from
the manager’s branch office. In some cases, a portion of a
Financial Advisor’s Production can result in compensation to his
or her branch manager or another Financial Advisor for
When structuring the Programs, we determine the Funds that
will be made available in the Programs. We may add new
Funds and/or remove existing Funds from the platform
generally, or from one or more Programs, at any time and in our
sole discretion. When we terminate or remove a Fund from our
platform or the Programs, you will not be able to purchase
Page 14 of 45
SF1601-3/26
additional shares of that Fund after such termination or
removal, which will have an adverse impact on any future
investment plans that include that Fund. Moreover, in certain
cases (such as where we have discretionary authority over the
accounts, or where you have otherwise provided us the relevant
authority), we may also decide to sell any shares held by our
Client accounts with the terminated or removed Fund to further
limit our exposure to that Fund. A sale of Fund shares may have
tax consequences for you, depending on the type of account that
you hold. You should consult with your tax advisor about
potential tax consequences of your investment(s) in our
Programs.
offer those share classes in the Programs, including based on
whether the Funds pay us Omnibus Fees and/or Networking Fees.
With respect to the Vantage Program, when you purchase shares
of a Fund, the shares are typically in a class that is subject to a
front-end sales load that is deducted from your investment. The
Fund pays us all or part of this sales load (as a commission) to
compensate us for our selling activities with respect to the
transaction. We have generally restricted the purchase of Fund
shares in our Vantage Programs – Clients seeking Portfolios
investing in Fund shares are directed to our Wrap Programs.
When we designate a new (lower cost) share class to be used in
our Advisory Programs, we will seek to convert the share class
then held by our Advisory accounts (both discretionary and non-
discretionary) into the newly designated share class, in each case
without seeking Client approval. However, our success in
effecting such conversions will depend entirely on each Fund
company’s willingness to cooperate with us in effecting a
conversion that does not otherwise trigger tax consequences for
our account holders.
We consider various factors, including our costs to operate the
Programs and compensation we receive from Fund companies
and/or their affiliates, in deciding which Funds and share classes
to make available in the Programs. You should expect that we
will receive certain payments from Fund companies and/or their
affiliates in connection with your investment in a Fund, and that
amounts we receive will depend on the share class, interest, or
CUSIP you hold. he additional compensation varies between
Funds, poses a conflict of interest, and can influence the
selection of Funds and share classes we make available through
the Programs. We seek to address this conflict of interest by
disclosing it to you, as well as through our policies designed to
ensure that the fees we charge are fair and reasonable. If we did
not receive this additional compensation, you should expect that
we would charge higher fees or other amounts to you for the
services we provide. In addition, we are not obligated to
negotiate more favorable terms with Funds or, except as
otherwise described below, to rebate any portion of the
additional compensation we receive. You should carefully
consider this compensation when evaluating the reasonability of
our fees and the total compensation we receive for providing you
these Advisory services.
In each of our Programs, you should expect that we will receive
various fees and compensation with respect to your investments
in Fund shares, including (but not limited to):
Funds typically offer multiple share classes, each with different
levels of fees and expenses. The share classes of Funds
available through the Programs will not necessarily be the least
expensive share classes available at the Funds and will depend
on our agreement with the Fund companies and their affiliates.
Other Funds and share classes may have different charges, fees,
and expenses, which may be lower than the charges, fees, and
expenses of the Funds and share classes we make available
through our Programs. For example, there may be a share class
of a Fund available through our Programs that does not include
the additional compensation discussed below. These other
Funds and share classes may be available through other
financial intermediaries, or directly from the Funds themselves.
Because each share class of a Fund with multiple share classes
generally invests in the same portfolio of assets, an investor
who holds a less-expensive share class of the Fund will pay
lower fees and expenses over time – and earn higher investment
returns – than an investor who holds a more-expensive share
class of the same Fund. We generally strive to invest client
assets in the least expensive share class, interest, or CUSIP that
is made available to our firm and for which our Advisory
accounts are eligible (for this purpose, such share class, interest,
or CUSIP will be referred to as “advisory” share classes);
provided that those Funds and share classes pay us “Omnibus
Fees” and/or “Networking Fees” (as discussed below). This
means that the Funds and share classes we offer or choose
will not necessarily be the lowest cost share class for which
you may be eligible because there may be less expensive
share classes that do not pay us Omnibus Fees and/or
Networking Fees. Use of a more expensive share class will
reduce the performance of your investment. This limitation does
not apply to Funds on our Recommended List, which are offered
without regard to whether they pay Omnibus Fees and/or
Networking Fees to us. We may make exceptions and offer or
choose Funds that do not pay us Omnibus Fees and/or
Networking Fees in certain circumstances. Ask your Financial
Advisor for details.
(i) Omnibus Fees: A number of Fund companies and/or their
affiliates compensate us for providing record-keeping and
related services associated with Fund shares held in client
accounts (both brokerage and Advisory). Our firm
processes some fund transactions with Fund companies on
an “omnibus” basis, which means we consolidate our
clients’ trades into one daily trade with the Fund, and
therefore maintain all pertinent individual shareholder
information for the Fund. The compensation for these
services is commonly referred to as “omnibus fees.” For
traditional omnibus trades, we receive omnibus fees that
typically range from 0.02% to 0.12% annually, or $16.00
to $19.00 per position per year. For super-omnibus trades
(i.e., those involving trades for multiple Programs), we
Certain Funds may not offer multiple share classes, or may not
allow us to make the “advisory” share class available to certain
Programs (e.g., in our Vantage Program). Moreover, we may
allow a limited universe of legacy “non-advisory” share classes
to be held in some of Advisory accounts for a period, pending a
conversion into the appropriate “advisory” share class. In
addition, Funds may offer new share classes with lower fees or
expenses or change the investment minimums or other
restrictions for certain share classes. Where this occurs, we will
determine, at our own discretion, whether and in what manner to
Page 15 of 45
SF1601-3/26
connection with Advisory non-retirement accounts,
networking payments are in addition to the Stifel Fee (or,
in the case of the Vantage Program, commissions) that we
earn directly from the relevant Clients invested in those
Funds.
receive a blended rate that typically ranges from 0.0868%
to 0.2409% annually or $18.00 to $19.72 per position per
year. The omnibus fees that we receive vary by Fund
company, by Fund, and by share class. Any omnibus
payments paid to our firm are paid from investor assets in
the Funds (and, like other Fund expenses, are included in
the “annual operating expenses” or “expense ratio” charged
and reported by each Fund and disclosed in the Fund’s
prospectus), but in some cases may be paid or subsidized in
part by or by the adviser or distributor of the Funds or their
affiliates. Where we receive omnibus fees from or with
respect to a Fund, we generally receive omnibus fees with
respect to all share classes of the Fund held by our clients,
including (for example) share classes held in our Vantage
Program and “advisory” share classes held in our Wrap
Programs, but not necessarily in the same amounts. These
fees and fee rates are subject to change from time to time,
and may be received individually or as part of a “bundled”
arrangement with a Fund that includes other types of fees,
such as administration and distribution payments. We do
not require our Financial Advisors to recommend Funds
that pay us omnibus fees; additionally, to mitigate the
conflict as to Fund and share class recommendations, we
do not share any omnibus fees received with respect to
Funds with our Financial Advisors. Moreover, we rebate
omnibus fees received in connection with Fund shares held
in fee-based retirement accounts. To the extent received in
connection with Advisory non-retirement accounts,
omnibus payments are in addition to the Stifel Fee (or, in
the case of the Vantage Program, commissions) that we
earn directly from the relevant Clients invested in those
Funds.
(ii) Networking Fees. Fund companies that are not traded
(iii) 12b-1 Distribution Fees (“12b-1s Fees”). 12b-1 fees
are paid by Funds to compensate us for providing
distribution-related, administrative, and informational
services, as applicable, associated with each Fund. 12b-1
fees are included in the “annual operating expenses” or
“expense ratio” charged and reported by each Fund, and
are deducted directly from the Funds automatically. In
general for our Advisory Programs, we seek to make
available share classes that do not have any associated
12b-1 fees. There may, however, be some Funds
available through our Programs that have 12b-1 fees due
to share class availability due to the nature of the Program
(e.g., Vantage) or if a share class subject to 12b-1 fees is
the only share class on which we can receive Omnibus
Fees and/or Networking Fees. To mitigate against the risks
associated with Fund shares that pay 12b-1 fees held
through Vantage Program, we have restricted the purchase
of new Fund shares in the Program; however current
account may continue to hold shares purchased prior to the
restriction. To the extent we do receive 12b-1 fees with
respect to shares held in our Advisory Programs
(including, for example, shares purchased in Vantage
accounts prior to the restriction), we rebate back to the
Client any 12b-1 fees received (including Omnibus Fees
and/or Networking Fees that are paid from the 12b-1 fees)
in connection with Fund shares held in Advisory accounts,
but only to the extent that such 12b-1 fees relate to the
period during which the account has been enrolled in one
of our Advisory Programs.
omnibus are traded on a networked basis, which means our
firm submits a separate trade for each individual client to
the Fund companies and therefore maintains certain
elements of the shareholder information. Such Fund
companies and/or their affiliates may compensate us for
maintaining shareholder information, which the Fund
companies would otherwise be required to maintain
themselves. We receive networking fees that typically
range from $5.00 to $12.00 per position per year. Not all
Fund companies pay networking fees, and networking fees
that we receive vary by Fund company, by Fund and by
share class. Any networking fees that Fund companies pay
to us are deducted from the Fund’s assets, but in some
cases may be subsidized in part by affiliates or the
distributor of the Funds. As with omnibus fees, to the
extent received, we generally receive networking fees with
respect to all share classes of the Fund held by our clients,
including (for example), share classes held in our Vantage
Program and “advisory” shares held in our Wrap
Programs, but not necessarily in the same amounts. We do
not require our Financial Advisors to recommend Funds
that pay networking fees; additionally, to mitigate the
conflict as to Fund and share class recommendations, we
do not share any networking fees received from Funds with
our Financial Advisors. Moreover, we rebate networking
fees received in connection with Fund shares held in
Advisory retirement accounts. To the extent received in
(iv) Marketing Support and Revenue-Sharing Payments. We
receive revenue-sharing payments from the assets of the
Fund manager or its affiliate (and not the Fund) for
providing ongoing marketing, training, and education to our
Financial Advisors with respect to the Fund sponsor and its
products. Revenue sharing payments (which typically range
from 0.02% to 0.08% annually on assets under management
and can be up to 0.15% on new sales) do not directly reduce
the amount invested by an investor. Not all Fund managers
or affiliates make revenue-sharing payments to us, and the
revenue-sharing payments we receive vary between Fund
companies. Revenue-sharing payments may include fixed
payments, payments based on the total assets placed by our
Clients at a Fund company or in a particular Fund or Fund
share class (i.e., a percentage of total client purchases, both
brokerage and Advisory), or a combination of the two.
Because the amount of revenue-sharing payments we
receive can vary between Funds or share classes of a
particular Fund, we have an incentive to recommend to you
a Fund (or a share class of a particular Fund) that pays us a
higher amount of revenue sharing than another Fund or
share class. We seek to mitigate this potential conflict
through a number of measures, including, as described
above, the manner in which we make share classes
available. In addition, our Financial Advisors do not directly
Page 16 of 45
SF1601-3/26
share in any revenue-sharing payments we receive and we
do not require our Financial Advisors to recommend Funds
providing revenue-sharing payments to us. Moreover, we
rebate revenue sharing fees received in connection with
Fund shares held in Advisory retirement accounts. To the
extent received in connection with Advisory non-retirement
accounts, marketing and revenue share payments are in
addition to the Stifel Fee (or, in the case of the Vantage
Program, commissions) that we earn directly from the
relevant Clients invested in those Funds.
(v) Training and Education Expense Contributions: Fund
companies and/or their affiliates may pay all or a part of
the cost of particularized and/or firm-wide training
education programs and seminars for our Financial
Advisors. For example, a Fund company might host events
for Financial Advisors designed to provide training and
education about their Funds and products. In doing so, they
agree to bear the cost (or part of the cost) for our Financial
Advisors and other personnel to attend the events. The
amounts paid by Fund companies vary, and Stifel does not
require any Fund company to host, participate in or
contribute to the costs of these events as a condition of
Stifel making a Fund company’s Funds available on our
platform. A Financial Advisor’s attendance and
participation in these events, as well as the increased
exposure to Fund companies who sponsor the events, may
lead the Financial Advisor to recommend Funds of those
Fund companies as compared to Funds of Fund companies
that do not sponsor these events.
to the limitations discussed below. We may also decide, in
our sole discretion, to provide similar rebates to non-
retirement accounts in discretionary Programs if such
Funds are otherwise allowed in the relevant Program. We
generally will not provide rebates for Funds held by non-
retirement accounts in our non-discretionary Programs.
Clients should understand that rebates are calculated
retroactively, based on the value of the Fund shares held in
the Client account as of a pre-determined date (typically, as
of the last business day of the calendar month), and are
credited back to the account one quarter or more in arrears
(without interest). Moreover, our rebating process applies
only to Funds held in the Client’s account as of the first
business day of the calendar month and assumes that such
Funds are held for the entire month. As such, an Advisory
account that purchases a Fund on a day other than the first
business day of the calendar month will not be eligible for
the rebate with respect to the fees and compensation our
affiliates earn with respect to the Fund for that month.
Similarly, an Advisory account that sells a Fund prior to
the last business day of the calendar month will receive a
month’s rebate based on the assumption that the Fund was
held for the entire calendar month even though it was not.
Our policies and procedures require that our Financial
Advisors purchase and sell interests in Funds, or
recommend that a Client purchase or sell interests in
Funds, at times when it is appropriate for the Client to do
so, based on the Client’s investment objectives and needs,
and not to avoid rebating compensation the Firm’s
affiliates receive in connection with such investments.
Funds generally are sold by prospectus or other offering
document only. The prospectus or other offering document
contains important information about the specific Fund being
offered and should be reviewed carefully before investing. Any
compensation set forth above that we receive from Fund
companies and/or their affiliates is derived, directly or indirectly,
from fees that investors pay to the Funds. The amount of
compensation received will vary depending on our arrangement
with the applicable Fund company. Each Fund’s prospectus
typically describes the amount of compensation to be paid for
specified services provided to its shareholders. If such payments
are received in connection with shares held in Advisory
accounts, the Fund companies will continue to pay us for such
shares for the duration of the Advisory arrangement and, in some
circumstances, may extend payments beyond the termination of
the Advisory Agreements if Clients continue to hold Fund shares
through brokerage accounts held at Stifel. A listing of the types
and ranges of compensation that we receive from various Fund
companies is also available under the Important Disclosures
section of Stifel.com. We highly encourage all Clients to review
this information carefully.
(vi) Fees Received By Our Affiliates for Providing Services to
Funds: Some of our affiliates serve as investment adviser
or model providers, or provide other services to various
Funds that are made available in some Programs. For
example, a number of our affiliates (including Affiliated
Managers) receive licensing and other fees from ETFs for
which the affiliate provides the constituent index or other
services. Such licensing and other fees depend on the
amount of assets invested in the ETF and the amount of
shares outstanding, including (but not limited to)
investments made, and shares held, through our Advisory
Programs. Our Financial Advisors may recommend and/or
purchase these Funds to or for Advisory Clients where
allowed in a Program. If our affiliate provides services to a
Fund that is purchased or held in a Client’s Advisory
account, the affiliate generally will receive fees (or a share
thereof) from the Fund and/or its affiliates, in connection
with the Client’s investment in the Fund, even though the
Client’s investment in the Fund is also subject to Stifel
Advisory Account Fees. Neither our firm nor our
Financial Advisors directly share in any of the fees
received by our affiliates for their services to these Funds.
However, as part of an affiliated group, we may receive
indirect benefits from such compensation through our
parent company. We may limit the purchase of such Funds
in our Programs at any time, in our sole discretion. If a
Client’s retirement Advisory account invests in such a
Fund, we rebate an amount representing the fee or other
compensation our affiliate receives in connection with the
Client retirement account’s investment in the Fund, subject
Compensation From Other Products
From time to time, Stifel may receive compensation from third-
party vendors or dealers in the way of volume discounts that are
paid to firms that place several million dollars’ worth of
securities with the issuer. Volume discounts can take into
account investments made across both brokerage and Advisory
accounts. For example, we may receive volume discounts from
sponsors/issuers of structured products as well as Funds made
Page 17 of 45
SF1601-3/26
long-term effects) that each of these practices will have on their
overall account.
Finally, to the extent that a Client uses Advisory assets as
collateral for loans taken from our Affiliated Banks (“Credit
Line Loans”), we typically (but not always) receive a fee
(expressed as a percentage of the outstanding loan balance) from
the applicable affiliated bank for the duration of the loan. To the
extent received, we pay a portion of any such fees received to
the Financial Advisor. These payments present a material
conflict of interest for us as they create a financial incentive for
the Financial Advisor to recommend such Credit Line Loans on
the basis of the additional compensation to be received.
Additional information about Credit Line Loans is provided
under the section “Referral Programs” below.
Cash Sweep
As set out in the section “Cash Sweep Options” below, if we
serve as custodian of your assets, uninvested cash in your
account, including maintenance cash, will generally be swept in
accordance with the applicable sweep option for your account.
For most clients, the applicable sweep option is our insured bank
deposit sweep program. We and our affiliated banks earn fees
and receive other benefits for deposit balances in the insured
bank deposit sweep program.
available in our brokerage and/or Advisory accounts. Our
affiliates may also be compensated for non-Fund products in
which our Clients’ assets are invested. For example, some of our
affiliates may issue investment products, such as brokered
certificates of deposits (“CDs”), which are made available for
purchase on our platform. We may limit the purchase of such
products in our Programs at any time, in our sole discretion. If
such products are allowed in an Advisory Program, we rebate an
amount representing the pro-rated fee or other compensation
received (if any) by our affiliate in connection with those
products held in Client’s retirement accounts. We may also
decide, in our sole discretion, to provide similar rebates to non-
retirement accounts in discretionary Programs if such Funds are
otherwise allowed in the relevant Program. We generally will
not provide rebates for such products held by non-retirement
accounts in our non-discretionary Programs. Clients should
understand that rebates are determined retroactively, based on
the value of the product (e.g., fund shares) in the Client account
as of a pre-determined date (typically at month-end), and are
paid a quarter or more in arrears (without interest). Moreover,
our process only reviews whether a product is held in Advisory
accounts as of the beginning of the month and, thereafter,
assumes that each such product is held (or not held) in the
account(s) for the remainder of the month. As such, an eligible
Advisory account that purchases a product other than on the
first business day of the month will not receive any rebate for
that month and, similarly, an eligible Advisory account that sells
a product in the middle of the month will receive a rebate for the
entire month even though the position was only held for part of
the month.
Notwithstanding, some investment products (e.g., brokered CDs)
may not have any embedded fees that can be rebated back to the
Client, even where such products are held in an Advisory
account. Clients should carefully consider any and all
disclosures provided in connection with transactions in such
products. Clients investing in Stifel brokered CDs authorize
deposits in the appropriate Affiliate Bank (defined in the section
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY AFFILIATIONS below) and
acknowledge the benefits that Stifel, the Affiliated Bank, and the
Financial Advisor derive from the Stifel brokered CDs as
disclosed in applicable offering documents. With respect to
retirement accounts, such deposits will bear a reasonable rate of
interest as required by 29 C.F.R. Section 2550.408b-4(b)(2).
Please contact your Financial Advisor for additional
information.
Float
As set out in the section “Cash Sweep Options” below, if we
serve as custodian of your assets, un-invested cash in your
account will generally be swept in accordance with your sweep
option for the account. If we receive a cash deposit from you
before the close of business on a day in which the NYSE was
open, the deposited funds will be credited to your sweep account
as of the end of the next business day; if you deposit a check, the
funds will be credited to your sweep account as of the end of the
second business day following deposit. If we receive deposits
after the close of business on a day in which the NYSE was open
or on a day the NYSE was closed, the funds will be considered
received the following business day and will be credited to your
sweep account consistent with the timeline discussed above. As
such, depending on the time that cash is received, we may earn
interest or receive other benefits (referred to as “float”) during
the interim period between when funds are received in our firm’s
account, and the time those funds are credited to your cash
sweep account. Similarly, if you are withdrawing money from
your account (or we otherwise issue funds to you) by check or
an ACH payment, we will generally earn float on those funds
until you have cashed the check or the ACH payment has settled.
We retain any float earned (generally at Federal Funds Rates)
during any of these periods.
Interest and Similar Compensation
As discussed elsewhere in this brochure, we do not allow
Advisory accounts to use margin except in limited
circumstances. With respect to any such margin transactions,
Client accounts that are specifically approved to engage in such
margin transactions should note that we charge interest on the
amount borrowed and, if the proceeds are used to purchase
securities in the Advisory account, our Advisory fees for the
account are based on the market value of the account without
regard to the amount borrowed. We do not reduce our fees (or
commissions) by the value of any interest or similar payments
that we receive from Clients in this regard. Each Client is
strongly advised to carefully review the impact (including the
Revenue Sharing and Other Compensation Arrangements
With Other Private Investment Funds or Their Sponsors
We may allow certain Financial Advisors to recommend
investments in approved private investment funds with respect to
accounts invested in certain Advisory Programs. From time to
time, we may enter into revenue-sharing and other compensation
arrangements with such private investment funds (the managers
or sponsors of such private investment funds) with respect to our
clients’ investments in such private investment funds. For
example, we may enter into placement agent agreements
Page 18 of 45
SF1601-3/26
pursuant to which our firm and our Financial Advisors receive
upfront and/or ongoing placement fees from funds, or their
agents, or affiliates as compensation for recommending and/or
selling shares or interests of the fund to our clients. In certain
cases, the fees that we receive from such private investment
funds may be in addition to, and in other cases, in lieu of, the
Advisory Account Fee (or other direct commissions) otherwise
chargeable with respect to the investment. To the extent that we
receive placement fees and/or have a revenue-sharing or other
compensation arrangement with respect to private investment
fund shares or interests purchased in an Advisory account, the
affected Client will typically receive, at or prior to the time the
investment is made, disclosures relating to the fees and
compensation that our firm and/or the Financial Advisor(s) will
receive in connection with the investment (including, to the
extent applicable, any ongoing payments to be received in
connection with the investment). Clients should carefully
consider such arrangements in determining whether to
implement a Financial Advisor’s recommendations relating to
private investment funds.
General Disclosure on Conflicts of Interest
As set forth above, the additional compensation associated with
the Programs and/or investments described in the preceding
section, to be paid to and retained by Stifel (which may be
shared with your Financial Advisor) and/or one or more of our
affiliates, may present a conflict between your interests on the
one hand and those of the Financial Advisor, our firm or
affiliates on the other hand. This additional compensation
provides an incentive to us, in exercising discretion or making
recommendations for your account, to choose or recommend
investments that result in higher compensation to our firm, your
Financial Advisor, and/or our affiliates. For example, for certain
Programs, your Financial Advisor will receive a portion of the
Advisory Account Fee that we retain after paying, as applicable,
the portion due to the Adviser. As a result, our Financial
Advisors could have an incentive to offer Advisory Programs in
which the fee is not shared with a third-party Adviser (e.g.,
Solutions) in order to receive a higher portion of the fee.
Additionally, for those Programs in which we pay a portion of
the Advisory Account Fee to Managers, which tends to be less if
we trade the Portfolio internally than if it is traded directly by
the Adviser, Financial Advisor may have an incentive to
recommend Portfolios that we trade over those that are traded
directly by the Adviser, or Portfolios where the fee to the
Adviser is low, in order to retain a larger portion of the fee.
Finally, even where you are not charged a separate Advisory
Account Fee or direct commission in connection with an
investment with respect to which Stifel has a compensation
arrangement with the product sponsor, a Financial Advisor may
still have an incentive to recommend the investment if the
compensation received from the product sponsor is higher than
the Advisory Account Fee or direct commission that would
otherwise have been charged in connection with the investment.
Training and Education Expense Contributions From
Managers. Managers (Independent or Affiliated) may pay for all
or part of the cost of particularized and/or firm-wide training and
education programs and seminars for our Financial Advisors and
other personnel. For example, an Adviser might host events for
Financial Advisors designed to provide training and education
about the Adviser and its strategies and agree to bear the costs of
our Financial Advisors and other personnel to attend these
events. The amounts paid by the Managers vary, and Stifel does
not require an Adviser to host, participate in, or contribute to the
cost of these events as a condition of Stifel making the
Manager’s Portfolios available on our platform. A Financial
Advisor’s attendance and participation in these events, as well as
the increased exposure to the Managers who sponsor these
events, may lead the Financial Advisor to recommend Portfolios
offered by such Managers as compared to Managers that do not
sponsor these events.
In these circumstances, it is our duty to determine that an
investment made in your Account or recommended to you that
results in such additional compensation is appropriate for you
based upon the information you have provided to us.
Insurance Commissions
In addition to being a dual registrant, our firm is also licensed as
an insurance agency with various states. Some of our Financial
Advisors are licensed as insurance agents and, in such capacity,
are able to offer various insurance products to Clients and can
effect the resulting insurance transactions for separate and
customary commission compensation. Clients that determine to
purchase insurance products offered by our Financial Advisors
should note that such products will not be held in our Advisory
accounts, and will not be part of the Advisory arrangement
between Stifel and such Client. Our firm receives a portion of
any commissions that the issuing insurance company pays with
respect to insurance products sold by our Financial Advisors.
Non-Cash Compensation
Subject to firm’s policies, Financial Advisors may receive non-
cash compensation in the form of occasional gifts, meals, tickets,
and/or other forms of entertainment from third parties, including
mutual fund companies (or their agents or their affiliates),
Managers, insurance vendors, and/or sponsors of products that
we make available for purchase to our clients.
It is important to note that the services provided to you under
our Programs (particularly the Wrap Programs) may be obtained
on an unbundled basis and may result in overall lower costs.
You could use a non-discretionary commission-based brokerage
account instead of a fee-based Advisory account or a
discretionary commission-based Advisory account, or
independently retain a third-party adviser to manage your
account. In certain cases, the total charges that you pay in
Advisory Account Fees may be higher than the commissions that
would have been charged for brokerage-only services. There
may also be cases where the Advisory Account Fees charged for
fee-based Programs may be higher than if you obtained the
services covered by such fees separately (that is, if you paid
separately for advisory services, portfolio management services,
trade execution, custody and related services. Even in cases
where additional compensation (such as 12b-1 fees) is rebated
back to you, there may be cases where your total return on the
investment would have been better in a fund/share class that did
not pay such rebated compensation, where available. As set forth
above in the discussion of the Vantage Program, your Financial
Advisor has discretion over the transactions in the Vantage
account, including the frequency and amount of such
Page 19 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Program Minimums: The following minimum account sizes
are generally required to open an account in the Programs
outlined in this brochure. Specific minimums may vary
depending on the investment strategy that you select; exceptions
to the stated minimums can be granted in our discretion.
• Vantage Program: $50,000
• Summit Program: $1,000,000
As set forth elsewhere in this brochure, we offer a number of
Wrap Programs; the account minimums for these Wrap
Programs are set forth in our Wrap Program Disclosure
Brochure, which can be accessed on our website at
stifel.com/disclosures/investment-advisory-services/program-
disclosures.
You should contact your Financial Advisor for more
information on account and investment minimums.
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT
STRATEGIES, AND RISK OF LOSS
transactions. In contrast, if you retain the ultimate decision-
making authority over your account, as is the case with a regular
brokerage account, you can control the volume and frequency of
trades (and, therefore, the related transaction costs) for your
account. For all these reasons, it is important that you understand
that Stifel and your Financial Advisor have a financial incentive
to recommend a commission-based discretionary program (i.e.,
Vantage) or a fee-based Advisory Program over a regular
brokerage account. You should consider the value of the
Advisory services provided or to be provided under each
Program when evaluating costs or the appropriateness of the
Advisory account in general. The combination of brokerage and
Advisory services may not be available separately, or may
require multiple accounts and varying forms of payment. You
are responsible for determining whether an Advisory
Program, including the transaction-based discretionary
Program (i.e., Vantage), is appropriate for you. Therefore,
you should understand the investment strategy you have
selected, the types of investments to be made, and the
amount of anticipated trading activity in assessing the
overall cost of the Program. Relative transaction infrequency
could have a bearing on whether an asset-based fee account or a
discretionary commission-based account is more appropriate for
you than a non-discretionary commission-based account.
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE
MANAGEMENT
We do not charge performance-based fees for our Advisory
services.
ACCOUNT REQUIREMENTS AND TYPES OF CLIENTS
Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies
Our Traditional Products Working Group (the “TPWG”) is
responsible for the analysis, selection, and onboarding of the
mutual funds, ETFs, and Managers (including their specific
Portfolios) to be made generally available at our firm. After the
applicable program or product management assesses whether a
product meets the business and operations requirements for
onboarding, the applicable program or product management may
ask the Stifel CIO Office to conduct an initial due diligence
review limited to the product firm’s response to Stifel’s general
investment adviser onboarding questionnaire. Based on these
reviews, the applicable program or product management brings
the product to Stifel’s TPWG for approval to onboard to the
platform. Note that we conduct such a due diligence review for
most SMAs, but only do so for mutual funds and ETFs on an
exception basis.
We offer our Advisory services to a variety of Clients, including
individuals, corporations, institutions, pension or profit sharing
plans, employee benefit plans, trusts, estates, charitable
organizations, other business and government entities,
educational institutions, and banks or thrift institutions.
However, please note that not all types of investors are eligible
for each Program or each Portfolio within a Program.
We may decide at any time to restrict any of our Programs
and/or Portfolios within a Program to U.S. residents only. Even
where open to foreign citizens and/or residents, we may decide
not to accept potential clients that are located in certain
countries, in each case in our sole discretion.
In reviewing certain mutual funds and/or ETFs to be made
available for purchase broadly at Stifel, the TPWG considers
many factors, including, but not limited to, a fund’s investment
objectives and style, long-term performance records, and annual
expense ratios (i.e., costs). Note that TPWG may provide
minimum criteria to Product Management to allow them to
onboard mutual funds or ETFs that meet such criteria. In these
cases, such additions will be reported to the TPWG at its next
meeting. From time to time, select mutual funds, ETF, and/or
Portfolios from the broad universe of those that are approved for
Stifel’s platform are selected for the firm’s Traditional and/or
Alternative Mutual Fund Recommended Lists, ETF
Recommended List, and/or SMA Recommended List, as
applicable by the appropriate unit.
You should generally select a Program or a Portfolio within a
Program based on an analysis of the Portfolio’s objectives and
risk profile versus your particular situation and needs. In general,
(i) you should consider your specific circumstances (such as age,
net worth, income and liquidity needs, as well as risk level)
compared to the investment strategy, recommended time horizon
and risk profile for the Portfolio; and (ii) the amount that you
allocate to any one Program or Portfolio within a Program
should be reasonable in light of your overall asset allocation and
investment goals.
Private Funds for which our firm serves as investment adviser
are available only to investors that meet the qualification
standards set forth in each Fund’s offering documents.
Each Recommended List contain products that, in that unit’s
opinion, are among the strongest offerings of their product type
available at Stifel. We do not require our Financial Advisors to
limit mutual fund or ETF recommendations in Advisory
accounts, or recommendations of Portfolios to the products that
are on the applicable Recommended List. Additional
information about factors considered in selecting Funds or
Page 20 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Adviser Portfolios (SMAs) to be including on the Stifel
Recommended Lists is provided under the section “Portfolio
Manager Selection and Evaluation” in our Wrap Program
Disclosure Brochure.
Underlying Fund’s performance history and relative
performance, service provider relationships and regulatory
filings as well as constituent documents and offering documents.
The factors considered may vary among the Underlying Funds.
From time to time in connection with the Private Funds, our
personnel review, among other things, Underlying Fund
performance, financial results and assets; the review may be
conducted quarterly (such as where the Underlying Fund is a
hedge fund) or semi-annually (such as where the Underlying
Fund is a private equity fund). Ongoing review of each
Underlying Fund may also include in-person meetings with its
investment advisor, typically every two to four years, unless
circumstances warrant a more frequent or less frequent visits.
Depending on its investment objective, our personnel may
recommend replacing an Underlying Fund in a particular Private
Fund based on a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to,
personnel or ownership changes at the Underlying Fund’s
investment adviser, or prolonged periods of lagging
performance. We do not verify, or engage a third party to verify,
performance data provided by the Underlying Funds, however
do review that data for reasonableness by comparing it to the
Underlying Funds’ audited financial statements.
In cases where Financial Advisors are directing and/or
recommending specific securities or investments, they use
information obtained from various sources including financial
publications, inspections of corporate activities, company press
releases, research material prepared by affiliates and/or third
parties, rating or timing services, regulatory and self-regulatory
reports, and other public sources. Financial Advisors use
research provided by our research department, our internal
product specialists and/or from other sources relating to a broad
range of research and information about the economy, industries,
groups of securities and individual companies, statistical
information, market data, accounting and tax law interpretations,
political developments, pricing and appraisal services, credit
analysis, risk measurement analysis, performance analysis, and
other information that may affect the economy or securities
prices. The research used may be in the form of written reports,
telephone contacts, and personal meetings with research
analysts, economists, government representatives, and corporate
and industry spokespersons. Additional information about the
various research sources that our Financial Advisors may use in
connection with Advisory accounts is provided below under the
section “Brokerage Practices – Research and Other Benefits.”
Financial Advisors use any and/or a combination of
fundamental, technical, quantitative, and statistical tools and
valuation methodologies. The use of these different
methodologies may result in technical or quantitative research
recommendations that may differ from, or be inconsistent with,
fundamental opinions for the same security.
Risk of Loss
You should understand that all investment strategies and the
investments made when implementing those investment
strategies involve risk of loss and you should be prepared to bear
the loss of assets invested. The investment performance and the
success of any investment strategy or particular investment can
never be predicted or guaranteed, and the value of your
investments will fluctuate due to market conditions and other
factors.
In consideration of this information, the Stifel CIO Office seeks
to evaluate the security across multiple dimensions, which may
include, but not be limited to, economic trends, management,
business strategy, financial strength, profitability, competitive
strength, and valuation.
Our Financial Advisors may recommend a wide array of
investments, and as discussed above, each Program and/or
Portfolio covers a wide range of securities. As such, the specific
type(s) of risks that each Client is exposed to will vary
depending on the particular Program and/or the Portfolio in
which the Client is enrolled, as well as the investments held in
the Client’s Advisory account. We do not offer any guarantees
that any investment recommendations made with respect to our
Programs will be profitable. Moreover, Clients should note that
past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
With respect to fixed income securities, Financial Advisors can
assist a Client to determine, or recommend to a Client, the
appropriate type of security (government, corporate, or
municipal), the appropriate maturity and diversification, and the
appropriate parameters that will apply to the fixed income
securities to be purchased for the Client account.
In general, our Advisory services typically combine asset
allocation and periodic rebalancing with the aim of growing
and/or preserving principal. Our Financial Advisors generally
assist Clients in designing investment portfolios with a long-
term perspective, and periodically rebalance (or recommend
rebalancing) the portfolios, as they deem appropriate, to manage
risk.
Portfolio Manager Selection and Evaluation.
The Private Funds invest in Underlying Funds managed by
unaffiliated investment managers. The Underlying Funds and
their managers go through an initial due diligence process that
includes reviewing certain quantitative and qualitative
factors. Among other things, applicable personnel review the
Material Risks
Equities, ETFs, mutual funds, options and fixed income
securities are the primary investments in our Advisory Programs.
The material risks described below do not include every
potential risk associated with the Programs and investment
products, and you should not rely solely on the descriptions
provided below. You should ask questions about risks applicable
to particular Programs and investment products, read all product-
specific risk disclosures, and decide whether a particular
Program and investment product is appropriate for you based on
your specific circumstances, investment objectives, and financial
situation. For example, you should read the prospectus and other
offering documents (or, in the case of a Manager’s Portfolio, the
Manager’s Form ADV Part 2A) for a full description of risks
associated with the particular investments. You should consider
all disclosed risks associated with the types of transactions and
Page 21 of 45
SF1601-3/26
securities involved in the Portfolio and/or product in which you
are contemplating an investment, as well as any potential impact
that engaging in any of the below transactions may have on an
account’s overall performance.
The following material risks may also be applicable to Advisory
accounts invested in our Programs:
shares “in-kind” instead of in cash in connection with such
large redemption requests. In that event, your account in the
Program may receive the actual underlying (i.e., non-Fund)
securities held by the Fund. The underlying securities could
lose value before we are able to sell them (if our Firm or an
FA has discretion). To the extent possible, we will work with
Fund companies to minimize the potential adverse impact of
large volume redemptions to accounts in our Programs, but
there is no assurance that you will be able to avoid the risk of
loss and other adverse consequences.
Exchange Traded Product Risks: Exchange Traded Products
(“ETPs”) are types of securities that derive their value from a
basket of securities such as stocks, bonds, commodities or
indices, and trade intra-day on a national securities exchange.
Generally, ETPs take the form of ETFs or exchange traded notes
(“ETNs”). ETFs are discussed above under Investment Company
Securities Risks; ETNs are senior unsecured debt obligations of
an issuer, typically a bank or another financial institution;
however, ETNs are not categorized as typical fixed income
products.
General Economic and Market Conditions Risk: The success
of the firm’s activities will be affected by general economic and
market conditions, such as interest rates, availability of credit,
inflation rates, economic uncertainty, changes in laws, trade
barriers, currency exchange controls, energy prices, commodity
prices, national and international political circumstances
(including government intervention in financial markets, wars,
terrorist acts, or security operations), natural disasters, and
regional, national, and global health crises (for example, the
global outbreak of the coronavirus disease in 2019-20). These
factors may affect the volatility of securities prices and the
liquidity of your investments. Volatility or illiquidity could
impair your profitability or result in losses. The firm’s clients
may maintain substantial trading positions that can be adversely
affected by the level of volatility in the financial markets.
Management Style Risks: A number of our Advisory Programs,
including (but not limited to) Opportunity, Custom Advisory
Portfolio, IMC, and Connect, are, or may be, managed or
advised by Independent or Affiliated Managers. In general, we
consider a Manager’s performance track record, among other
things, during the selection process. However, a Manager’s past
performance is not a guarantee of its future results; as such, its
investment strategies may fail to produce the intended results.
Investment Company Securities Risks: Accounts in number of
our Programs are heavily invested in mutual funds. In addition,
our Advisory accounts may also invest in other investment
companies, including ETFs, UITs, and/or closed-end funds.
Each Fund in a Client’s account may be subject to a variety of
risks, depending on its investment strategies and/or the securities
held. For example, mutual funds that primarily hold a portfolio
of small capitalization companies will be subject to small
capitalization risks, which may include increased volatility and
decreased liquidity (relative to large capitalization companies).
Each of these investments is subject to internal fees, which affect
its net asset value and reduce the return that a Client will realize
with respect to the investment.
• Delayed Redemptions or Redemptions In-Kind – Stifel
Clients may collectively own a large percentage of certain
Funds through the Programs covered in this brochure (e.g.,
through Fundamentals and CAP). If the aggregate ownership
exceeds certain thresholds set by a Fund company, the Fund
may determine to delay or otherwise limit redemptions in our
Client accounts, particularly in connection with large volume
redemptions (for example, where our portfolio managers
determine to reduce or exit out of a Fund position held in one
or more Portfolios in the Fundamentals Program). This may
result in delays in our firm’s ability to fully liquidate or
redeem out of the Fund, which could in turn result in
increased risk of loss for participating accounts. If allowed
under its prospectus, a Fund could also decide to redeem
Fixed Income Securities Risks: A number of Portfolios and/or
Financial Advisors may invest Client accounts in a variety of
fixed income securities. Fixed income securities are subject to
credit risk, interest rate risk, and liquidity risk. Credit risk is the
risk the issuer or guarantor of a debt security will be unable or
unwilling to make timely payments of interest or principal or to
otherwise honor its obligations. Interest rate risk is the risk of
losses due to changes in interest rates. In general, the prices of
debt securities rise when interest rates fall, and the prices fall
when interest rates rise. Duration measures the change in the
price of a fixed income security based on the increase or
decrease in the overall interest rates. Bonds with higher duration
carry more risks and have higher price volatility than bonds with
lower duration. Therefore, if interest rates are very low at the
time of purchase of the bonds, when interest rates eventually do
rise, the price of such lower interest rate bonds will decrease,
and anyone needing to sell such bonds at that time, rather than
holding them to maturity, could realize a loss. High-yield debt
securities (junk bonds) generally are more sensitive to interest
rates. Such securities are also highly subject to liquidity risk.
Liquidity risk is the risk that a particular security may be
difficult to purchase or sell and that an investor may be unable to
sell illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price. There are
also special tax considerations associated with investing in high-
yield securities structured as zero coupon or pay-in-kind
securities. Municipal bonds may also have a call feature,
entitling the issuer to redeem the bond prior to maturity. A
callable security’s duration, or sensitivity to interest rate
changes, decreases when rates fall and increases when rates rise
because issuers are likely to call the bond only if the rates are
low. Investors in callable bonds are therefore subject to
reinvestment risk – that is, the risk that they will need to reinvest
their proceeds at lower rates. Municipal bonds are also subject to
state-specific risks, such as changes in the issuing state’s credit
rating, as well as the risk that legislative changes may affect the
tax status of such bonds. Investments in government-sponsored
entity securities also exhibit these risks, although the degree of
such risks may vary significantly among the different
government-sponsored entity securities. Some securities issued
Page 22 of 45
SF1601-3/26
or guaranteed by U.S. government agencies or instrumentalities
are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. and may
only be supported by the right of the agency or instrumentality to
borrow from the U.S. Treasury.
1. Income Risk. Many Structured CDs do not pay a fixed rate of
interest; instead, such products’ return may be realized at
maturity based upon the underlying asset or basket of assets
or index. The interest rate earned may be lower than the
interest rate available on other investments with the same
maturity and could even be as low as zero. Some, but not all,
Structured CDs may have maximum rates of return,
regardless of the performance of the underlying index or
strategy.
2. Principal Risk. Although Structured CDs are insured CDs,
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) limit of
$250,000 per depositor only applies to the principal amount
of the CD purchased. If sold prior to maturity, the sale will be
subject to market prices and the principal may not be fully
returned.
Brokered Certificates of Deposit Risks. Clients in certain
Programs may invest in brokered CDs issued by U.S. depository
institutions (each, a “CD Issuer”). These CDs are insured by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) up to
applicable limits, and Clients are responsible for monitoring the
total amounts of deposits with any one CD issuer for FDIC
guarantee limits. Brokered CDs held in Advisory accounts are
subject to the Advisory Account Fee, and Clients should
consider the impact of the Advisory Account Fee on the yield of
any brokered CDs in their Client account. Among the risks
relating to CDs are adverse changes in general economic
conditions, as well as exposure to credit losses arising from
possible financial difficulties of CD Issuers. Although Stifel
generally seeks to select CDs of highly qualified CD Issuers that
are subject to extensive governmental regulations, a CD Issuer’s
profitability largely depends on the availability and cost of funds
for the purpose of financing lending operations under prevailing
money market conditions. Redeeming CDs before maturity may
result in loss of principal due to fluctuations in the interest rate,
lack of liquidity, or transaction costs. CDs sold prior to maturity
may be worth less or more than the original purchase. Rates paid
on brokered CDs may be lower or higher than the rates available
directly through the CD Issuer or through a Stifel brokerage
transaction. Clients should refer to the disclosures
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/Certificates-Of-Deposit.pdf for
additional general information regarding CDs, including terms,
important investment consideration, and the extent of and
limitations on FDIC insurance, and to the “Specific Investment
Product Disclosure” Section of the Stifel Account Agreement
and Important Disclosures Booklet for additional information
regarding Brokered CDs.
Structured Investments Risks: We may allow accounts in
certain Programs to invest in structured investments. We may, in
our sole discretion, refuse to allow any Client account to invest
in structured investments, even if that account is enrolled in a
Program that otherwise allows for their use. Structured
investments are financial instruments that are generally derived
from or based on a single security, basket of securities, an index,
one or more interest rates, a commodity or basket of
commodities, a debt issuance, a foreign currency or basket of
currencies, and/or an actively or passively managed fund or
collection of funds (each, a “Structured Investment”). Structured
Investments may not be suitable for all investors. Clients that
invest in Structured Investments (or in a Portfolio that invests in
Structured Investments) should be prepared to hold the
Structured Investment until maturity. Clients that do not fully
understand how Structured Investments work, as well as their
associated risk, should not invest in these products (or in
Portfolios that invest in these products). Structured Investments
require the investor to assess several characteristics and risks
that may not be present in other forms of investment, including
structure risks (risks related to movements in the underlying
asset and the effect of such movements on payouts under the
Structured Investment), currency risks, liquidity risks, tax-
treatment risks, loss of principal risk, call risk, and other types of
risks. Some Structured Investments offer protection of the
principal invested (contingent on the ability of the issuer to
repay its senior unsubordinated obligations at maturity), whereas
others offer more limited or no protection of the principal.
Because the principal or interest payment on a Structured
Investment is tied to the value of another asset or assets, a
change in the value of that asset can affect the return on the
Structured Investments in a manner not characteristic of non-
structured obligations. In certain cases, an affiliate of Stifel may
receive compensation from the issuer of the notes in connection
with research and other services provided by the affiliate to the
issuer of Structured Investments that we may offer to clients.
Except in connection with retirement accounts, the affiliate’s
compensation generally will not affect our firm’s compensation
in connection with clients that hold these investments in their
advisory accounts – you should refer to the section “Additional
Information on Fees and Other Compensation” for more details
on affiliate compensation on certain products that we offer.
Important information and risks specific to each Structured
Investment offering will be disclosed in the offering materials
for the specific product, and you should carefully review all
related disclosures prior to investing in any Structured
Investment.
Additional information is also available in the Structured Products
Disclosure available on our website (under Important
Disclosures).
Cash Balance Risks:
Cash balances, including maintenance cash, in Advisory
accounts are subject to the Advisory Account Fee. Depending on
prevailing interest rates, it is likely that cash balances held in
Advisory accounts will underperform, including resulting in
negative returns after application of Advisory Account Fees, as
compared to alternative arrangements for holding cash positions.
This is particularly true if such cash balances are held through an
automatic sweep option, as the return that a Client will earn on
cash held through a sweep option will most likely be less than
the applicable Advisory Account Fee. For most Clients in our
Programs, the applicable sweep option is our insured bank
Other Risks for Structured Certificates of Deposits (CDs). To the
extent that the Structured Investments purchased in advisory
accounts are CDs, the investments could also be subject to the
following additional risks:
Page 23 of 45
SF1601-3/26
deposit sweep program. Our insured bank deposit sweep
programs pay comparable market interest rates to insured bank
checking accounts but may have significantly lower rates when
compared to unaffiliated money market funds or other cash
equivalents that could otherwise be used to hold cash in Client
accounts. Under certain market conditions, holding cash results
in lower overall account return, such as when riskier assets
outperform cash. Moreover, while maintaining Advisory account
assets in cash may protect those assets from the risk of loss in
the event of a market downturn, holding cash, particularly high
cash concentrations for long periods of time, through an
Advisory account may result in underperformance given the
impact of Advisory Account Fee(s) and the rates of return on
maintenance cash and other cash equivalents.
short position(s) will lose money when the value of the
underlying (borrowed) security rises, a result that is the opposite
of traditional strategies. The existence (and volume) of short
positions can also lead to more volatile performance of the
underlying security, which will in turn affect the performance of
the shorting strategy. Short sales expose a Client’s account to the
risk that it will be required to acquire, convert, or exchange
securities to replace the borrowed securities (also known as
“covering” the short position) at a time when the securities sold
short have appreciated in value, thus resulting in a loss. An
account’s investment performance may also suffer if required to
close out a short position earlier than initially anticipated.
Moreover, under certain market conditions (such as during
periods of high volatility), regulators may also limit or otherwise
impose significant requirement on short sales, which would have
an adverse effect on the strategy and, therefore, the Client’s
account. In addition, an account may be subject to expenses
related to short sales that are not typically associated with other
Advisory accounts in the Program, such as borrowing costs (or
short sale charges) and margin account maintenance costs. Each
Client is urged to carefully consider the impact that engaging in
any of these transactions will have on the account’s overall
performance.
In all cases, each Client has the option to hold cash in a
brokerage account at Stifel and/or in deposit accounts through
the Affiliated Bank or with other banks, in which case such cash
would not be subject to the Advisory Account Fee. Clients also
have the option of using (including directing their Financial
Advisors to use) other cash equivalents in their accounts; while
subject to the Advisory Account Fee, these cash equivalents will
likely earn higher interest rates than cash held through our
insured bank deposit sweep programs. Clients should compare
the terms, interest rates, required minimum amounts, and other
features of the automatic sweep option with other cash
equivalent investments. More information about our automatic
sweep option is available at
stifel.com/agreementanddisclosurebooklet. Information about
current interest rates for our insured bank deposit sweep
programs is available by contacting your Financial Advisor or
through Stifel.com.
Alternative Investments Risks: A number of Portfolios may
invest in and/or Financial Advisors may recommend a variety of
alternative investments. Alternative investments, including (but
not limited to) the Private Fund or other hedge funds or private
equity funds, alternative mutual funds, non-traditional ETFs,
managed futures products, and/or real estate (related)
investments may also present unique risks, such as decreased
liquidity and transparency and increased complexity. Alternative
investments typically use derivative instruments (such as
options, futures, or index-based instruments) and/or leveraging
strategies. The use of derivative instruments involves multiple
risks, as discussed in more detail above. In addition, to the extent
that the alternative investment uses commodities (or commodity-
based derivatives) as part of its investment strategy, the
investment return may also vary as a result of fluctuations in the
supply and demand of the underlying commodities. Real estate-
related investments will be subject to risks generally related to
real estate, including risks specific to geographic areas in which
the underlying investments were made. Certain alternative
investments may be less tax efficient than others. Each
alternative investment is typically subject to internal fees
(including, but not limited to, management and/or performance
fees), which affect the product’s net asset value and reduce the
return that a Client will realize with respect to the investment.
Additional risks may include style-specific risk, speculative
investment risk, concentration risk, correlation risk, credit risk
and lower-quality debt securities risk, equity securities risk,
financial services companies’ risk, interest rate risk, non-
diversification risk, small- and mid-cap company risk, and
special risks of mutual funds and/or ETFs, among others.
Derivatives Risks: A number of Portfolios or discretionary
accounts may engage in derivative transactions, including, but
not limited to, hedge funds, options, overlays, and managed
futures products for any purpose consistent with the Client’s
investment objective and/or the Portfolio in which the Client
account is invested. Generally, a derivative is a financial
arrangement, the value of which is derived from, or based on, a
traditional security, asset, or market index. Such transactions
may be used for several reasons, including hedging unrealized
gains. Hedging strategies, if successful, can reduce the risk of
loss by offsetting the negative effect of unfavorable price
movements in the investments being hedged. However, hedging
strategies can also reduce the opportunity for gain by offsetting
the positive effect of favorable price movements in the hedged
investments. A Portfolio (or certain accounts in a Program) may
also use derivative instruments to, amongst other objectives,
obtain market exposure (that is, for speculative purposes rather
than hedging) or generate income. Certain accounts may
establish a position in the derivatives market as a substitute for
buying, selling, or holding certain securities. The use of
derivative transactions is a highly specialized activity that
involves investment techniques and risks that may be more
heightened than those associated with ordinary portfolio
securities transactions.
Short Selling (or Short Sale Exposure) Risks: Certain
Portfolios and other accounts may engage in short selling. A
short sale involves the sale of a security that is borrowed. The
Unrelated Business Taxable Income: Unrelated business
taxable income (“UBTI”) is income regularly generated by a tax-
exempt entity by means of taxable activities. This income is not
related to the main function of the entity, but is needed to
generate a small portion of income. UBTI is typically associated
Page 24 of 45
SF1601-3/26
forth elsewhere in this brochure and/or in the Advisory
Agreement, such taxes and charges are in addition to (i.e., are
not included in) a Client’s Advisory fees or commissions. All
these factors could negatively affect a Client’s realized return on
the investment.
with income received from investments in limited partnerships
and master limited partnerships, which are required to pay out
most of their profits. Clients may also be affected if a Fund in
their account in turn invests in entities that generate income that
qualifies as UBTI for their retirement account(s). When UBTI of
$1,000 or more is received from investments held in a client’s
tax deferred retirement account (such as an IRA), as custodian
Stifel will take the necessary steps to pay the UBTI tax liability
from the assets of the retirement account and will use a vendor
to prepare and file the required Form 990-T with the IRS.
Affected retirement accounts will incur filing fee for each Form
990-T that Stifel files on behalf of the account. Clients with
retirement accounts investing in such securities (directly, or
though Portfolios that in turn invest in these securities) should
refer to the Stifel Account Agreement and Disclosure Booklet
for additional information about the processing fee charged for
these filings.
Emerging Markets Securities Risks: Numerous emerging
market countries have a history of, and continue to experience,
serious and potentially continuing economic and political
problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are
relatively small, expensive to trade in, and generally have higher
risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging
markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets,
and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and
withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may
be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries
generally have smaller economies or less developed capital
markets, and as a result, the risks of investing in emerging
market countries are magnified in frontier market countries. It is
important to note that emerging markets securities are foreign
securities and also carry all of the foreign securities risks
identified above.
Tax-Exempt Securities Risks: Portfolios (or accounts in a
Program) may seek to invest in tax-exempt securities, including
(but not limited to) municipal bonds as well as tax-exempt
mutual funds and ETFs. In order to attempt to pay interest that is
exempt from federal or state and local income tax, tax-exempt
securities must meet certain legal requirements. Failure to meet
such requirements may cause the interest received and
distributed to shareholders to be taxable. In addition, income
from one or more municipal bonds held in the Portfolio could be
declared taxable because of unfavorable changes in tax or other
laws, adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service
(“IRS”), state, or other tax authorities, or noncompliant conduct
of a bond issuer. Changes or proposed changes in federal or state
income tax or other laws may also cause the prices of tax-
exempt securities to fall. Finally, income from certain municipal
bonds may be subject to the alternative minimum tax (“AMT”)
and/or state and local taxes, based on the investor’s state of
residence. In addition, as discussed in more detail under the
section “Cash Sweep Options” below, idle cash in Advisory
accounts held at Stifel (including accounts invested in “tax-
exempt” Portfolios) is typically swept into one of our insured
bank cash sweep programs. Any interest earned by the Client in
respect of such cash balances will not be exempt from taxes.
American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) Risks: Certain Program
assets may also be invested in ADRs stocks listed on a U.S.
exchange. An ADR is typically created by a U.S. bank and
allows U.S. investors to have a position in the foreign company
in the form of an ADR. Each ADR represents one or more shares
of a foreign stock or a fraction of a share (often referred to as the
“ratio”). The certificate, transfer, and settlement practices for
ADRs are identical to those for U.S. securities. Generally, the
price of the ADR corresponds to the price of the foreign stock in
its home market, adjusted for the ratio of ADRs to foreign
company shares. There are investment risks associated with
ADRs, including, but not limited to, currency exchange-rate,
inflationary, and liquidity risks as well as the risk of adverse
political, economic, and social developments taking place within
the underlying issuer’s home country. In addition, the underlying
issuers of certain ADRs are under no obligation to distribute
shareholder communications to ADR holders, or to pass through
to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities.
It is important to note that since ADRs are created to allow U.S.
investors to have a position in a foreign company, they also
carry all of the foreign securities risks identified above.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: Stifel, its affiliates, agents and
employees are not in the business of providing tax, regulatory,
accounting or legal advice. This brochure and any tax-related
statements provided by Stifel are not intended or written to be
used, and cannot be used or relied upon, by any such taxpayer
for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties. Any such taxpayer
should seek advice based on the taxpayer’s particular
circumstances from an independent tax adviser.
Equity Risks: Equity securities represent an ownership interest,
or the right to acquire an ownership interest, in an issuer. Equity
securities also include, among other things, common stocks,
preferred securities, convertible stocks, and warrants. The values
of equity securities, such as common stocks and preferred
securities, may decline due to general market conditions that are
not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or
perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general
outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency
rates, or adverse investor sentiment generally. Equity securities
generally rank junior in a company’s capital structure to debt
securities and consequently have greater price volatility and
entail greater risk of loss than debt securities.
Foreign Securities Risks: Advisory accounts may invest in
foreign securities, directly or through Funds that hold a portfolio
of foreign securities. Foreign securities can be more volatile than
domestic (U.S.) securities. Securities markets of other countries
are generally smaller than U.S. securities markets. Many foreign
securities may also be less liquid than U.S. securities, and are
typically subject to currency risk. Some foreign securities also
may be subject to taxes and other charges imposed by the
issuer’s country of residence or citizenship. Certain foreign
securities may be subject to additional costs and risks. As set
Page 25 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Frequent Trading and High Portfolio Turnover Rate Risk: The
turnover rate within certain discretionary Advisory accounts
(including, for example, in the Vantage Program) may be
significant. Frequent trades may result in high transactions costs,
including substantial commissions, fees, and other transaction
costs. In addition, frequent trading is likely to result in short-
term capital gains tax treatment. As a result, high turnover and
frequent trading in an Advisory account could have an adverse
effect on the cost and therefore the return on the Advisory
account.
Risks Relating to the Use of Third-Party Managers: Our
selection of managers is inherently based on subjective criteria
with the result that the true performance and abilities of any
particular manager may be difficult to assess. The historical
performance of a manager is not indicative of its future
performance, which can vary considerably. We do not have a
role in the day-to-day management of the investments managed
by third-party managers (such as certain of the CAS Funds).
Consequently, the performance of such investments is
substantially dependent on the skill and acumen of key
employees of the managers. If such employees cease to
participate in the manager’s business, the manager’s ability to
select attractive investments and manage its portfolio could be
impaired.
Diversification Risk: Certain Portfolios within Stifel’s Advisory
Programs may have concentration in specific asset classes,
sectors, or individual securities, which could result in increased
exposure to the risks that can be attributed to those specific
investments. Additionally, certain Portfolios may invest in a
specific investment style. As a result, clients in these Portfolios
may not have access to as wide a variety of management styles
as clients in Portfolios. Certain Portfolios also invest in funds of
specific sponsors or fund companies, which means that clients in
these Portfolios only have access to the management style of that
fund company or sponsor. Clients in these Portfolios will be
subject to more risk than Clients in more diversified Portfolios
and, therefore, are intended to complement to other investments.
Mid Cap and Small Cap Company Risk: The securities of mid
cap or small cap companies may be subject to more abrupt or
erratic market movements and may have lower trading volumes
or more erratic trading than securities of larger-sized companies
or the market averages in general.
We rely to a great extent on information provided by the
managers and may have limited access to other information
regarding the managers’ portfolios and operations. There is a
risk that a manager may knowingly, negligently or otherwise
withhold or misrepresent information, including instances of
fraud or similar activities. We are not able to guarantee that its
ongoing monitoring would detect instances of fraudulent or
similar activity. In addition, managers may have similar or
divergent investment views and strategies. Consequently, a
Client whose assets are managed by more than one manager may
at times hold economically offsetting positions in its overall
portfolio, and could indirectly incur transaction costs without
accomplishing any net investment result, or may compete with
its own accounts for the same positions in one or more markets.
Where managers hold similar views or employ similar trading
strategies, a Client’s overall portfolio may hold large positions in
a relatively limited number of the same or similar investments.
Greater concentration of positions across multiple managers will
increase the adverse effect of any unfavorable conditions in the
market, sector, or industry in which the positions are
concentrated.
Municipal Securities Risk: Municipal issuers may be adversely
affected by rising health care costs, increasing unfunded pension
liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing
financial support. Unfavorable conditions and developments
relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result
in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities. Issuers often
depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and
interest payments. The value of municipal securities can also be
adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one
or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal
issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes
or other legislative actions (as discussed under Tax-Exempt
Securities Risk above), and by uncertainties and public
perceptions concerning these and other factors. In recent periods,
an increasing number of municipal issuers in the United States
have defaulted on obligations and commenced insolvency
proceedings.
Dividend Reinvestment Risks: Clients that direct dividend
reinvestment for their Advisory accounts should note that
dividend reinvestment typically leads to the receipt of fractional
shares. Stifel is not able to execute fractional share liquidations
on an agency basis. Clients should therefore understand that
where Stifel liquidates fractional shares, Stifel will purchase the
fractional shares into its inventory. The price allocated to the
fractional component will depend on whether the fractional
shares portion can be processed on the same day as any whole
shares that are part of the same liquidation transaction (in which
case, the price will be the same as the market price received
from the whole shares), or whether the fractional shares are
processed on a different day (in which case, the price allocated
to the fractional shares will be the previous business day’s
closing market price for the security). Stifel may benefit from (or
lose money as a result of) implementing fractional share
liquidation in Advisory Client accounts. In general, Clients
should note that Stifel does not encourage dividend reinvestment
in its Advisory accounts.
Dependence on Key Personnel: In certain situations, we may
rely heavily on certain key personnel of our firm, our affiliates,
and/or the personnel of certain Managers available on our
platform. The departure of any such key personnel or their
inability to fulfill their duties may adversely affect the related
Portfolio, including our firm’s (or the Manager’s, as the case
may be) ability to effectively implement the Portfolio’s stated
objectives as communicated to the Client in respect of such
accounts and, as a result, adversely impact the performance of
the accounts.
Risks Relating to Investments in the Private Funds: The
following is a summary of the principal risks that apply to
investments in the Private Funds and does not attempt to identify
Page 26 of 45
SF1601-3/26
every potential risk associated with a particular investment
strategy or Private Fund.
information that clients request because certain information
may be considered proprietary or otherwise confidential.
This lack of information may make it more difficult for
Clients to evaluate the risks of a continued investment in
the Private Fund.
(vi) Ability to Meet Investment Objectives. Our firm is not
Additional information about applicable risks is set forth in each
Private Fund’s prospectus, private placement memorandum, or
other offering document or disclosure document (collectively,
“risk disclosures”) provided in connection with an investment in
such Private Fund. Clients are encouraged to read those risk
disclosures carefully. This information is qualified in its entirety
by reference to the respective risk disclosures and in the event of
any conflict or inconsistency, Clients should rely on the
respective risk disclosures.
responsible for the investment decisions of the third-party
managers that are hired to manage the Private Funds and/or
any such Private Fund’s underlying investments, as such,
we cannot guarantee that the investment objectives of any
particular Private Fund will be achieved.
(i) Regulatory Environment. Interests in the Private Funds
generally are not registered under federal or state securities
laws, nor are they subject to regulation by the SEC or other
regulators. In addition, when investing in the Private
Funds, Clients may not be protected by federal or state
securities laws, other than certain anti-fraud provisions of
those laws. Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is
increased regulatory scrutiny of the private investment
fund industry in general. Any future changes in the
regulations applicable to the private investment fund
industry could have a material adverse impact on the
performance of the Private Funds’ investments.
(ii) Concentration Risk. Certain Private Funds may not
Issuer Concentration Risk: From time to time, a Financial
Advisor (or a Portfolio) may take a significant position in a
particular issuer; for example, a particular Financial Advisor’s
Clients may, in the aggregate, own more than 5% of an issuer’s
outstanding stock. Even where such a position is spread among a
number of Client accounts, the affected Clients will be more
exposed to the issuer’s specific risk than when the firm’s
aggregate position in the issuer is insignificant or immaterial.
Such large positions may also affect the liquidity of the
investment because we may not be able to completely liquidate
the position within a desired timeline or at a desired price if we
own more than the typical daily trading volume. We are required
by applicable regulations to disclose ownership of more than 5%
of the total outstanding shares of certain equity securities held in
our discretionary accounts. There are no similar disclosure
requirements to the extent the positions are held in non-
discretionary Client accounts. Clients are therefore encouraged
to discuss these risks with their Financial Advisor when
considering the Financial Advisor’s investment
recommendations.
establish concentration limits with respect to particular
securities, industries, or sectors. Consequently, a Private
Fund may be relatively concentrated in a particular
security, industry or sector and unfavorable conditions
affecting any such security, industry or sector could have a
material adverse effect on the Private Fund’s overall
financial condition.
(iii) Investment Strategy Risk. Depending on their investment
strategies, certain Private Funds may engage or invest in
highly leveraged transactions, short sales, derivatives,
commodities, or volatile or speculative instruments, and
may concentrate their investments in a limited number of
securities or other interests, including securities that are not
publicly registered, listed or publicly traded, which may
serve to make an investment in such Private Funds highly
speculative and risky. Before investing in a Private Fund,
Clients should understand the attendant risks of its
investment strategy.
(iv) Lack of Liquidity. Interests in the Private Funds are
Indirect Investments in Digital Assets:
Our Financial Advisors may recommend, and portfolios on our
platform may invest in, funds or exchange traded products with
direct or indirect exposure to digital assets, including
cryptocurrencies. Investments in digital assets are highly
speculative and involve substantial risks, including extreme
price volatility, limited operating histories, significant
concentration risk, evolving and uncertain regulatory and tax
treatment, and fewer investor protections than traditional
investment products. Many digital asset products, including
certain spot cryptocurrency ETPs, are not registered under the
Investment Company Act of 1940 and, therefore, do not provide
the same regulatory safeguards as mutual funds or traditional
ETFs.
generally illiquid. No market may exist for the Private
Funds’ interests, and substantial restrictions may exist with
respect to their transferability and resale. The securities
and other interests in which a Private Fund invests
similarly may be illiquid. As a result, Clients should be
prepared to bear the financial risks of investing in a Private
Fund for a significant period of time, and understand that
they may not be able to withdraw assets whenever they
wish to do so.
(v) Lack of Transparency. Private Fund investors generally
Cryptocurrency markets and exchanges may experience fraud,
security breaches, operational failures, business disruptions, or
limited regulatory oversight, increasing the risk of market
manipulation, pricing inefficiencies, or loss. Digital assets may
be permanently lost, stolen, destroyed, or rendered inaccessible
due to cybersecurity events or the loss of private keys, are not
legal tender, and are not FDIC insured. Market prices of digital
asset products may differ materially from net asset value due to
fees, liquidity constraints, trading limitations, or market
conditions. ETFs generally trade only during standard U.S.
market hours, while the underlying cryptocurrency markets
receive periodic reports from the Fund or its manager.
However, a Private Fund may not always provide all the
Page 27 of 45
SF1601-3/26
frameworks, including risk-based review and oversight prior to
deployment. However, the failure of such AI Technologies to be
available or to perform, or data leakage on account of use of
such AI Technologies, could cause material harm to Stifel and/or
our clients.
operate continuously, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
As a result, price movements in cryptocurrency markets that
occur outside of market hours may materially affect the opening
price of related ETFs when the market next opens, and such
products may not be able to reflect real time cryptocurrency
pricing. Products held in brokerage accounts generally trade only
during standard market hours despite continuous cryptocurrency
markets. In addition, digital assets have been associated with
illegal activity, which could result in regulatory restrictions or
enforcement actions that limit or eliminate the ability to trade or
use such products. Investors may lose some or all of their
investment and should review applicable offering documents
before investing.
AI Technologies, the current and potential future applications,
and the legal and regulatory frameworks within which they
operate, continue to rapidly evolve, and it is not possible to
predict the full extent of current or future risks related thereto.
Regulations related to AI Technologies may impose certain
obligations on organizations and costs for monitoring and
responding to such regulations, and may limit or constrain the
manner in which AI Technologies are developed, deployed, or
used.
Financial Institution Risk
Actual events involving reduced or limited liquidity, defaults,
non-performance, or other adverse developments that affect
financial institutions or other companies in the financial services
industry, including banks and other custodians of an investor’s
funds and securities, or impact the financial services industry
generally, as well as concerns or rumors about any events of
these kinds, have in the past and may in the future lead to
market-wide liquidity problems, defaults on financial
obligations, non-performance of contractual obligations, and
other adverse impacts on these financial institutions, investors
that deposit funds and securities at these institutions, lenders and
borrowers of these institutions, and other companies in the
financial services industry.
Further, AI Technologies are highly reliant on the collection and
analysis of large amounts of data and complex algorithms. Data
in such models may contain a degree of inaccuracy and error,
which could have adverse impacts to the extent Stifel or the
firm’s service providers rely on the work product of such AI
Technologies. Stifel expects to be involved in the collection of
such data only in the context of limited custom development of
tools supporting bespoke AI product developments, but these
tools are likely to contain and produce inaccurate information
from time to time that may be difficult to immediately identify
and mitigate. There can be no assurance that the use of AI
Technologies will achieve intended outcomes or that associated
risks can be fully mitigated. Stifel will not be able to control the
manner in which third-party products are developed, maintained,
or the manner in which they are used to provide services, even
where the firm has sought contractual protections.
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION
For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, was
closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and
Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation as receiver. Investor concerns regarding the U.S. or
international financial systems could result in less favorable
commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or
costs and tighter financial and operating covenants, or systemic
limitations on access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby
making it more difficult to acquire financing on acceptable terms
or at all.
Any decline in available funding or access to cash and liquidity
resources could, among other risks, adversely impact the ability
to meet operating expenses, satisfy financial obligations,
liquidate portfolio holdings, withdraw capital, or fulfill other
obligations, or result in breaches of financial and/or contractual
obligations. Any of these impacts, or any other impacts resulting
from the factors described above or other related or similar
factors not described above, could have material adverse impacts
on portfolio holdings, fund performance, or business operations.
1. On September 24, 2024, in connection with the industry-
wide sweep into off-channel communications, the SEC
entered an administrative order against Stifel, Nicolaus &
Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the “Firm”). The SEC
found that the Firm willfully violated Section 17(a) of the
Exchange Act and Rule 17a-4(b)(4) thereunder, as well as
Section 204 of the Advisers Act and Rule 204-2(a)(7)
thereunder, due to recordkeeping failures related to
electronic communications. The Firm also failed to
reasonably supervise its personnel to prevent or detect
aiding and abetting violations of these sections. The SEC
ordered Stifel to cease and desist from committing or
causing any violations, censured the Firm, and imposed
undertakings including retaining an independent compliance
consultant. Additionally, a civil money penalty of
$35,000,000 was imposed.
2. On September 1, 2020, Stifel entered into a Letter of
Artificial Intelligence (“AI”): The increasing adoption of AI
and machine learning technologies (collectively, “AI
Technologies”) creates opportunities for Stifel that we believe
can benefit our clients. The firm expects to expand our use of AI
Technologies in investment activities, and middle and back-
office operations. Actual AI Technologies usage will vary across
functions, and Stifel will adjust protocols governing the use of
AI Technologies by its associates on an ongoing basis. The use
of AI Technologies by Stifel is subject to the firm’s enterprise
governance, information security, and risk management
Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA to
settle allegations that, during the period of October 31, 2017
through February 27, 2020, the firm lacked a supervisory
system, including written supervisory procedures (WSPs),
reasonably designed to detect and prevent Stifel and its
registered representatives from executing pre-arranged
transactions in violation of Municipal Securities
Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Rule G-27. While not admitting
Page 28 of 45
SF1601-3/26
6. On November 3, 2017, Stifel entered into a consent
or denying the allegations, the firm consented to a censure
and monetary fine of $40,000 to settle the allegations. As
indicated in the AWC, Stifel updated its supervisory system
and WSPs regarding the cited supervisory deficiencies prior
to the entry of the AWC.
3. In March 2019, Stifel, along with 78 other investment
agreement with the State of North Carolina, as part of a
multi-state task force agreement, regarding the sale of
securities commonly known as Auction Rate Securities
(“ARS”). The state regulatory authority claimed that Stifel
failed to reasonably supervise the sales of ARS by failing to
provide sufficient information and training to its registered
representatives and sales and marketing staff regarding ARS
and the mechanics of the auction process applicable to ARS.
As part of the consent agreement, Stifel agreed to pay the
state $18,088.80, to cease and desist from violating
securities laws and regulations, to retain at Stifel’s expense
a consultant to review the firm’s supervisory and
compliance policies and procedures relating to product
review of nonconventional investments, and to repurchase
certain auction rate securities from the firm’s clients.
7. In June 2017, Stifel entered into an AWC with FINRA to
advisers who voluntarily participated in the SEC’s Share
Class Selection Disclosure Initiative, consented to the entry
of an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease-and-Desist
Proceedings Pursuant to Sections 203(e) and 203(k) of the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Making Findings, and
Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order
(the “Order”) by the SEC instituted pursuant to Sections
203(e) and 203(k) of the Advisers Act without admitting or
denying the findings therein except those related to
jurisdiction and the subject matter of the proceedings. The
Order entered against Stifel alleged that Stifel willfully
violated Sections 206(2) and 207 of the Advisers Act as a
result of its inadequate disclosure of conflicts of interest
related to (a) the selection of mutual fund share classes that
charged 12b-1 fees, which are recurring fees deducted from
fund’s assets, when an alternative share class was available
that did not charge a 12b-1 fee, and (b) the receipt of 12b-1
fees in connection with these investments. The SEC did not
impose a civil penalty against Stifel in recognition of the
fact that Stifel self-reported the issue to the SEC. However,
Stifel was censured and ordered to cease-and-desist from
committing or causing any violations and future violations
of Sections 206(2) and 207 of the Advisers Act, pay
disgorgement and pre-judgment interest in the amount of
$6,037,175.98 to affected investors, and comply with
several undertakings related to notifying affected investors
of the terms of the Order.
settle allegations that Stifel did not provide timely
disclosures to a municipal issuer in connection with its role
as placement agent in a placement of bonds issued by the
municipal issuer in accordance with interpretive guidance
issued by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
(“MSRB”) regarding MSRB Rule G-23. In May 2012, Stifel
recommended that the issuer do a placement, in lieu of a
public offering, in order to save on debt service costs. The
issuer accepted Stifel’s recommendation and agreed that
Stifel would serve as placement agent. However, Stifel did
not provide the disclosures regarding its role in a timely
manner. As a result, the firm was alleged to have violated
MSRB Rule G-23 by serving as both financial advisor and
placement agent on the same issue. While not admitting or
denying the allegations, Stifel agreed to a regulatory censure
and a monetary fine of $125,000.
4. On January 26, 2018, Stifel entered into a Letter of
Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA to
settle allegations that the firm (i) traded ahead of certain
customer orders at prices that would have satisfied the
customer orders; (ii) did not maintain adequate supervisory
controls that were reasonably designed to achieve
compliance with FINRA Rule 5320 and Supplementary
Material .02 of FINRA Rule 5320; and failed to report an
information barrier identifier with its order audit trail system
(OATS) submission for certain orders. These allegations
were considered to be violations of FINRA Rules 2010,
3110, 7440(b)(19), and NASD Rule 3010. While not
admitting or denying the allegations, the firm consented to a
censure, monetary fine of $37,500, plus interest of $318.25,
restitution payments to affected investors, and an
undertaking to revise its written supervisory procedures
relating to Rule 5320 and Supplementary Material .02 of
FINRA to settle these allegations.
5. On January 26, 2018, Stifel entered into an AWC with
8. In March 2017, Stifel consented to the entry of a Cease and
Desist Order (“Order”) by the SEC in which Stifel was
found to have violated Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act
and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder by failing to adopt or
implement adequate policies and procedures to track and
disclose the trading away practices of certain Investment
Managers in several of Stifel’s discretionary wrap fee
programs, including information about additional costs
incurred by clients as a result of the Investment Manager’s
use of another broker to execute transactions away from
Stifel. Stifel neither admitted nor denied the findings
contained in the Order, except those related to jurisdiction
and the subject matter of the proceeding. Stifel made several
undertakings enumerated in the Order related to the trading
away practices of third-party managers, including a review
and update of its policies and procedures, providing
information to financial advisors and clients, and training
financial advisors. Stifel was ordered to pay a civil penalty
of $300,000 and ordered to cease and desist from violating
Section 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder.
9. On January 4, 2017, an Administrative Consent Order
FINRA to settle allegations that the firm failed to report to
the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (“TRACE”)
transactions in TRACE-eligible securitized products within
the time required by FINRA Rule 6730. While not admitting
or denying these allegations, the firm agreed to a censure
and a fine of $17,500.
(“Order”) was entered against Stifel and a former registered
representative associated with Stifel by the Securities
Division of the Mississippi Secretary of State (“Division”)
resolving an investigation into certain activities occurring in
two branch offices during the period of September 2000
Page 29 of 45
SF1601-3/26
The following affiliates may be involved, directly or indirectly,
in the Advisory services provided to Clients in the Programs
covered in this brochure:
through November 2013. Without admitting or denying the
findings in the Order, Stifel agreed to the entry of the Order
directing Stifel to cease and desist from violating Rule 5.15
of the Mississippi Securities Act of 2010, a books and
records rule, and to pay the Division $49,500 on its behalf
as well as $500 on behalf of the former registered
representative.
10. On December 6, 2016, a final judgment (“Judgment”) was
entered against Stifel by the United States District Court for
the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Civil Action No. 2:11-cv-
00755) resolving a civil lawsuit filed by the SEC in 2011
involving violations of several antifraud provisions of the
federal securities laws in connection with the sale of
synthetic collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”) to five
Wisconsin school districts in 2006. As a result of the Order,
Stifel is required to cease and desist from committing or
causing any violations and any future violations of Section
17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, and Stifel and a
former employee are jointly liable to pay disgorgement and
prejudgment interest of $2.5million. Stifel was also required
to pay a civil penalty of $22 million. The Judgment also
required Stifel to distribute $12.5 million of the ordered
disgorgement and civil penalty to the school districts
involved in this matter.
Affiliated Managers and Broker-Dealers – We have a number
of arrangements with our Affiliated Managers applicable to
Clients enrolled in our Advisory Programs. As of the date of this
brochure, our Affiliated Managers included 1919 Investment
Counsel, EquityCompass Investment Management, LLC,
Washington Crossing Advisors, LLC, Stifel Capital
Management, LLC, North Atlantic Capital Management, LLC,
501 North, LLC, and InTyce, LLC (aka Stifel Wealth Tracker).
Our affiliations with these entities may change and/or we may
acquire new affiliates at any time, without prior notice to you.
Our Affiliated Managers provide model Portfolios and/or
manage Portfolios on a discretionary basis in a number of our
Programs. We have a conflict of interest when our Financial
Advisors recommend Affiliated Managers rather than
Independent Managers, since any Product Fee received by an
Affiliated Manager remains within the Stifel umbrella and may
have a positive impact on the performance of our parent
company stock (of which the Financial Advisor is likely a
shareholder). Moreover, our Financial Advisors sometimes
develop close personal relationships with employees and
associated persons of our Affiliated Managers and, as a result,
could have an incentive to recommend such Affiliated Managers
over Independent Managers. To mitigate this risk, we do not pay
our Financial Advisors on the basis of recommendations of
Affiliated Managers or affiliated products. In addition, we pay
our Affiliated Managers in the same range as Independent
Managers (i.e., the Product Fees to utilize the services and/or
Portfolios of Affiliated Managers are comparable to Product
Fees associated with Independent Managers).
11. On April 8, 2016, Stifel entered into an AWC with FINRA
to settle allegations that the firm used permissible customer-
owned securities as collateral for bank loans procured by the
firm. However, on several occasions over a period of years,
prior to performing its customer reserve calculation, Stifel
substituted those loans with loans secured with firm-owned
collateral. The substitution thereby reduced the amount that
Stifel was required to deposit into the Customer Reserve
Account. FINRA found the practice to be a violation of
applicable rules, including Section 15(c) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 15c3-3(e)(2) thereunder.
Throughout the relevant period, the firm had sufficient
resources to fund the Customer Reserve Account even if the
substitutions had not occurred. While not admitting or
denying the allegations, the firm consented to a censure and
fine of $750,000.
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES AND
AFFILIATIONS
We also serve as clearing broker and custodian to accounts of
other firms. We also provide portfolio management services to
some of these clients to the extent they are enrolled in a Program
or Portfolio where we maintain discretion. We receive a share of
the fees and/or charges paid by these clients in connection with
the services that we provide. In our capacity as a registered
broker-dealer, we may also serve as clearing broker and
custodian to the accounts. We also provide portfolio
management services to some of these clients to the extent they
are enrolled in a Program or Portfolio where we maintain
discretion. We receive a share of the fees and/or charges paid by
these clients in connection with the services that we provide.
Affiliated Trust Companies and Banks – Our affiliated trust
companies, Stifel Trust Company, National Association (STC)
and Stifel Trust Company Delaware, National Association
(STCD), each provide personal trust services (including serving
as trustee or co-trustee, or custodian) for individuals and
organizations. The fees charged by our trust affiliates are
structured in a manner that is consistent with fiduciary principles
to which such entities are subject. STC’s and STCD’s published
fee schedules provide a listing of the services for which each
receives payment. A copy of the fee schedule is delivered to each
trust client.
As set forth above, our firm is dual registered as an investment
adviser and a broker-dealer, and is also a licensed insurance
agency with various states. We also have a number of affiliates
that are registered as investment managers or broker-dealers (or
both). In addition to being registered representatives of Stifel,
some of our management persons may be registered
representatives of these affiliated broker-dealers. Similarly,
some of our management persons may be management persons
of our affiliates, including Affiliated Managers. Finally, some of
our management persons may be licensed to practice law and/or
may be certified accountants in various states. These individuals
do not provide legal or tax advisory services to Clients. Our
parent company, Stifel Financial Corp., is a publicly traded
company (ticker: SF). We generally prohibit our Financial
Advisors from recommending the purchase of our parent
company securities in Clients’ Advisory accounts.
From time to time, as trustee or co-trustee, these trust affiliates
may open an Advisory account in the Programs covered by this
Page 30 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Affiliated Funds and Other Products – As discussed above in
“Additional Information on Fees and Other Compensation,”
Stifel and its affiliates receive compensation from Funds and
other products.
brochure, and/or access other advisory services that we offer. In
such cases, we generally view our client to be the affiliated trust
companies (i.e., STC or STCD), not their underlying trust clients
on whose behalf our affiliates are acting, for the arrangement
(even where, for example, our Financial Advisor may have
referred the underlying trust client to the affiliate trust company
and, as a result, indirectly shares in the trust fees received).
In connection with the insured bank deposit programs offered as
cash sweep options for our Client accounts, our affiliates, Stifel
Bank, Stifel Bank & Trust, STC, and STCD (each, an “Affiliated
Bank” and collectively, “Affiliated Banks”), are either the sole
participating deposit institutions, or the top participating deposit
institutions into which idle cash swept from eligible Client
accounts may be swept. From time to time, Clients may also
have a direct relationship with an Affiliated Bank and hold other
personal deposit and/or bank accounts at such Affiliated Bank,
in which case, such Clients are solely responsible for any
customary fees that are charged with respect to such deposit or
other bank accounts.
Furthermore, as set forth under the section “Credit Line Loans”
below, our Affiliated Banks may compensate us in connection
with Credit Line Loans that Clients hold at the bank (based on
the outstanding balance). Clients should therefore note that the
Financial Advisor has an incentive to recommend such Credit
Line Loans and, as such, should carefully review the terms of
any proposed Credit Line Loan prior to taking out any such
Loan.
Finally, our Affiliated Banks may, from time to time, issue
brokered certificates of deposit which we may determine to
make available for purchase by our clients.
With respect to IRAs and Coverdell Education Savings
Accounts, Stifel Bank serves as IRA custodian. When acting as
IRA custodian, Stifel Bank does not provide and is not
responsible for brokerage or advisory services for your
account(s).
Affiliated Private Funds – As discussed in the section
“Management and Advisory Services to Private Funds,” our firm
may, directly or through an affiliate, act as a general partner,
manager, or managing member, or otherwise provide investment
advisory services of various Affiliated Private Funds. These
Affiliated Private Funds are offered to eligible investors, some
of whom may also have Advisory accounts with us. Solicitation
activities for Affiliated Private Fund securities are typically
made via an offering memorandum, circular or prospectus and
may only be made to clients for whom such investments are
deemed suitable. Regardless of whether such funds are Affiliated
Private Funds or not affiliated with us, investors will indirectly
incur various fees and expenses as described in the offering
documents for the applicable fund. With limited exceptions,
Clients that invest in Affiliated Private Funds at Stifel are
required to hold such securities in brokerage accounts. To the
extent that Affiliated Private Fund interests are held in brokerage
accounts, these clients are not charged Advisory Account Fees
with respect to the holdings. In certain circumstances, we may
allow investors to purchase and/or hold the Private Fund
interests in their Advisory account. If an exception is granted for
a Client to purchase and/or hold such Affiliated Private Fund
shares in an Advisory account, depending on the particular
Affiliated Private Fund and/or the specific class, series or type of
interest held, Stifel may charge an Advisory Account Fee with
respect to such securities held in the Advisory account, which
Advisory Account Fee will generally be in lieu of fees charged
by the Affiliated Private Fund (but in addition to any fees
charged by any underlying investments which the Affiliated
Private Funds invest), or the management fee or placement fee
may be waived or reduced. Alternatively, the value of such
securities held in the Advisory account will be excluded from
the Advisory Account Fee billing. Stifel generally does not
allow any such Affiliated Private Fund shares to be purchased
subject to commissions through the Vantage Program.
Stifel Nicolaus Insurance Agency, Incorporated – As set forth
above, our firm is licensed as an insurance agency in a number
of states and, as such, is able to sell insurance products to clients
directly. However, in a few states, insurance products are sold
through our affiliate, Stifel Nicolaus Insurance Agency,
Incorporated. In such cases, the affiliate, and not our firm, will
receive customary commissions paid by the insurance companies
issuing Client policies. Financial Advisors who sell insurance
products in such states typically are licensed as agents of the
affiliate and will receive a portion of the insurance commissions
paid. Any insurance is separate from our advisory services and
not covered by your advisory fee.
* * * *
Affiliated Broker-Dealers – We have a number of affiliates that
are registered broker-dealers. As a full-service broker-dealer, we
self-execute client transaction and, as such, generally do not use
the execution services of our affiliated broker-dealers in
providing services to our Advisory Clients. However, a number
of our affiliated broker-dealers may serve as underwriters or
otherwise participate in the distribution of securities that end up
in our Advisory accounts through purchases in the secondary
market (NOTE that our wrap accounts do not participate in
initial public offerings). Our affiliated broker-dealers (for
example, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (“KBW”)) also provide
research used by our Financial Advisors in making investment
decisions for Clients. As set forth above, we do not use these
affiliates (including KBW) to execute Client trades or otherwise
provide services directly to Advisory Client accounts. Your
Financial Advisor can provide or direct you to a full list of our
affiliated broker-dealers, upon request.
Our affiliations with these entities may change and/or we
may acquire new affiliates at any time, without prior notice
to you.
Each Client should note that each relationship set forth
above creates a conflict of interest for our firm and/or
Page 31 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Financial Advisors. Our firm acts as a fiduciary with respect
to all Advisory services. As a fiduciary, we take reasonable
steps to ensure that all material conflicts are fully disclosed
to our Clients.
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST IN
CLIENT TRANSACTIONS, AND PERSONAL TRADING
or another Client account on the other side of the transaction in
connection with the purchase or sale of securities by the Client
account, and our firm receives a commission from the
transaction. We will have a potentially conflicting division of
loyalties and responsibilities to the parties to cross and agency-
cross transactions, including with respect to a decision to enter
into such transaction as well as with respect to valuation,
pricing, and other terms. We have adopted policies and
procedures in relation to such transactions and
conflicts. However, there can be no assurance that such
transactions will be effected in the manner that is most favorable
to a Client account that is a party to any such transaction. Cross
transactions may disproportionately benefit some Client
accounts as compared to other Client accounts due to the relative
amount of market savings obtained by the client accounts. If
effected, cross or agency cross transactions are effected in
accordance with fiduciary requirements and applicable law
(which may include providing disclosure and obtaining client
consent). To the extent such consent is provided in advance of
the cross or agency cross transactions, Clients may revoke the
consent at any time by written notice to Stifel or their Financial
Advisor, and any such revocation will be effective once we have
received and have had a reasonable time to act on it.
Code of Ethics
In addition to Stifel Financial Corp.’s Code of Ethics Policy,
which is applicable to all Stifel personnel, our Advisory
personnel are also subject to our Investment Advisory Code of
Ethics (“IA Code of Ethics”). The IA Code of Ethics applies to
activities that our personnel conduct in our firm’s capacity as a
registered investment adviser, subject to applicable fiduciary
obligations. A copy of the IA Code of Ethics is available upon
request. Set forth in the IA Code of Ethics are standards
reasonably designed to promote honest and ethical conduct,
comply with federal securities laws and governmental rules and
regulations, maintain privacy of Client information, protect
nonpublic information, and encourage associates to report any
known violations. Such standards include placing Client
interests first, avoiding any material or potential conflicts of
interest, and ensuring that personal securities transactions are
conducted appropriately. Compliance periodically reviews the
IA Code of Ethics to ensure adequacy and effectiveness in
complying with applicable regulations.
Our Financial Advisors may also recommend securities issued
by entities that are also clients of our firm, in our firm’s capacity
as investment adviser and/or broker-dealer. For example, our
Financial Advisors may recommend securities of issuers that our
firm has otherwise sponsored or promoted (including serving as
underwriter or selling member in initial public offerings and
other syndicated offerings).
Participation or Interest in Client Transactions
To the extent we execute transactions for Client accounts,
Advisory transactions are generally executed on an agency basis.
However, our firm may trade with Clients and seek to earn a
profit for its own account (such trades generally are referred to
as “principal transactions”). Principal transactions are executed
at prices and commission rates that we believe are competitive
and in accordance with industry practice. Although we may be
able to provide a more favorable price to a Client if we purchase
from or sell to our inventory of securities, we generally are not
able to engage in such transactions with Advisory accounts due
to regulatory requirements, which require written disclosure and
consent on a trade-by-trade basis. Except as set forth below, we
do not permit Advisory accounts to purchase securities in
syndicated offerings from our firm or our affiliates, unless
neither Stifel nor our other affiliates are underwriters for the
offering and the transaction can be effected on an agency basis.
In limited circumstances, we will act in our capacity as a
registered broker-dealer to execute principal trades (including,
but not limited to, syndicate transactions) without having to
obtain Client consent if the transaction is directed by an
Independent Adviser for the Client’s wrap account in accordance
with applicable law and/or regulatory guidance.
When permitted by applicable law and firm policy, we may
cause Client accounts to engage in cross and agency cross
transactions. A cross transaction occurs when we cause a Client
account to buy securities from, or sell securities to, another
Client, and our firm does not receive a commission from the
transaction. We may (but are under no obligation to) cause
Client accounts to engage in cross transactions. An agency cross
transaction occurs when our firm acts as broker for a Client
account on one side of the transaction and a brokerage account
To the extent recommended, those securities will be purchased
in the secondary market, and not during the initial or secondary
offerings. We do not allow accounts over which we are serving
as investment adviser to participate in offerings in which our
firm is also a selling member (this limitation may not apply to
transactions that are directed by unaffiliated Investment
Managers on our platform, to the extent such transactions are
permitted by applicable law). Client participation (if any) in such
offerings must be effected in brokerage accounts, and solely in
the firm’s capacity as broker-dealer. Clients with brokerage
accounts that determine to participate in such offerings should
note, therefore, that neither Stifel nor the Financial Advisor is, in
any way, acting as a fiduciary with respect to any such
transactions. As associated persons of a registered broker-dealer,
our Financial Advisors are generally prohibited from
participating in these offerings. However, some of our affiliates
may, for their own accounts or for accounts of their clients, take
substantial positions in such securities. In such cases, the
affiliate may indirectly benefit from our Financial Advisor’s
investment recommendations if (for example) the later purchase
by our Advisory accounts of the securities (i.e., in the secondary
market) cause the price of those securities to rise. In general, our
policies prohibit Stifel personnel from sharing information
relating to investments made for Client accounts with affiliates
or other parties, unless such parties need to know such
information in order to provide services to any affected client
accounts and such disclosure is permitted by law. To the extent
that associated persons obtain information relating to
investments by Stifel and/or an affiliate, such associated persons
Page 32 of 45
SF1601-3/26
are prohibited from (i) passing such information to any other
person who does not need to know the information in order to
perform required duties and (ii) using such information to
benefit a Financial Advisor or Client.
services. However, when providing brokerage services,
Financial Advisors do not make investment decisions on behalf
of clients and do not charge any fees for any incidental advice
given. Absent special circumstances, Financial Advisors are not
held to fiduciary standards when providing brokerage services.
Legal obligations to disclose detailed information about the
nature and scope of our business, personnel, commissions
charged, material or potential conflicts of interests, and other
matters, are limited when acting as a broker-dealer.
Our Responsibilities as a Broker-Dealer
As a broker-dealer, Stifel is held to the legal standards of the
Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
FINRA rules, and state laws where applicable. Such standards
include fair dealings with clients, reasonable and fair execution
prices in light of prevailing market conditions, reasonable
commissions and other charges, and reasonable basis for
believing that securities recommendations are suitable.
Our officers and/or employees (including our Financial
Advisors) may serve on the boards of companies in Clients’
portfolios. In addition, our firm or affiliates may provide
services to such portfolio companies. The portfolio companies
may compensate us (or our affiliates) for services with options to
purchase stock or other equity interests of the portfolio
companies. If an affiliate owns options or other securities issued
by portfolio companies, a conflict of interest may arise between
the timing of any exercise or sale of these options, and our
decisions about the same portfolio securities for Client accounts.
We do not solicit such information from any affiliate. Our firm,
Financial Advisors, and affiliates frequently have access to non-
public information about publicly traded companies. When this
occurs, our Financial Advisors (and therefore, their Client
accounts) may be prohibited from trading an existing position at
a time that would be beneficial to such Clients, resulting in
investment losses or the failure to achieve investment gains. In
other cases, we may purchase or sell the securities of an issuer at
a time when an affiliate or its employees have material non-
public information about such securities or their issuers if the
affiliates have not otherwise notified us of their possession of
such information. Our affiliates and their respective employees
have no duty to make any such information available to us, and
we have no duty to obtain such information from the affiliates
and do not otherwise solicit such information.
Brokerage clients pay commission charges on a per-transaction
basis for securities execution services in their brokerage
accounts. Clients with accounts in the Vantage Program set forth
in this brochure pay commission charges on a per transaction
basis for the Advisory services provided by the Financial
Advisor; however, unlike regular brokerage accounts, Financial
Advisors exercise discretion over Vantage accounts. With
limited exceptions, Client accounts enrolled in fee-based
Programs on the Stifel platform generally pay a wrap fee that
covers Stifel advisory and portfolio management services,
custodial, execution and administrative services, as well as (if
applicable) advisory or portfolio management services by
Managers. Clients that hold their accounts with another financial
institution typically only receive investment consulting services
from Stifel with respect to those assets and, as such, do not pay
for custodial, execution and administrative services. See “Fees
and Compensation” for more details about Advisory Account
Fees, including wrap fees for Programs that are covered in the
Wrap Fee Brochure.
Personal Trading
Our employees and affiliates may invest in any Advisory
Programs that we offer. We have adopted various policies and
procedures designed to detect and prevent the misuse of
material, non-public information by employees. Our firm and
affiliates, directors, officers, stockholders, employees, and
members of their families may have positions in and, from time
to time, buy or sell securities that we recommend to Advisory
accounts. We prohibit transactions in our firm account(s) and
accounts of associated persons in any security that is the subject
of a recommendation of our Research department until the
recommendation has been disseminated to Clients and a
reasonable time has elapsed following the dissemination. Our
associated persons are prohibited from buying or selling
securities for their personal accounts if the decision to do so is
substantially derived, in whole or in part, by reason of their
employment, unless the information is also available to the
investing public or through reasonable inquiry. We maintain and
regularly review securities holdings in the accounts of persons
who may have access to Advisory recommendations.
BROKERAGE PRACTICES
About Our Broker-Dealer
Our firm’s principal business in terms of revenue and personnel
is that of a securities broker-dealer. As a broker-dealer, we
execute securities transactions per client instructions. As an
integral part of the services offered when providing brokerage
services, Financial Advisors may provide services and provide
advice about securities that are incidental to Stifel’s brokerage
Execution of Transactions
We expect to self-execute trades for accounts to the extent we
have discretion and/or the account is held at Stifel. However, we
may determine to effect transactions for discretionary Portfolios
through other broker-dealers if we determine, in light of all
applicable factors, that executing through the other broker-dealer
would provide better execution than would be the case if we
self-executed. Investment Managers in the following Programs
have discretion to effect trades on behalf of Clients through
broker-dealers other than Stifel: Opportunity, Connect, and IMC
Programs. An Investment Manager in these Programs may trade
away if it determines, in its sole discretion, such trade-aways
would be in the best interests of its clients, such as to satisfy its
best execution obligations. Clients in these Programs pay fees to
Stifel and, as applicable, the Investment Manager for services,
which include costs related to transactions in Client accounts
effected through Stifel. However, for all transactions executed
through other broker-dealers, Clients will likely (but may not
always) incur additional costs, such as commissions or
markups/markdowns embedded in the price of the security that
are in addition to, and not included in, the Advisory Account
Fee. As such, Clients are separately responsible for any
Page 33 of 45
SF1601-3/26
simultaneously placing a number of separate, successive,
and/or competing client orders.
execution costs incurred in connection with such trades. These
additional costs are not reflected on Client account statements;
however, if the Investment Manager has provided the
appropriate information to us regarding such trades and the
related additional costs, the information will be indicated on
trade confirmations, or on quarterly transaction confirmation
reports provided to those Clients who have elected to suppress
immediate trade confirmations.1
1 All other information shown does not reflect any additional execution costs
resulting from trades executed through other broker-dealers.
Investment Managers’ Historical Trading Away Practices. We
maintain a list of Investment Managers with trading discretion
over Client accounts that have notified us that they traded away
from Stifel during the previous year – the list is typically
available no earlier than the second quarter of the following
year. The list includes the names of the applicable Portfolios,
information about the Investment Manager’s trade-away
practices for a particular Portfolio, and the average associated
costs (if any) during the applicable year. The information is
provided to existing investors in the affected Portfolios, as well
as to new Clients seeking to enroll into an affected Portfolio
after such information is available. However, the information
contained on the list is based solely upon information provided
to us by each Investment Manager and is not independently
verified by Stifel. As a result, Stifel does not make any
representations as to the accuracy of the information presented.
The information in the list regarding an Investment Manager’s
prior trade-away practices is not a guarantee that a particular
Investment Manager will exercise or repeat the same practices in
the future and/or with the same frequency. It is possible that an
Investment Manager could trade away more or less frequently,
or at a higher or lower commission rate, fee, or other expenses,
resulting in greater or lesser costs than those indicated.
Individual Clients enrolled in the Portfolios noted may
experience different results. Similarly, it is possible that an
Investment Manager that has not previously, or recently, traded
away from Stifel will do so in the future.
As Managers, Investment Managers have a fiduciary obligation
to act in the best interests of their advisory clients and are
therefore required to seek to obtain “best execution” in effecting
trades on behalf of such clients. Under the Advisers Act, “best
execution” generally means executing transactions in a manner
such that the client’s total cost or proceeds are the most
favorable under the circumstances. Although it is important for
Investment Managers to seek the best price for a security in the
marketplace and minimize unnecessary brokerage costs in
satisfying its obligations, these are not the only factors used to
determine whether the Investment Manager has satisfied its
obligations. It is not an obligation to get the lowest possible
commission cost, or to solicit competitive bids for each
transaction, but rather, the Investment Manager determines
whether the transaction represents the best qualitative execution
for its clients. In selecting a broker-dealer, Investment Managers
may consider the full range and quality of services offered by the
broker-dealer, including the value of the research provided (if
any), execution capability, commission rate charged, the broker-
dealer’s financial responsibility, and its responsiveness. It is also
important to note that Stifel does not monitor, review, or
otherwise evaluate whether an Investment Manager is satisfying
its best execution obligations to clients.
Additional information about an Investment Manager’s
brokerage practices, including the factors that the Investment
Manager considers in satisfying its best execution obligations,
which may vary according to the type(s) of securities traded, is
contained in each Investment Manager’s Form ADV Part 2A
Brochure. Clients investing in our Adviser Portfolios should
review each applicable Investment Manager’s trading away
practices before selecting, or while reviewing, the Investment
Manager’s Portfolios.
Types of Securities Traded. Investment Managers whose
strategies consist primarily (or substantially) of fixed income
securities, foreign securities (including American Depositary
Receipts or ordinary shares), ETFs, and/or small-cap
securities are generally more likely to trade away from Stifel.
This means that Clients investing in such strategies are more
likely to incur execution costs in addition to the Advisory
Account Fee paid to Stifel. Clients should, therefore, take
these costs into consideration when selecting and/or deciding
to remain invested in the affected strategies.
Trade Aggregation. Investment Managers typically manage
wrap client accounts for multiple firms using the same
strategy, and may also manage other directly sourced
accounts side-by-side with Stifel Client accounts. In certain
cases, an Investment Manager may decide to aggregate all
transactions for clients in its Portfolios into a block trade that
is executed through one broker-dealer, rather than separately
through each participating firm (such as Stifel). Aggregating
transactions into a single block may enable the Investment
Manager to obtain a better price or additional investment
opportunities for its clients, as well as allow the Investment
Manager to exercise more control over the execution,
including (for example) potentially avoiding an adverse
effect on the price of a security that could result from
Orders for most Advisory Programs are routed for agency
execution. We do not impose commissions (including markups
or markdowns) on transactions that we execute for fee-based
Advisory accounts (note that commissions, markups/markdowns
will be imposed on Vantage account trades); however, as agency
transactions, the broker on the other side of the transaction may
charge a markup or markdown that may be equal to, or greater,
than any markup or markdown we would have charged if we
executed the trade in a principal capacity). Where permissible by
applicable law (for example, in our Opportunity Program where
an Independent Adviser is directing a trade for non-retirement
accounts), we may act as broker for the transaction and, at the
same time, purchase and/or sell securities for a Client transaction
from our inventory. Consistent with applicable regulations, such
inventory trades are not considered “principal transactions” to
the extent that an Investment Manager (not Stifel) determines
that purchasing the securities from Stifel inventory is in the
underlying Clients’ best interest. In addition, if an Advisory
account holds a position which includes fractional shares, Stifel
will accommodate any requests to liquidate for the fractional
Page 34 of 45
SF1601-3/26
component by processing the transaction through its principal
trading account, while the whole shares are liquidated on an
agency basis.
block trade or at the same average price are assigned to accounts
in a manner that seeks to treat Clients fairly and equitably over
time. This practice does not ordinarily affect or otherwise reduce
fees, commissions, or other costs charged to Clients for these
transactions, but may provide price improvement. A partial fill
of a block trade may be allocated among Client accounts
randomly, pro rata, or by some other equitable procedure. In
certain cases, Managers on our Advisory platform may use
computer systems that allocate purchase and sale transactions
either on a random or pro rata basis. In any case, Clients may
pay higher or lower prices for securities than may otherwise
have been obtained.
In connection with the handling of block orders for accounts
traded through our firm, where permitted by applicable law, our
firm may engage in hedging, offsetting, liquidating, facilitating,
or positioning transactions (“risk-mitigating transactions”) that
may occur at the same time or in advance of a client order, and
these activities may have impact on market prices.
Unless we are informed in writing (“opt out”), we will conclude
that all clients with account held at our firm understand that we
may engage in risk-mitigating transactions in connection with
client orders and will conclude that clients have given us
(including our affiliates) consent to handle block transactions as
described above. Clients can contact their Financial Advisor for
instructions on how to opt out.
On the execution end, Advisory account orders are generally
treated with the same priority and procedural flow as non-
advisory brokerage trades (except, such orders are not routed to
Stifel market makers and may be done as a block order, which
may have different rules and priorities). We generally use
automated systems to route and execute orders for the purchase
and sale of securities for most Advisory accounts, unless
directed by Clients to do otherwise. We use a reasonable
diligence to ascertain the best markets for a security and to buy
and sell in such markets so that the resultant price to the
customer is as favorable as possible under prevailing market
conditions. Certain large orders that require special handling
may be routed to a market center for execution via telephone or
other electronic means. We periodically monitor existing and
potential execution venues and may route orders in exchange-
listed or over-the-counter (“OTC”) securities to other venues if it
is believed that such routing is consistent with best execution
principles. For equity securities, we monitor the performance of
competing market centers and generally route orders to those
that consistently complete transactions timely and at a
reasonable cost and which normally execute at the national best
bid or offer. Whenever possible, orders are routed to market
centers that offer opportunities for price improvement through
automated systems. We execute mutual fund transactions for
Advisory accounts through traditional omnibus vendors, or
through clearing arrangements with other brokerage firms under
so-called super-omnibus arrangements.
Execution and/or Custody Through Unaffiliated Firms
(Directed Brokerage)
Clients in the Summit Program generally select their own
independent qualified custodian, who typically also acts as
executing broker for transactions in the Client’s account(s).
Neither our firm nor our Financial Advisors provide advice or
recommendations as to which third-party custodian a client
should use. Each Client must make an independent decision as to
the specific independent custodian to hold Client’s assets and
execute account transactions. Clients with discretionary Summit
accounts that direct brokerage to a particular independent broker
should note that we may be unable to achieve the most favorable
execution of transactions for the account, and that this practice
may result in higher costs to the Client. Our Advisory Account
Fees do not cover, and Clients are separately responsible for
brokerage commissions, markups, markdowns, and/or other
costs associated with transactions effected through other broker-
dealer firms.
Aggregation of Trades in Advisory Portfolios
To the extent possible and where permitted under applicable
law, and in order to seek a more advantageous trade price, we
may (but are not required to) aggregate orders for the purchase
of a security for accounts of several discretionary Client
accounts for execution in a single transaction (“block trades”).
However, Clients in our FA-directed discretionary Programs
(Solutions or Vantage) should be aware that we do not require
our Solutions or Vantage Financial Advisors to aggregate orders
for accounts of Clients in these Programs into a single block
trade. As a result, Clients with discretionary accounts managed
by the same Financial Advisor (including, for example, in the
same Vantage or Solutions Portfolio) may receive different
execution prices even when trading in the same security on the
same day. Additionally, we generally will not aggregate trades
across Portfolios that we trade even where such Portfolios are
trading in the same securities on the same day. Similarly, we
generally will not aggregate trades for different accounts where
portfolio management decisions for accounts are made
separately (e.g., same-day trades for different Programs). Clients
should, therefore, understand that discretionary accounts in one
or more Stifel-traded Portfolios and/or Programs may get
different prices even if such accounts trade in the same security
on the same day. When used, block trading can allow us to
execute equity trades in a timely, equitable manner. The related
transaction costs are shared equally at an average price per share
and on a pro rata basis between all accounts included in the
block trade, and participating accounts receive the same average
price for the security. Orders that cannot be filled in the same
Order Routing and Payment for Order Flow
Stifel receives payment for order flow for directing orders to
certain exchanges and other trading venues. The source and
nature of any payment received in connection with your
particular transaction will be disclosed upon written request. In
addition, in order to access a wide variety of execution venues,
the firm does participate in the maker/taker model. Certain
exchanges and other trading centers to which the firm routes
equities and options orders have implemented fee structures
under which broker-dealer participants may receive rebates on
certain orders. Under these fee structures, participants are
charged a fee for orders that take liquidity from the venue and
provided a rebate for orders that add liquidity to the venue.
Rebates received by the firm from a venue during any time
Page 35 of 45
SF1601-3/26
over another Client, we attempt to use objective market data in
the correction of any trading errors.
period may or may not exceed the fees paid by the firm to the
venue during that time period. Fees and/or rebates from all
venues are subject to change. Stifel will provide customers
additional information regarding average net fees/rebates
paid/received upon written request. For venues from which Stifel
receives a rebate, Stifel is considered to be receiving payment
for order flow.
Additional information will be provided upon written request,
and certain order routing information is available online at
stifel.com/disclosures/best-execution. On request of a customer
and at no fee, Stifel will disclose to such customer the identity of
the venue to which such customer’s orders were routed for
execution in the six months prior to the request, whether the
orders were directed orders or non-directed orders, and the time
of the transactions, if any, that resulted from such orders. Orders
could be routed and executed internally through Stifel’s trading
desk. In such instances, Stifel stands to share in 100% of any
compensation received (in the case of orders executed as agent)
or profits or losses generated (in the case of orders executed as
principal) as a result of internalizing such orders. Customers
may mail their inquiries to: Stifel – Attn: Equity Trading
Compliance, 501 North Broadway, St. Louis, Missouri 63102.
Research and Other Benefits
Financial Advisors and Clients have access to research published
by our firm’s research analysts (“Stifel Research”), the primary
source of our research. Subject to certain exceptions, we
incorporate the insights and economic perspectives of Stifel
Research, where appropriate, into our products and services.
Clients should be aware that our firm may have conflicts of
interest in connection with research reports published. Stifel and
other affiliates may have long or short positions, or deal as
principal or agent, in relevant securities, or may provide
Advisory or other services to issuers of relevant securities or to
companies connected with issuers covered in research reports
issued by Stifel Research. Our research analysts’ compensation
is not based on investment banking revenues; however, their
compensation may relate to revenues or profitability of Stifel
business groups as a whole, which may include investment
banking, sales, and trading services. Financial Advisors also
have access to proprietary models covering various securities,
including (but not limited to) equities, fixed income, mutual
funds, and municipal securities developed by our firm’s various
business areas, and may use these models in connection with
managing and/or otherwise providing investment advice to
Clients.
Trade Error Correction
In the event we make an error that has a financial impact on a
client’s account, we will seek to correct the error as soon as
possible and in such a manner that the affected client is not
disadvantaged and bears no loss. We will evaluate each situation
independently.
If there is a trade error for which we and/or an Investment
Manager are responsible, trades will be adjusted or reversed as
needed and/or we will take such other steps as are necessary in
order to put the Client’s account in the position that it would
have been in if the error had not occurred. Errors relating to
trades that have not yet settled are corrected at no cost to Client
accounts, by moving the affected securities to our error account
and entering correcting trades in the Client’s account such that
the Client is made whole. We net the correcting trades when
assessing the overall gain or loss associated with the correction,
and retain any gains realized as a result of correcting trade
errors.
In instances where an error occurs such that a trade correction is
not available or practicable to implement (such as, for example,
where a Client’s account is enrolled into the wrong Portfolio,
and the error is not identified and corrected promptly), we will
typically correct the error by reimbursing the Client the negative
performance differential, if any, for the period from the start of
the error to the time the correction is made.
Clients investing in Investment Manager-traded Portfolios
should carefully review the error correction disclosures set forth
in each such Investment Manager’s Form ADV Part 2A for an
understanding of how that Investment Manager will correct trade
and other errors.
Our firm may also use research obtained from other financial
institutions, including our affiliate, KBW, as well as from other
affiliated or unaffiliated broker-dealers and/or investment
managers. In general, we seek third-party research that is in-
depth fundamental corporate research to assist in providing
advisory services to clients. We do not use commission dollars
from Advisory Program accounts to pay for research; our
Financial Advisors have access to research from other financial
institutions provided to our firm under reciprocal arrangements
with Stifel Research. Our firm (or particular Financial Advisors)
may also pay for independent research using hard dollars.
Finally, as set forth in the Training and Education Expenses
from Fund Companies (or Managers), our Financial Advisors
may also obtain research from firms that provide other products
and services to us (for example, a Manager may make its
research reports available to our Financial Advisors). Clients
should be aware that our receipt of these research services may
present a conflict of interest by creating an incentive for our firm
and/or Financial Advisors to recommend the investment
products offered by the research provider firms (or by their
affiliates). In general, our policies prohibit our Financial
Advisors from basing their recommendations of Managers
and/or securities on the research services received from the
Manager or issuer, or any of their related persons. Research
services are generally used to benefit all client accounts, whether
or not such research was generated by the applicable client
account. However, not all research services will be used for all
client accounts; the type of research used with respect to any one
account will depend on, among other things, the types of
investments that are deemed suitable for the account.
We offer many services and, from time to time, may have other
Clients in the same or other Programs trading in opposition to
other Clients’ Advisory accounts. To avoid favoring one Client
Margin and Short Selling
We do not allow the use of margin in Advisory accounts except
in limited cases. For those Clients that are specifically permitted,
Page 36 of 45
SF1601-3/26
benefit from employing margin or short-selling strategies if the
performance of the account does not exceed the total costs
incurred (i.e., the Advisory Account Fee plus all other
applicable fees and expenses).
REFERRAL PROGRAMS
We generally do not act as investment adviser when making the
referrals described in this section. You should consider the
referral compensation Stifel and/or your Stifel Financial Advisor
may be eligible to receive when evaluating your relationship
with us and the reasonability of any fees or other charges you
pay us.
Referrals for Trust Services
Our parent company, Stifel Financial Corp., along with the Firm
(together the “Service Providers”), have entered into Referral,
Operating, and Service agreements with our affiliated trust
companies – Stifel Trust Company, National Association
(“STC”) and Stifel Trust Company Delaware, National
Association (“STCD”) (STC and STCD, individually and
collectively, sometimes referred to hereafter as the “trust
companies”).
Pursuant to these agreements, STC and STCD pay the Service
Providers for providing services, referral services, and client
services. The Service Providers receive, on a quarterly basis,
20% of the net fiduciary fees received by STC and STCD.
Specifically, the Firm pays its Financial Advisors a portion of
net fees on a monthly basis for the life of the account. Fees shall
not be payable with respect to those accounts for which the
Service Providers do not provide the referral services or the
client services. These payments create an incentive for Financial
Advisors to refer you to STC or STCD.
There may be an interim period between the time a referral is
made and the time the trust companies begin to provide services.
Credit Line Loans
In some circumstances, Clients are able to use Advisory account
assets as collateral for variable or fixed rate credit lines (“Credit
Line Loans”) offered by an Affiliated Bank.
An example of a Credit Line Loan is the Stifel Pledged Asset
(“SPA”) Loan, which is offered by Stifel Bank & Trust. The
SPA loan account is subject to application and credit approval
by Stifel Bank & Trust. Please refer to the terms and conditions
outlined in the Stifel Pledged Asset Loan Account Agreement,
which is provided separately to applicants by Stifel Bank &
Trust. Clients repay the principal balance and interest on
outstanding balances on Credit Line Loans to Stifel Bank &
Trust and/or other Affiliated Bank(s). For variable-rate loans,
clients have the option to repay the principal at any time without
prepayment fees. If interest rates rise, your borrowing cost will
also rise. For fixed-rate loans, clients may be subject to
prepayment fees (as described in the loan documents) if the loan
is repaid before the end of the fixed-rate contract. The proceeds
of certain loans may not be used for the purpose of (a)
purchasing, carrying, or trading in securities, (b) repaying or
retiring any indebtedness incurred to purchase, carry, or trade in
securities, or (c) repaying or retiring any debt, and/or otherwise
the use of margin strategies will be limited to eligible non-
retirement Advisory accounts at Stifel. We also allow the use of
margin in connection with approved Portfolios that engage in
short selling. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we generally allow
Clients to use the assets held in their Advisory accounts as
collateral for margin debits held in non-Advisory accounts. The
use of leverage, or investing with borrowed funds, is generally
not recommended in Advisory Programs; however, it may be
approved on an exception basis when specifically requested by
individual Clients, or for use in specialized Portfolios in our
Programs. Certain eligibility requirements must be met and
documentation in the form of a separate margin agreement (and,
in some cases, additional certifications) that must be signed by
the Client prior to using leverage or enrolling in these
specialized Portfolios. In making the decision to set up margin
privileges for an Advisory account or engaging in short-selling
strategies, it is important for Clients to understand the risks
associated with employing margin and/or short-selling strategies,
the impact the use of borrowed funds may have on Advisory
accounts, and how investment objectives may be negatively
affected. Employing these strategies in Advisory accounts is a
more aggressive, higher-risk approach to pursuing investment
objectives. Clients should carefully consider whether the
additional risks are appropriate prior to employing these
strategies due to the increased potential for significantly greater
losses associated with using margin strategies. The use of these
strategies also involves higher costs: for example, Clients pay
short sale charges in connection with each short sale transaction
in the account. Moreover, if the account carries an outstanding
margin loan, the Client will also pay interest to our firm on the
outstanding loan balance. These fees are in addition to any
agreed-upon Advisory Account Fee otherwise due. Furthermore,
Advisory Account Fees are calculated as a percentage of the
total “billable” assets in the account; the amount/value of the
margin loan or short position is not deducted from the total
value of the investments when determining billable value.
Therefore, employing margin to buy securities in Advisory
accounts or otherwise engaging in short sales in Advisory
accounts generally increases the billable value of the account
and, ultimately, our total compensation on the account(s).
Clients that use (or otherwise enroll in strategies that use)
margin or short selling may lose more than their original
investments. Likewise, a positive or negative performance, net
of interest charges and fees, is magnified; gains or losses are
greater than would be the case in accounts that do not employ
margin strategies. A number of the risks discussed above apply
even in cases where the margin debit is held or associated to a
non-Advisory account and Advisory assets are being used to
cross-collateralize the margin loan in the brokerage account. For
Portfolios that use margin or engage in short selling, we may, at
our discretion, choose to cover all existing short positions when
you terminate from the applicable Portfolio. To the extent that
a maintenance call is triggered in connection with a
margined account and we are forced to sell any assets used
as collateral for the margin loan, or if we determine to
liquidate any or all of your short positions in connection with
a termination from a specialized Portfolio, we will act solely
in our capacity as a registered broker-dealer (and not as an
investment adviser or other fiduciary). Moreover, if selling
such assets, we will seek to maximize our interest, and will
not prioritize a Client’s interest. Clients generally will not
Page 37 of 45
SF1601-3/26
purchase any product or service, unless consent is provided by
the lending Affiliated Bank.
present a conflict of interest for us in that they create a financial
incentive for your Stifel Financial Advisor to make
recommendations based on the additional compensation to be
received rather than solely based on your financial needs. For
example, a Financial Advisor may recommend that you open a
Credit Line Loan rather than withdraw money from your
Advisory accounts in order to retain the Advisory Account Fee
or commissions that such assets are otherwise generating, and to
receive the additional compensation from the banking affiliate
with respect to any outstanding Credit Line Loan balance that
you maintain.
If Advisory account assets are used to collateralize Credit Line
Loans, clients are not permitted to withdraw funds or other
assets unless sufficient amounts of collateral remain to continue
supporting the Credit Line Loans (as determined by the
applicable Affiliated Bank in its sole discretion). Client may still
terminate their Advisory relationship with Stifel at any time, at
which time these funds or assets will be maintained in a
brokerage account at Stifel. Clients pay interest to the applicable
Affiliated Bank on Credit Line Loans at customary interest rates.
Certain eligibility requirements must be met and loan
documentation must be completed prior to applying for Credit
Line Loans.
Similarly, a Financial Advisor may recommend the continued
maintenance of such Credit Line Loan to retain such payments.
Finally a Financial Advisor may recommend that you invest or
hold your Advisory account assets in positions that have been
assigned high release rates and/or lower release rates by the
applicable Affiliated Bank for the Credit Line Loan (but which
positions ultimately generate low investment returns for your
Advisory account) in order to avoid maintenance calls on the
Credit Line Loan which would require loan repayment and/or
the liquidation of Advisory assets. Depending on your specific
circumstances, including the intended use of the proceeds from
the Credit Line Loan and the return on your Advisory account,
over the long-term, it may cost you more to take out the Credit
Line Loan than if you had withdrawn the money from your
Advisory account. Clients are therefore encouraged to carefully
consider the total cost of taking out any Credit Line Loan, and
any additional compensation that the Financial Advisor will
receive, when determining to take out and/or maintain Credit
Line Loans.
Finally, to the extent that a maintenance call is triggered in
connection with a Credit Line Loan and we are obligated to
liquidate assets in your Advisory account that have been used as
collateral for such Credit Line Loan, we will act solely in our
capacity as a broker-dealer (and not as an investment adviser or
other fiduciary), even where such collateral is held in an
Advisory account. Moreover, if selling such assets, we will seek
to maximize our interest (and/or those of our Affiliated Bank,
and will not prioritize a Client’s interest. For more
information, please refer to the applicable Affiliated Bank
credit line agreement.
Credit Line Loans extended by Affiliate Banks are typically
demand loans , which allows an Affiliated Bank to demand
repayment at any time, and are subject to collateral maintenance
requirements. If the required collateral value is not maintained,
an Affiliated Bank may require additional collateral, or partial or
entire repayment of any Credit Line Loans extended. Clients
may need to deposit additional cash or securities as collateral on
short notice or repay a partial or entire amount of the funds
borrowed if the value of their portfolio declines below the
required loan-to-value ratio. An Affiliated Bank may refuse to
fund any advance request due to insufficient collateral. An
Affiliated Bank may increase your collateral maintenance
requirement at any time without notice, and may call your Credit
Line Loan at any time and for any reason. Because an Affiliated
Bank assigns different release rates to different asset types, in
some cases, Clients may also be able to satisfy such
requirements by selling securities with a low release rate and
investing and/or holding the proceeds in assets that have a higher
release rate for the loan. In each case, failure to promptly meet
requests for additional collateral or repayment, or other
circumstances including a rapidly declining market, may cause
our banking affiliate to instruct us to liquidate some or all of the
collateral supporting any Credit Line Loan in order to meet
collateral maintenance requirements without needing your prior
approval. You will not be entitled to choose the securities that
will be sold. Depending on market circumstances, the prices
obtained for the securities may be less than favorable. Any
required liquidations may interrupt the account’s investment
strategy and may result in adverse tax consequences or
additional fees being assessed.
The Affiliated Banks typically pay us a fee of up to 0.25% per
annum, on a quarterly basis, of the outstanding SPA Loan
balance, a portion of which is paid to your Financial Advisor. In
addition, the Affiliated Banks pay Stifel up to $50 for each
newly booked loan, which Stifel will then pay to the Financial
Advisor’s Client Service Associate (“CSA”) for the CSA’s
assistance to the borrower in completing the related application.
Neither we, nor Stifel Financial Advisors, currently receive
payment on other credit line loans, which is subject to change.
These payments are in addition to any Advisory Account Fees
charged with respect to (or direct commission charged with
respect to any transactions relating to) the Advisory assets used
to collateralize the Credit Line Loan. As such, these payments
Other Important Considerations Relating to the Use of
Margin or Credit Line Loans in Connection With Advisory
Accounts
Margin and Credit Line Loans involve risk and may not be
appropriate for all borrowers. The return on your Advisory
accounts must be higher than your financing cost in order for
you generate a positive return in your Advisory account. The
market value of your Advisory account may decline, which may
result in the value of that collateral no longer covering an
outstanding loan amount. None of Stifel, our Affiliated Banks, or
our Financial Advisors provide legal or tax advice. Clients
should consult legal counsel and tax advisors before using
borrowed funds as collateral for loans. Neither our firm nor our
affiliates act as investment adviser with respect to the liquidation
of securities held in Advisory accounts to meet margin calls or
Credit Line Loan demands, and as creditors, our firm and our
affiliates may have interests that are adverse to Clients. There
Page 38 of 45
SF1601-3/26
seek to achieve the highest rate of return consistent with their
investment objectives, which can be found in their prospectuses.
are substantial risks associated with the use of borrowed funds
for investment purposes and the use of securities as collateral
for loans. Additional limitations and availability may vary by
state.
We act as your agent and custodian and engage Stifel Bank &
Trust as a sub-custodian in establishing and maintaining a
deposit account at each participating bank. Although the deposit
accounts are obligations of the participating banks and not us,
you will not have a direct relationship with the participating
banks. All deposits and withdrawals will be made by us on your
behalf. You may also establish direct relationships with a
participating bank, open separate deposit and/or savings
accounts, and obtain certificates of deposit to which higher rates
might apply, but will not be provided the same level of services
as those offered through our cash sweep arrangements.
You are responsible for monitoring the total amount of your
deposits at any one participating bank for purposes of ensuring
FDIC coverage for your funds, particularly since you may have
other deposits at a participating bank of which we are unaware.
Investment Banking
Financial Advisors are able to introduce clients and others to
Stifel’s Investment Banking area. Investment Banking helps
corporations with raising capital, structuring mergers and
acquisitions, and navigating other complex financial issues. If
Investment Banking receives any investment banking business
resulting from such introductions, on the first three transactions
with the client, Stifel’s Private Client Group currently receives a
portion of the net fees earned by Investment Banking, a
percentage of which will then be paid to the Financial Advisor.
It is a benefit to your Financial Advisor, and a potential conflict,
to make these introductions. Where appropriate to meet the
needs of a client who may not meet the minimum threshold
required, Stifel’s Investment Banking department may make an
introduction to an unaffiliated partner firm. In these instances,
the Financial Advisor making the original introduction would be
paid a portion of the fees earned on each transaction.
All participating banks, except affiliated banks, pay Stifel Bank
& Trust a fee equal to a percentage (which may be as much as
7.00 percent annually) of the average daily deposit balance in
your deposit accounts. The amount of fee received by Stifel
Bank & Trust will decrease the interest rate that you will receive
in connection with your deposit account balances. Stifel Bank &
Trust reserves the right to increase, decrease, or waive all or part
of its fees at any time.
Mortgage Lending
Residential mortgage loans are loans that are used to purchase a
home, refinance an existing mortgage, or to take cash out for
other purposes. These loans are secured by residential real estate,
and, in certain cases, brokerage or advisory account assets are
used to provide additional collateral support for the mortgage
loans. Clients repay the principal amount borrowed to Stifel
Bank & Trust, plus interest. These loans may have origination
fees, application fees, and certain other fees and costs, including
closing costs, which are disclosed before the loan is made.
Affiliated banks benefit from the use of cash swept from Client
accounts. The affiliated banks receive substantial deposits at a
price that may be less than other alternative funding sources
available to them. Deposits in deposit accounts provide a stable
source of funds for our affiliated banks.
Mortgage loans are originated by Stifel Bank & Trust, Equal
Housing Lender, NMLS# 375103. Your Stifel Financial
Advisor, however, does not offer residential mortgage products
and is unable to accept any residential mortgage loan
applications or to offer or negotiate terms of any such loan.
Financial Advisors may refer current clients of Stifel to Stifel
Bank & Trust for a mortgage loan.
Where permissible by law, the Firm compensates Stifel
Financial Advisors in connection with the origination of any
mortgage loan. Compensation is paid by the firm after the loan is
fully closed and funded.
CASH SWEEP OPTIONS
Cash holdings in the applicable sweep option, including
maintenance cash, constitute an indirect cost of the Program and
result in additional compensation to Stifel and affiliates. If we
(and our affiliates) did not receive this additional compensation,
you should expect that we would charge higher fees or other
amounts to you for the services we provide. Under certain
market conditions, holding cash results in lower overall account
return, such as when riskier assets outperform cash. Moreover,
while maintaining Advisory account assets in cash may protect
those assets from the risk of loss in the event of a market
downturn, holding cash, particularly high cash concentrations for
long periods of time, through an Advisory account may result in
underperformance given the impact of Advisory Account Fee(s)
and the rates of return on maintenance cash and other cash
equivalents.
We offer one or more cash sweep options, depending on the type
of account that you have or are establishing (i.e., retirement
versus non-retirement) at our firm, for available cash balances in
your accounts to be swept into bank accounts with participating
banks (of which our Affiliate Banks are top or sole participating
banks, as discussed below) insured by the FDIC. The interest
rates on deposit accounts are determined by the amount the
participating banks are willing to pay minus the fees and
compensation paid to us or our affiliates (discussed below).
Participating banks do not have to offer the highest rates
available or rates comparable to money market mutual fund
yields. By comparison, money market mutual funds generally
An eligible Advisory account may earn an “Enhanced Advisory
Yield” on certain sweep program balances. Available sweep
program deposit account balances up to a defined percentage,
the “Maintenance Cash Percentage,” of the total value of an
eligible Advisory account, determined account by account, that
is used to calculate Stifel’s advisory wrap fee is referred to as
“Maintenance Cash” and will receive interest at standard interest
rates as discussed in detail in the Stifel Account Agreement and
Disclosure Booklet. Sweep program deposit account balances in
an eligible Advisory account in excess of Maintenance Cash will
Page 39 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Stifel receives an aggregate, annual fee of up to $100 from the
Affiliated Banks on a per-account basis in connection with
accounts that participate in the SIBDP.
earn the Enhanced Advisory Yield. For more information about
the Enhanced Advisory Yield, please contact your Financial
Advisor or visit
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/AgreementAndDisclosureBookl
et.pdf.
For additional information on benefits received by Stifel and its
affiliates, refer to Stifel’s website at
stifel.com/disclosures/sweepchoices/insured-deposit-account.
Stifel Insured Bank Deposit Program for Retirement
Accounts
If your account participates in the Stifel Insured Bank Deposit
Program for Retirement Accounts (the “SIBDPRA”) as your
sweep option, available cash balances in your brokerage account
will be deposited into interest-bearing deposit accounts at one or
more Affiliated Banks which include Stifel Bank, Stifel Bank &
Trust, Stifel Trust Company, National Association, and Stifel
Trust Company Delaware, National Association (the “Banks”).
Stifel receives an aggregate, annual fee of up to $100 from the
Banks on a per-Securities account basis in connection with
accounts that participate in the SIBDPRA.
In all cases, Client has the option to hold cash in a brokerage
account at Stifel and/or in deposit accounts through the
Affiliated Bank or with other banks, in which case such cash
would not be subject to the Advisory Account Fee. Clients also
have the option of using (including directing their Financial
Advisors to use) other cash equivalents in their accounts; while
subject to the Advisory Account Fee, these cash equivalents will
likely earn higher interest rates than cash held through our
insured bank deposit sweep programs. Clients should compare
the terms, interest rates, required minimum amounts, and other
features of the automatic sweep option with other cash
equivalent investments. More information about our automatic
sweep option is available at
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/AgreementAndDisclosureBookl
et.pdf. Information about current interest rates on our insured
bank deposit sweep programs are available by contacting your
Financial Advisor or through Stifel.com.
For both the SIBDP and SIBDPRA programs, your Financial
Advisor is currently not receiving a fee. Stifel reserves the right
to pay a fee to your Financial Advisor in connection with the
SIBDPRA Retirement Accounts at any time without prior notice.
Upon request, Stifel will provide you with information about
Stifel’s compensation arrangements with respect to its sweep
investments.
Stifel and the Banks receive certain additional benefits in
connection with the Program. For additional information, refer
to Stifel’s website at stifel.com/disclosures/sweep-
choices/insured-deposit-account.
The offering of the cash sweep arrangements poses conflicts of
interest because the fees and benefits received by Stifel and our
Affiliated Banks is an important source of our revenues. Our
affiliate determines how much of the interest it keeps as its fee,
Stifel and affiliates typically receive more fees when your cash
is swept into the cash sweep arrangements than when you
purchase a money market fund, and our Affiliated Banks benefit
from the use of cash swept from your account(s). We seek to
mitigate this conflict through disclosure in this brochure and, at
least as a matter of current practice which is subject to possible
change, by not sharing these fees with our Financial Advisors.
Stifel Insured Bank Deposit Program
If your account participates in the Stifel Insured Bank Deposit
Program (the “SIBDP”) as your sweep option, then available
cash balances in your brokerage account will be deposited into
interest-bearing deposit accounts at one or more Affiliated
Banks or unaffiliated banks (each a “Bank”).
All banks participating in the SIBDP, except Affiliated Banks,
will pay Stifel Bank & Trust fees as discussed above.
Risks Associated With the SIBDP and SIBDPRA
Deposits are insured up to applicable FDIC limits. Any deposits
(including deposit balances maintained through the Stifel Insured
Bank Deposit Program, Stifel Insured Bank Deposit Program for
Retirement Accounts, or certificates of deposit) that you
maintain in the same insurable capacity directly with an
Affiliated Bank or through an intermediary (such as Stifel or
another broker) will be aggregated with funds in deposit accounts
at the respective bank(s) for purposes of the FDIC insurance
limits. You are responsible for monitoring the total amount of
deposits that you have with each bank in order to determine the
extent of FDIC insurance coverage available to you.
In its discretion, Stifel Bank & Trust may reduce its fee and may
vary the amount of the reductions between clients. The fee may
vary from bank to bank. The amount of the fee received by Stifel
Bank & Trust will reduce the interest rate paid by a Bank on
your deposit accounts.
Neither Stifel nor its affiliates, including Affiliated Banks,
monitor the amount of your deposited funds to determine
whether those amounts exceed the FDIC insurance limits
applicable to your deposits at a bank, and they are not
responsible for any insured or uninsured portion of the deposit
accounts at any bank.
Moreover, Stifel Bank & Trust also receives additional financial
benefits (i.e., additional deposits) and regulatory benefits (i.e.,
diversification of depositors) under reciprocal deposit
arrangements with certain banks (including Affiliated Banks).
Under these arrangements, Stifel Bank & Trust is entitled to
receive and accept deposits from customers of such other banks
in amounts similar or equal to amounts added to deposits
accounts under the Program.
The SIBDPRA is offered by Stifel as a broker-dealer and not
Stifel Bank as your IRA Custodian or otherwise. Additional
information about the SIBDP and SIBDPRA is available on
Stifel’s website at stifel.com/ disclosures/sweep-choices/insured-
deposit-account
Page 40 of 45
SF1601-3/26
You should review the sections “The Stifel Automatic Cash
Investment Service” and “Disclosure Documents for Automatic
Cash Investment” of the Stifel Account Agreement and
Disclosure Booklet for the terms, conditions, and other
important information relating to the applicable sweep options,
including a discussion of the various conflicts that we may have
in connection with such options as well as how we seek to
mitigate such conflicts. You may access the Stifel Account
Agreement and Disclosure Booklet, as amended from time
here:
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/AgreementAndDisclosureBookl
et.pdf, or you may request a copy from your Financial Advisor.
Reports may differ from the performance shown for the same
account(s) in a report that is limited to Advisory services. If you
hold alternative investments where we receive periodic
valuations (actual or estimated) from the associated
management, administrators, and/or sponsors, you should note
that we may receive delayed valuations monthly, quarterly, or
less frequently. As a result, those investments may show a
historic or, in certain cases, an estimated value. The actual value,
once determined, may differ from the value previously reported
to you and, as a result, you may not be able to realize a
previously shown value upon sale or redemption. We update
actual values upon receipt but will not amend previously issued
Reports due to such changes.
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS
Account Review
Each new account enrolled in a Program is reviewed by the
applicable Financial Advisor’s supervisor prior to account
opening. Thereafter, Financial Advisors periodically perform
account reviews.
In certain circumstances, you may notice a difference in the
values displayed on custodial statements versus Reports for the
same account. For example, our Reports generally include any
income that is earned (accrued) but has not yet been paid by the
issuer and base the figure on trade date rather than settlement
date.
Regardless of the system where your Report was generated, you
should carefully review the accompanying disclosure for
definitions of relevant terms and calculations used, as well as
other important information you should consider in your review.
Clients should contact their Financial Advisors with any
questions regarding the information they receive in a Report.
Portfolio Review
Clients in the Programs covered in this brochure may request
periodic analyses of their portfolio, including performance
and/or other relevant characteristics and metrics (“Reports”)
from their Financial Advisor(s). The information included in
these Reports is verified by Stifel’s Operations staff who
perform daily transaction reconciliation and performance return
evaluations to identify and address the cause of any unusual
variations or inaccuracies.
With limited exceptions, Stifel generally does not provide
performance reports for Clients in the Summit Program.
Transaction Statements
Clients with discretionary accounts held at Stifel typically
receive monthly (but in no event less than quarterly) statements
that identify buys, sells, dividends, interest, deposits, and
disbursements in their accounts during the previous month, as
well as the overall market value of the portfolio at month’s end.
A summary of portfolio holdings as of the end of each reported
quarter is also listed. Clients may not waive receipt of account
statements. Clients whose accounts are held away from Stifel,
with a qualified custodian (but who trade through Stifel), will
receive a statement with respect to each month in which a
transaction is effected in their Stifel account. All other clients
utilizing an unaffiliated, third-party custodian will receive
statements from their applicable custodian based on the
custodian’s own delivery schedule.
Performance Information
When displaying performance, our primary reporting systems
typically reflect a daily Time-Weighted Return (“TWR”)
calculation methodology, but where specifically identified, may
also present an Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”). TWR measures
the performance of investments, without distorting daily values
or growth rates based on the cash added or removed from an
investment. IRR, on the other hand, considers the effect of all
cash inflows and outflows in its calculation and is often used to
measure the absolute growth of an investment over a certain
period of time. In certain limited cases, we may calculate
performance returns using one of our secondary reporting
systems. Our secondary reporting systems generally calculate
performance returns using a monthly Modified Dietz Method,
which is a time-weighted method that also identifies and
accounts for the timing of cash flows in the account over the
period. If the date of a cash flow is not known, the systems
assume a mid-month date for cash flows. Regardless of the
system from which performance is calculated, a sampling of the
performance returns is reviewed to confirm accuracy or
compliance with presentation standards.
Realized Gain/Loss Summary
Custodial statements from Stifel include annual listings of all
closed transactions in their accounts during each calendar year,
as well as the offsetting cost of each transaction and, thus, the
realized gains/losses for each closing transaction.
Year-End Tax Report
With respect to those accounts for which our firm acts as
custodian, we provide such Clients 1099 statements for the
previous tax year. 1099 statements include both reportable and
non-reportable information, cost basis for securities that have
been sold, and additional information to assist with tax
preparation.
We rely on publicly recorded information, use various vendor
systems, and/or rely on valuations provided by third-party
custodians holding assets and/or accounts that are part of your
relationship with us in determining the values used in our
Reports. Depending on the primary reporting system, your
Reports may or may not include unsupervised assets. The
inclusion of unsupervised assets will distort the performance of
our Advisory services. As a result, the performance on those
Page 41 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Compensation for Client Referrals
Our firm has entered into referral arrangements with certain
investment managers pursuant to which we, or our Financial
Advisors, receive compensation for referring Clients to those
managers. As of the date of this brochure, these arrangements
include Affiliated Managers for which we act as solicitor,
including 1919 Investment Counsel and Stifel Capital
Management, LLC.
Financial Advisors may have an incentive to refer Clients to
Affiliated Managers rather than to unaffiliated managers, as the
receipt of additional revenues by our affiliates may benefit our
affiliated group.
Transaction Confirmations
Clients with discretionary accounts may elect to receive trade
confirmations immediately upon execution in their accounts or
defer confirmations until the end of each quarter. Clients with
eligible accounts who elect to defer confirmations receive
summary reports at the end of each quarter outlining the
transactions posted to their accounts during the most recent
calendar quarter. The election to receive confirmations
immediately or quarterly may be changed at any time upon the
Client’s request. In certain instances, an LOA may be required.
Clients are not eligible to defer confirmations for non-
discretionary accounts. Clients that have signed up for online
access to their Advisory accounts may review their transaction
confirmations through the online portal.
In addition, Financial Advisors may receive compensation for
referring Clients to other affiliates for services, including, but
not limited to, affiliated banks.
Performance Information for External Managers
Private Funds will provide investors with the respective fund’s
unaudited statements on a monthly or quarterly basis, and
schedule K-1s and audited financial statements as soon as such
documents are available following the end of each fiscal year.
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION
Other Compensation
As described under “Fees and Compensation,” we may receive
revenue sharing or similar payments from certain private fund
sponsors, investment managers, or mutual funds to which we
refer Clients for investment. These arrangements present
additional conflicts of interest, as they may create incentives to
recommend particular investment products or managers.
We seek to address these conflicts through disclosure and by
maintaining policies and procedures designed to identify and
manage conflicts of interest.
Our firm has entered into certain solicitation and referral
arrangements under which individuals or entities are
compensated for referring Clients to us, or under which we
receive compensation for referring Clients to third parties. These
arrangements create conflicts of interest because they provide
financial incentives to recommend our firm, or certain affiliated
or unaffiliated service providers, over others.
CUSTODY
Where our firm acts as an investment adviser in connection with
a referral to us, we require that all such arrangements comply
with applicable regulatory requirements, including the delivery
of written disclosures to Clients describing the solicitation
arrangement and any fees paid or received in connection with
the referral. These disclosures are provided at the time of
solicitation and/or at account opening, and, where applicable,
Clients are required to acknowledge receipt.
Our firm may enter into referral arrangements with investment
managers pursuant to which we act as solicitor for those
managers. Referrals made by our Financial Advisors under these
arrangements are made in our capacity as a registered broker-
dealer, rather than as a registered investment advisor.
Unless agreed upon otherwise, we maintain physical custody of
Client assets in the Vantage Program as well as for accounts
enrolled in our Wrap Programs. We have adopted policies and
procedures that are designed to mitigate risks involved in being a
self-custodial firm (with the exception of IRA assets) in an effort
to ensure that our clients’ assets are protected. Among other
things, we undergo a separate examination by an independent
auditor the purpose of which is to obtain the auditor’s report on
our internal controls designed to safeguard clients’ assets held at
our firm. Our firm also undergoes an annual surprise audit by an
independent registered accounting firm that is designed to verify
the Clients’ assets. At the conclusion of the annual surprise
audit, the independent auditor files a report with the SEC
attesting to, among other things, our compliance with regulatory
requirements.
Certain of our affiliates may also serve as qualified custodians of
our Client assets. In such cases, consistent with applicable
regulations, we receive a report issued by an independent
registered public accountant relating to the affiliate’s internal
controls in connection with its custody services.
Stifel Alliance Program
Under the Stifel Alliance Program (“Alliance”), we may
compensate individuals or entities, directly or indirectly, for
Client referrals by sharing a portion of the advisory fees charged
by our firm. Our policies prohibit Financial Advisors from
increasing client fees to offset amounts paid in connection with
Alliance referrals. We and/or our associated persons may also
pay certain registration or licensing costs, if applicable, to
facilitate a solicitor’s state registration.
These arrangements create an incentive for solicitors to refer
Clients to our firm rather than to other advisory firms.
As set forth above under “Brokerage Practices – Execution
and/or Custody through Unaffiliated Firms,” certain Clients may
elect to have their assets maintained by an independent qualified
custodian.
Page 42 of 45
SF1601-3/26
INVESTMENT DISCRETION
Please note if you have a margin balance in your account, it may
reduce the number of shares in which you are eligible to vote.
For additional details, you should carefully review the provisions
concerning margin in the Stifel Account Agreement and
Disclosure Booklet located at stifel.com/disclosures. If your
account is invested in an Adviser-traded Portfolio and you
choose to delegate proxy voting authority, the Adviser will
typically vote proxies related to the securities in the account or
Portfolio. For this reason, you should carefully review the proxy
voting discussion in each Manager’s Form ADV 2A provided to
you. You should understand the Investment Manager’s proxy
voting process and guidelines, as well as the related risks prior to
granting proxy voting authority to an Investment Manager.
Some Programs may require Clients to provide us with a limited
power of attorney so that account and/or portfolio management
services may be provided on a discretionary basis. Discretion is
authorized by Clients by signing the discretionary Advisory
Agreement. Discretionary authority is limited to selection of
securities as well as the number of shares to buy or sell, if
directed by the Client- proxy voting authority, and trading
discretion (i.e., when and where to buy or sell securities). Clients
may impose reasonable restrictions on our discretionary
authority and modify existing restrictions by notifying us in
writing. Such modifications are honored only after being
reviewed and accepted by our personnel. Clients that elect to
impose investment restrictions on their account should note that
such restrictions generally will affect account performance and
that, in some cases, the impact may be material and adverse.
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES
We generally do not vote proxies for Clients whose custodial
accounts are held by third-party custodians, including Clients
with accounts in the Summit Program. If your account is held at
another custodial firm, you will be responsible for voting all
proxies relating to securities held in your account.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
We accept proxy voting delegation from Clients with accounts
enrolled in our wrap fee Programs (covered by our Wrap Fee
Disclosure Brochure), or in the Vantage Program covered in this
brochure.
We do not have any adverse financial conditions to disclose
under this Item.
ERISA RULE 408(b)(2) DISCLOSURE INFORMATION
FOR QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLANS
It is important to note that Stifel does NOT vote proxies for
foreign ordinary shares or ADRs. Voting of those proxies will
remain your responsibility.
This section generally describes the fiduciary status of
investment advisory services provided by and compensation paid
to Stifel with respect to ERISA qualified retirement plans (each,
a “Plan”).
If you have an account in an applicable Program, you can
appoint Stifel or, if applicable, the Investment Manager for your
account or Portfolio to vote appropriate proxies on your behalf.
You can change your proxy voting election at any time.
Requests to revoke proxy voting delegation to Stifel or change
any vote already cast must be in writing. We request 30 days to
allow the Firm sufficient time to process the revocation and
implement the changes with respect to any pending votes with
our vendors. We will make reasonable attempts to implement
your request but cannot assure that it will occur in time for a
particular vote.
General Description of Status and Services Provided by
Stifel to Plans
As set forth above in the section titled “Advisory Programs
Offered by Stifel” of this brochure, we offer and provide a
variety of investment advisory Programs that are intended to
assist responsible Plan fiduciaries with their prudent investment
duties under ERISA. A thorough description of the services
provided to a specific Plan is set forth in the applicable Advisory
Agreement, and may include, investment management, trading,
and/or custody services, as well as participant education and
guidance.
In voting proxies, we have a fiduciary responsibility to make
investment decisions that are in the best interest of our Clients
and vote all Client securities accordingly. As required by
applicable regulations, we have adopted policies and procedures
to govern the proxy voting process for our Client accounts. We
have retained a third-party proxy voting service (“Proxy Voting
Agent”) to provide independent, objective research and voting
recommendations based on its standard proxy voting guidelines,
and to vote proxies in your account(s) on our behalf (other than
foreign ordinary shares and ADRs). If the Proxy Voting Agent is
unable to provide a voting recommendation, Stifel will not vote
your shares.
You may request a copy of our Proxy Voting Policies and
Procedures as well as the Proxy Voting Agent’s standard proxy
voting guidelines at any time, including a record of the proxies
voted in respect of your account(s).
Discretionary Investment Management Services – We
generally do not allow ERISA Plan accounts in our Vantage
Program. Plans seeking discretionary services from us should
talk to their Financial Advisor about the wrap Programs that we
offer. We offer and provide Clients access to discretionary
ERISA fiduciary investment advisory services through the
following Programs: Fundamentals, Solutions, Opportunity,
Investment Management Consulting, Custom Advisory
Portfolio, and Connect. In very limited circumstances, we may
also provide discretionary services to plans through our Summit
Program. Depending on the Program, discretionary and/or
portfolio management services may be provided directly through
a Stifel Financial Advisor, by our home office personnel, or we
may provide the Plan access to an Independent or Affiliated
Adviser that provides such the discretionary investment
management services.
Page 43 of 45
SF1601-3/26
applicable Plan assets, then forwards all such ADR pass-through
fees to the Depository Trust Company (or other applicable
central securities depository).
Non-Discretionary Advisory Services – We also offer and
provide non-discretionary investment advisory and ERISA
fiduciary services through our Summit Program as detailed
above, as well as through our Horizon Program, a fee-based
Program that is covered in a separate brochure. Non-
discretionary services are provided directly by your Financial
Advisor. More detailed information about these services and
Programs is provided in the applicable brochure, under the
section titled “Advisory Programs Offered at Stifel”.
Compensation From Funds and Other Products. For a
description of the credits you may be eligible for in connection
with investments in Funds and other products that pay 12b-1
fees and other types of compensation, please see the sections
titled “Compensation From Funds” and “Compensation From
Other Products” above.
Brokerage Practices. For a description of compensation we
receive in connection with our brokerage practices, please see
the section titled “Brokerage Practices” above.
Our Status
When providing discretionary and non-discretionary advisory
services through a Program, Stifel acts as a registered investment
adviser under the Advisers Act. For a description of Stifel’s
status under the Advisers Act and under ERISA, please refer to
the section titled “ERISA” in the applicable Advisory
Agreement.
Sweep. See the sections “The Stifel Automatic Cash Investment
Service” and “Disclosure Documents for Automatic Cash
Investment” of the Stifel Account Agreement and Disclosure
Booklet for information about sweep services. Our cash sweep
programs create a conflict of interest for us because we have an
incentive for you to maintain and direct otherwise uninvested
cash in your account to deposits of our affiliated banks, which
they can use to generate additional revenue. We also receive
revenue for sending your cash deposits to third-party banks that
participate in our sweep programs. This creates an incentive for
us to recommend or direct investments that result in cash being
invested through our sweep programs. For additional
information, please see stifel.com/disclosures/sweep-
choices/sweep-choices-disclosure
General Description of Compensation Paid to Stifel
Advisory Fees. Our firm accepts direct compensation in the form
of fees paid pursuant to the Advisory Agreement entered into
with the Plan at the time of account opening. Plan Clients should
refer to the applicable Advisory Agreement for the fee
calculation formula specific to the Plan account. For information
about the manner in which these fees are paid, please see the
sections “The Stifel Fee,” “Deduction of Advisory Account
Fees,” and “Other Excluded Fees and Expenses” of this
brochure and the section entitled “Fees and Billing” in the
applicable Advisory Agreement. We typically do not receive
indirect compensation in connection with Plan assets in our
Summit Program.
Deposits in one of our affiliated banks or trust companies (each,
an “Affiliated Bank”) will bear a reasonable rate of interest as
required by 29 C.F.R. Section 2550.408b-4(b)(2). By
participating in a sweep service, you authorize deposits in each
Affiliated Bank and acknowledge the benefits that Stifel, the
Affiliated Bank, and your Financial Advisor derive from the
arrangement. Please contact your Financial Advisor for
additional information.
Private Fund Fees. In limited circumstances and in connection
with certain Plan investments in private funds (including, but not
limited to, hedge funds and private equity funds), we may
receive placement fees or other compensation indirectly from a
private fund and/or its related persons in lieu of advisory fees
paid directly by the Plan with respect to such investment. Where
applicable, such placement fees or other compensation are
disclosed in the subscription documents or other documents you
execute in connection with the Plan’s investment in the private
fund, and are equal to the Advisory fee otherwise applicable to
your account. See the section of this brochure titled “Revenue-
Sharing and Other Compensation Arrangements With Private
Investment Funds or Their Sponsors” for more information.
Trade Errors. As set forth above under “Trade Error
Correction,” our policy is to put a Client’s account in the
position that it would have been in if an error had not occurred.
As a result, to the extent a trade error correction results in a gain,
Stifel will retain the resulting gain, to the extent permitted under
applicable law. Pursuant to applicable guidelines, such gains
may be deemed additional compensation. We maintain a record
of any losses and/or gains resulting from trade error corrections
in a Client account and will provide such information upon
request.
ADR Pass-Through Fees. Plan accounts that invest in ADRs
may also incur pass-through fees, which are typically charged by
the sponsors of certain ADRs as custody-related expenses. When
applicable, Stifel collects ADR pass-through fees from
Float. In general, under ERISA a service provider such as a
custodian may retain the benefit of the use of any funds on hand
that are incidental to the normal operation of the plan and that
constitute earnings on funds that are (i) awaiting investment or
(ii) transferred to a disbursement account for distribution from
the plan. The DOL has issued guidance that requires financial
institutions to make specific disclosures to employee benefit
plans, such as the Plan, regarding the circumstances under which
the institution has use of, or may derive benefit from, un-
invested cash pending investment or distribution (“float”). As
discussed in the section of this brochure titled “Additional
Information on Fees and Other Compensation,” if Stifel serves
as custodian of a Plan Client account, we will earn float on
cash/funds received after the close of the NYSE (or on a day that
the NYSE was closed) for the benefit of Client account, until
such cash/funds are swept into the Client’s selected sweep
option, typically the end of the second business day. Similarly,
to the extent we issue a check to a Client or the Client withdraws
funds through an ACH payment, we earn float on the funds
covered by the check until the Client cashes the check or the
ACH payment settles. In general, the amount of float earned is
equivalent to the effective Federal Funds rate on the date earned.
Page 44 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Training and Education Expense Contributions. For
information about payments we receive from investment
companies and/or their affiliates in connection with training and
achievement seminars offered to our Financial Advisors, please
see the section in this brochure titled “Training and Education
Expense Contributions.” Sponsorship amounts generally do not
vary by vendor and cannot be reasonably allocated to any
particular Plan Client. For additional information on other
compensation received by Stifel (as well as its affiliates) from
various product sponsors, please refer to the information located
at: stifel.com/disclosures/mutual-funds/other-compensation-
stifel
Non-Cash Compensation. Please see the section of this
brochure titled “Non-Cash Compensation” for information about
certain gifts and gratuities we may receive. Based on historic
trends, we do not expect to receive non-cash compensation in
excess of the de minimis threshold under DOL regulations with
respect to a Plan Client.
Termination fees. See the section above titled “Compensation in
Connection With the Termination of a Client’s Account
Relationship With Stifel” for information about fees that may
apply if you transfer assets in your Account upon termination of
your Advisory Agreement.
Plans are directed to the section “Fees and Compensation” in the
brochure for additional details about the various other types of
indirect compensation that we may receive in connection with
Plan assets and, to the extent applicable, the steps that we take to
mitigate the conflicts that may be raised by the receipt of such
indirect compensation.
Financial Advisor Compensation. For information about how
we compensate your Financial Advisor, please see the section
“Compensation to Financial Advisors” in this brochure.
Accounts Managed by Third-Party Managers
Plan accounts enrolled in our Opportunity, IMC, and/or Connect
Programs may utilize the services of an Adviser (which, for
purposes of this section, will encompass Investment Managers
and Connect Managers, as defined above) that is engaged to
provide discretionary investment management services to the
Plan. As the Adviser for the Plan, such Adviser is a fiduciary to
the Plan for purposes of ERISA and a registered investment
adviser for purposes of the Advisers Act. For our Opportunity
Program, the Manager’s direct compensation is part of the total
fee that the client pays under the applicable Advisory Agreement
with Stifel; in our Connect Program, the Connect Manager’s fee
is separate from (and in addition to) the Stifel fee. In addition to
the management fee, a Manager may also receive indirect
compensation, often referred to as “soft dollars” or other
benefits, from other brokerage firms with which the Manager
executes trades for its client accounts. These benefits may or
may not relate to trades effected for the Plan account. Plan
Clients should refer to the applicable Manager’s separate Rule
408(b)2 disclosure statement or Form ADV Part 2A for
information about whether or not the Manager receives soft
dollars or similar benefits and, if so, the specific benefits
received.
Page 45 of 45
SF1601-3/26
Additional Brochure: STIFEL FINANCIAL PLANNING DISCLOSURE BROCHURE (2026-04-06)
View Document Text
SEC Number: 801-1447
FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES
Disclosure Brochure
March 31, 2026
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company,
Incorporated. This brochure focuses on our fee-based financial planning services; we also offer other advisory
services, including (but not limited to) advisory consulting services and wrap fee programs, which are covered in
separate brochures. If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure, please contact us at the address or
telephone number provided below. The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), or by any state securities authority. Additional information
about Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated is available on the SEC’s website at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training.
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated
501 North Broadway
St. Louis, Missouri 63102
(314) 342-2000
Stifel.com
INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED • NOT A BANK DEPOSIT • NOT INSURED BY ANY
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE
Page 1 of 14
SF1602-3/26
MATERIAL CHANGES
This section describes the material changes to Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the “firm”)’s last annual update
of this brochure in March 2025. This Brochure, dated March 31, 2026, has been prepared according to the SEC’s disclosure
requirements.
There have not been any material changes to this Brochure to report since the last annual amendment.
Due to the short-term nature of most fee-based financial planning engagements, we do not expect to provide another copy of the Form
ADV Disclosure Brochure during your Financial Planning engagement unless there are material changes to the document we
originally provided to you. In the unlikely event that your Financial Planning engagement of us spans multiple years, instead of
providing an updated brochure each year, we generally provide a summary of the material changes by April 30 of each year. Because
it is a summary, it does not contain all of the updates that were made to the brochure. Please read the full brochure, which is
available to you at no charge at stifel.com/disclosures/investment-advisory-services/program-disclosures under the section “Stifel
Form ADV 2A Disclosure Brochures” or by contacting your Financial Advisor. Please retain a copy of this brochure, as it contains
important information about our financial planning services. Capitalized terms used in this section have the meanings assigned to
them in the main body of this brochure.
Page 2 of 14
SF1602-3/26
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
OUR SERVICES AS AN INVESTMENT ADVISER ........................................................................................................................... 4
ADVISORY BUSINESS – FEE-BASED FINANCIAL PLANNING ................................................................................................... 5
FEES AND COMPENSATION FOR FEE-BASED FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES ........................................................... 6
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................... 8
TYPES OF CLIENTS ............................................................................................................................................................................... 8
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT STRATEGIES, AND RISK OF LOSS ...................................................................... 8
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 9
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES AND AFFILIATIONS ....................................................................................... 10
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST IN CLIENT TRANSACTIONS, AND PERSONAL TRADING ...... 11
BROKERAGE PRACTICES RELATING TO FEE-BASED FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES ......................................... 11
REFERRAL PROGRAMS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS .................................................................................................................................................................... 13
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION ............................................................................................................... 13
CUSTODY ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
INVESTMENT DISCRETION .............................................................................................................................................................. 14
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
FINANCIAL INFORMATION ............................................................................................................................................................. 14
Page 3 of 14
SF1602-3/26
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
investment recommendations are suitable and consistent with
each client’s stated objectives and goals, and the duty of loyalty,
including the obligation to provide the client with full disclosure
of material conflicts of interest. Our duties of care and loyalty
differ depending on the authority that a client has granted us and
the services that we have agreed to provide – for example,
whether we have agreed to provide non-discretionary versus
discretionary services or when we provide episodic (e.g., financial
planning) versus continuous advice.
About Stifel, Nicolaus & Company
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (“Stifel”) is a broker-
dealer that has been registered with the SEC since 1936 and an
investment adviser that has been registered with the SEC since
May 7, 1975. Stifel is owned by Stifel Financial Corp., a
publicly held company whose common stock trades under the
symbol “SF.” Stifel is a leading full-service wealth management,
investment advisory, and broker-dealer and investment banking
firm, serving investment and capital needs of clients. Stifel is a
member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
(“FINRA”), the Securities Investor Protection Corporation
(“SIPC”) and various exchanges. Information about Stifel’s
qualifications, business practices, portfolio management
techniques, and affiliates is accessible on our website at
Stifel.com as well as via publicly available filings with the SEC
at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
In this brochure, the pronouns “we,” “our,” “us,” and similar
words will refer to Stifel. The pronouns “you,” “your,” and
similar words will refer to you as the Client. References to the
singular throughout this brochure include the plural and vice
versa. Capitalized terms shall have the meanings assigned to
them in this brochure.
Our investment advisory agreements with clients define the
services we have undertaken to provide and the related duty of
care when providing those services. We can limit the duties
owed to clients through disclosures (which may be verbal or in
writing) – for example, through this disclosure brochure or other
disclosures provided to you, we will disclose information about
additional activities or compensation arrangements that we have
that will impact the services that we provide to you; those
disclosures will serve to limit our duty of loyalty to you, and we
will take your continued willingness to engage us and your
execution of the fee-based Financial Planning Agreement as
your consent and authorization to engage in the activities
disclosed. Additional information about our fiduciary
obligations, including some of the policies and procedures that
we undertake to fulfill those obligations, is available throughout
this brochure, including under the section entitled “Participation
or Interest in Client Transactions.”
While we provide investment advisory services to a vast array of
clients (including individuals, corporations and other businesses,
pension or profit sharing plans, employee benefit plans, trusts,
estates, charitable organizations, state and municipal government
entities, private funds, educational institutions, insurance
companies, and banks and thrift institutions), our fee-based
financial planning services are generally provided to individual
clients.
Services We Provide
Our investment advisory representatives (whom we refer to as
Financial Advisors) work with their clients to determine
appropriate services for each client in consideration of the
client’s financial goals and circumstances. Based on the services
you request, our firm can provide broker-dealer services,
investment advisory services, or both. We offer fee-based
financial planning as an investment advisory service. Our role as
investment adviser is separate from any role Stifel may play as
broker-dealer. Once we deliver a finalized financial plan to you,
you can decide whether to implement the recommendations in
the plan via brokerage accounts, advisory programs, or a
combination, depending on your needs and preferences. Most of
our Financial Advisors are qualified and licensed to provide both
brokerage and investment advisory services.
When we act as an investment adviser in providing financial
planning services to you, we will (i) assess a fee to cover those
services, (ii) enter into a written Financial Planning Agreement
with you expressly acknowledging our investment advisory
relationship with you and describing our obligations to you during
the engagement, and (iii) give you a copy of this Form ADV Part
2A – Financial Planning Disclosure Brochure, which provides
detailed information about our fee-based financial planning
services as well as, among other things: the range of fees we
charge for those services, our other business activities and
financial industry affiliations, and the conflicts between our
interests and your interests when providing investment advisory
services to you.
It is important to understand that brokerage services are
separate and distinct from investment advisory services, and
different laws, standards of care, and separate contracts with
clients govern each. While there are similarities among
brokerage and investment advisory services, our firm’s
contractual relationship with, and legal duties to, clients are
subject to a number of important differences depending on
whether we are acting in a brokerage or investment advisory
capacity.
OUR SERVICES AS AN INVESTMENT ADVISER
When we serve as investment adviser to clients, we are
considered to have a fiduciary relationship with the client and
are therefore held to the legal standards set forth in the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”), certain
state laws, and common law standards applicable to fiduciaries.
These standards include the duty of care, including the
obligation to have a reasonable basis for believing that our
In addition to our fee-based financial planning services, our
investment advisory services include discretionary and non-
discretionary advisory services, which generally involve account
or portfolio management, as well as recommendations of
securities or of investment advisers to manage all or a portion of
client assets. The investment advisers that our Financial Advisors
recommend to clients include both firms that are independent of
our firm as well as firms owned (including indirectly or in part)
by our parent company, Stifel Financial Corp. These other
investment advisory services are covered by and discussed in our
Page 4 of 14
SF1602-3/26
• Retirement Analysis
Advisory Consulting Services and/or Wrap Fee Programs
Disclosure Brochures, which are available on our website at
stifel.com/disclosures/investment-advisory-services/program-
disclosures.
- Goal funding retirement analysis calculating the results of
your plan by running one thousand trials, where each trial
has a different sequence of returns. The analysis identifies
the probability of funding all of your goals without
exhausting all your resources over your estimated time
horizon.
• Net Worth Overview
- A snapshot of your current financial position looking at the
difference between your assets and liabilities.
• Asset Allocation Comparison
- Compares the allocation of your current portfolio to a target
Please note that although we act as your investment adviser in
providing fee-based financial planning services to you, this
does not affect any other relationship you may have with us.
The nature of existing accounts or accounts you may open in
the future, your rights and obligations relating to these
accounts, and the terms and conditions of any account
agreement in effect now or in the future do not change in any
way because you are receiving fee-based financial planning
services from us.
risk-based portfolio. Identify changes associated with
investment strategies and allocation changes you should
consider.
• Insurance Needs Analysis
- Analyzes whether you have adequate investment assets and
resources to support your family if you passed away earlier
than expected.
- Compares your income needs to your income sources across
multiple disability periods.
- Identifies how an extended Long-Term Care event could
Brokerage Financial Planning Services
In contrast to the fee-based financial planning services that are
covered by this Disclosure Brochure, most of our Financial
Advisors offer similar financial planning services without a
separate fee or charge. We consider those financial planning
services to be brokerage-only services, which are not covered by
a fiduciary relationship between our firm and the applicable
client.
adversely impact your investment portfolio.
• General Estate Planning Overview
- Reviews your current estate situation and estimate the value
of your estate at death.
You should review the services that you are contracting for with
your Financial Advisor, including whether similar services may
be provided as brokerage-only financial planning and, therefore,
at no separate charge to you.
ADVISORY BUSINESS – FEE-BASED FINANCIAL
PLANNING
The specific topics covered in each financial plan will be as
agreed-up between you and your Financial Advisor. The written
financial plan that is ultimately delivered to you may be prepared
directly by your Financial Advisor, or may be prepared by
members of our Wealth Planning Department on behalf of your
Financial Advisor. In general, the written financial plan is
intended to assist you in assessing your individual financial goals
and to serve as a basis for further analysis and discussion between
you and your financial, legal, and tax advisers toward developing
a suitable investment strategy for pursuing your financial goals.
Scope and Limits of Services Provided
As part of our fee-based financial planning services, our
Financial Advisors will provide a personalized financial plan
designed to help you assess your financial situation and pursue
your long-term financial goals and objectives. The financial
planning process is meant to be a collaborative experience
tailored to your personal goals and customized to the complexity
of your financial circumstances. To make the most of the
planning services, we recommend that you establish clear and
measurable financial goals and provide specific and accurate
information.
Topics or Areas Not Covered By a Plan. Our financial plans do
not address every aspect of a client’s financial life (e.g., areas not
covered include analysis of property and casualty, homeowners,
and excess liability coverage, etc.). In addition, a topic may not be
included in your financial plan for a variety of reasons (for
example, because we did not receive sufficient data from you to
complete an analysis); unless we explicitly state otherwise, you
should not take any such omission as an indication that the topic
is not applicable to your particular financial situation. Also,
unless otherwise requested and approved by the Wealth Planning
Department, our financial planning services will not include an
analysis of your estate planning documents and/or income tax
returns. You should seek the counsel of your legal and tax
advisors for a complete analysis of your estate and death tax
liabilities.
At the beginning of the planning process, you will be asked to
provide information about your individual financial situation,
including your investment goals and objectives and your risk
tolerance. We rely on the information that you provide to create
a personalized financial plan for you, and therefore, it is critical
that we gather as complete a picture of your financial situation as
possible. For this reason, we may ask for copies of your financial
documentation, such as bank and brokerage statements,
employee benefits statements, insurance policies, etc., all of
which will assist us in understanding your financial situation.
We are not obligated to monitor changes in your life or financial
circumstances prior to delivery of the plan. You should notify us
promptly if you experience any significant changes in your life
or financial situation while we are working on your financial
plan. We will use the information you provide to prepare our
financial planning recommendations and guidance, which may
cover a variety of topics, including (for example):
No Verification of Outside Assets Analyzed. In developing a
financial plan for you, we may consider and analyze information
relating to assets that you hold at other financial institutions if you
have provided us the relevant information. In considering such
Page 5 of 14
SF1602-3/26
We do not include financial planning in our calculation of assets
for this purpose.
information, we will assume that the information that you have
provided is accurate and will not take any steps to verify or
ensure the accuracy of information regarding any assets that are
held outside of Stifel.
FEES AND COMPENSATION FOR FEE-BASED
FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES
How We Charge for Fee-Based Planning Services
We generally charge up to $5,000 for our fee-based financial
planning services; in limited circumstances, we may allow certain
Financial Advisors to charge more in connection with particularly
complex client situations and related planning services.
No Tax or Legal Advice. Our firm (and our Financial Advisors)
do not provide tax or legal advice. You should not consider any
information that is presented in a financial plan regarding
potential tax considerations as tax or legal advice, and should not
use such information for the purpose of avoiding any tax
penalties or liabilities. As we do not provide legal or tax advice,
we recommend coordinating with your independent legal and tax
advisers during the financial planning process so that they may
assess any legal and tax issues relating to the strategies we
recommend. If you are not comfortable involving those advisers
during our financial planning arrangement with you, you should
separately consult with your legal or tax advisors to review your
personal circumstances.
A Financial Advisor’s fees will vary depending on, among other
things, the complexity of a client’s financial situation, the scope
and range of services to be provided, the amount and type of
assets to be taken into consideration, as well as whether the fee is
to be paid directly by the client or through employer-sponsored
programs. You can negotiate the fee that you will pay with your
Financial Advisor.
You can select the following payment methods for paying your
fee – you will need to indicate the method that you have
selected on your Financial Planning Agreement with us:
Residency Assumption in Our Plans. Our financial planning
services assume that you are a U.S. citizen or resident, and are
subject to U.S. taxes. Our financial planning services may
therefore not be applicable to or appropriate for you if you are
subject to other tax jurisdictions and requirements.
Payment By Check
You may elect to pay the financial planning fee by issuing a
check to us; the fee will be due upon your receipt of the financial
plan. The fee amount will be indicated on your agreement with us
– we do not typically issue an invoice for the financial planning
fee, but may do so upon request. If we do not receive payment
from you within a reasonable period after you have acknowledged
receipt of a written plan, we reserve the right to automatically
debit the amount from any non-retirement accounts that you may
hold at Stifel.
Implementation of Recommendations. Our fee-based financial
planning services will not cover any initial or ongoing advice as
to specific securities or investments, or investment strategies in
which you should invest. Similarly, we will not analyze the
merits of particular investments or securities in the plan that we
deliver to you, or at any time as part of our financial planning
engagement with you. You are not required to implement any of
the recommendations that we provide in a financial plan through
our firm. If you decide to let us assist you in implementing the
recommendations, you will need to enter into separate
agreements with us and open brokerage or investment advisory
accounts, as appropriate, to implement the planning
recommendations. We generally implement securities
transactions in our capacity as a broker-dealer, not as an
investment adviser, unless you are participating in one of our
investment advisory programs. You will be charged separate fees
and/or commissions in connection with services provided to
those accounts.
No Obligation to Update the Plan. Our fee-based financial
planning arrangement with you terminates upon our delivery of a
finalized financial plan to you. Our Financial Planning
Agreement with you and the fiduciary relationship created under
such Agreement will end when a final plan is delivered. We will
be under no obligation to update the financial plan to reflect
changes in your life events or financial situation that occur after
delivery of the plan.
Payment By Automatic Debit
If you have one or more accounts at Stifel, you can authorize us to
deduct the fee from any of your accounts. In such case, the fee
will be deducted first from available cash or cash equivalents
including money market funds in the account. Under the terms of
your Financial Planning Agreement with us, if the cash and cash
equivalent in the account is not enough to pay the fee, you will be
considered to have authorized us to rebalance or liquidate
securities in the account in order to generate sufficient funds to
cover the fee in the following order: first, we liquidate mutual
fund positions, followed by equities securities (including ETFs),
unit investment trusts, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and any
other securities. Your monthly customer account statement will
reflect the amount deducted from your account to cover the
financial planning fee. You should review your statement
carefully and let your Financial Advisor know if you have any
questions or concerns. Certain account types, e.g., retirement
accounts such as IRAs, may not be used to pay fees for financial
planning services.
Acknowledgment of Receipt. You will be asked to sign an
acknowledgment of receipt upon delivery of a plan to you; the
financial planning fee will be due at that time.
Additional Information Relating to Fees
As discussed above, most of our Financial Advisors provide
planning services at no additional charge. You should therefore
consider and discuss with your Financial Advisor whether you
may be able to get some or all of the financial planning services at
no additional charge. As set forth above, the fee that you pay for
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2025, we managed approximately
$126,839,531,130 of client assets on a discretionary basis, and
advised on $70,692,702,372 on a non-discretionary basis.
Page 6 of 14
SF1602-3/26
financial planning services will not cover the costs and charges
associated with implementing any of the recommendations that
may be contained in the plan.
Compensation to Financial Advisors
Production. We pay a percentage (“Payout Rate”) of the Stifel
Advisory Fee that we receive from you to your Financial
Advisor(s). Payout Rates generally range from 25% to 50%; the
applicable percentage paid to your Financial Advisor will
depend on your Financial Advisor’s employment agreement and
arrangements with us and the total amount of revenue your
Financial Advisor generates from all clients (including from
brokerage clients) (referred to as “Production”). Our
compensation to the Financial Advisor can also include a bonus
that is also based on the Financial Advisor’s Production.
Recruiting Transition Assistance. Some Financial Advisors are
eligible for special incentive compensation and other benefits
based on client assets in accounts at our firm (including assets
held in your retirement accounts) and the Production the Financial
Advisor generates for us (including in connection with brokerage
accounts). These incentives and benefits can be in the form of
recruitment and retention bonuses, and eligibility for repayable
loans or loans for which repayment is made under certain
conditions, for your Financial Advisor by an entity affiliated with
us. These incentives and benefits generally increase as the
Financial Advisor brings more client assets to us and generates
more revenue. These benefits create an incentive for your
Financial Advisor to recommend that you transition accounts held
at other financial institutions to our firm, as well as to recommend
certain transactions, products, and services over others in order to
obtain the benefits.
Branch Manager/Supervisory Activities. In addition, we pay
compensation to branch managers based on aggregate Production
generated by the Financial Advisors operating from the manager’s
branch office. In some cases, a portion of a Financial Advisor’s
Production can result in compensation to his or her branch
manager or another Financial Advisor for supervision and
administrative or sales support. When a supervisor is
compensated based on the Production of the person he or she is
supervising, the supervisor has an incentive for you to make
investments that generate greater compensation for the supervisor.
The particular compensation arrangements between your
Financial Advisor and his or her branch manager also create
incentives for your Financial Advisor to recommend transactions,
investment products, and services that generate greater amounts
of revenue for us, the branch manager, and your Financial
Advisor.
Your Financial Advisor’s Payout Rate will be the same
regardless of the Advisory Program in which your accounts are
enrolled. However, as a general matter, your Financial Advisor’s
total cash compensation increases as his or her Production
increases, and this creates an incentive for your Financial
Advisor to recommend certain Programs or Portfolios over
others and/or other products or services in order to increase his
or her Production. In connection with the Programs covered by
this brochure, we mitigate these conflicts by limiting Advisory-
related Production compensation to Stifel’s share of the
Advisory Account Fees (that is, your Financial Advisor
generally does not share in any additional fees and expenses that
your account incurs as a result of types of investments made (or
transactions effected) in the account). We also seek to mitigate
these conflicts by disclosing them to you, and by establishing
other risk-based supervision policies and procedures (including,
e.g., to review certain new Advisory account enrollments).
Outside Business Activities. Your Financial Advisor is permitted
to engage in certain business activities approved by us, other than
the provision of brokerage and advisory services through Stifel. In
certain cases, these outside business activities can cause conflicts
with the Advisory services that your Financial Advisor provides
to you and your account(s). We mitigate these conflicts by
requiring your Financial Advisor to disclose to us and obtain
approval for outside business activities by establishing certain
other policies and risk-based procedures to the approval of
outside business activities. Where such activities are deemed
material (as determined by regulation), we disclose them to you
through the Financial Advisor’s Form ADV Part 2B.
Discount Sharing. Financial Advisors receive less than their
standard payout when accounts are priced below the set
minimum fee level for the applicable Program. While Financial
Advisors may be allowed to set the Stifel Fee for an account
below the minimum fee level, doing so typically results in a
reduction to the Financial Advisor’s Payout Rate (generally
referred to as discount sharing) potentially down to 0%. The fee
levels at which discount sharing starts to apply vary by Program
and/or style: for example, the discount sharing level for equity
strategies is different than for fixed income strategies. In general,
discount sharing creates an incentive for Financial Advisors to
price accounts above the set minimum fee level in order to
receive their standard Payout Rate.
Compensation to Members of Wealth Planning Department
Members of our Wealth Planning Department may assist your
Financial Advisor in creating and/or delivering fee-based
financial planning services to you. These professionals do not
receive a direct share of the fees that you pay for such financial
planning services. Instead, they receive a base salary and are
eligible for discretionary incentive compensation based on the
performance of the firm in general as well as their individual
performance.
Compensation From Third Parties. Our financial plans do not
include specific securities recommendations, and therefore, we do
not receive any compensation from third parties in connection
Other Benefits. Equity awards from our parent company, SF, are
a standard component of our Financial Advisors’ compensation.
Your Financial Advisor is eligible to receive other benefits based
on his or her Production. These benefits include recognition
events, conferences (e.g., for education, networking, training,
and personal and professional development), and other forms of
noncash compensation that generally increase in value as the
amount of the Production your Financial Advisor generates
increases. These benefits create an incentive for your Financial
Advisor to recommend certain Programs over others and/or
transactions, products, and services that generate additional fees
and expenses in order to obtain the most benefits.
Page 7 of 14
SF1602-3/26
The team also evaluates the related work of key research
providers and other industry experts. The goal is to make sound
estimates, and sometimes insights come from experts outside our
investment team.
with our financial planning recommendations to you. If you
decide to implement the planning recommendations through our
firm, we can separately recommend specific securities or
investments and, depending on our capacity as broker-dealer or
investment adviser, and other factors, we will directly receive
compensation from third parties in connection with those
recommendations. You should refer to the disclosures provided
in connection with the brokerage and/or investment advisory
accounts that you open with us for information about the
different types of compensation that we receive in connection
with recommendations of specific securities or investments.
The capital market assumptions may change from time to time at
Stifel IS’ discretion. The team has changed its risk and return
assumptions in the past and may do so in the future. Your
Financial Advisor will not provide you with an updated plan
automatically based upon changes to these or other underlying
assumptions, but (subject to additional fees) you may request an
updated plan from your Financial Advisor. Changes in the
assumptions may affect your target asset allocation.
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE
MANAGEMENT
Stifel does not charge performance-based fees in connection
with its investment advisory services.
TYPES OF CLIENTS
Please refer to the Executive Summary for a description of the
types of clients to whom we generally provide investment
advice, including fee-based financial planning services.
Our firm may also add or remove asset classes from the allocation
methodology at any time. Once our agreement for financial
planning services has ended, we are not required to provide you
with an updated analysis based upon changes to these capital
market assumptions or other assumptions used in the plan, or
resulting changes to your target allocation. It is important to note
that implementing changes to your target allocation may result in
tax consequences to you. Please consult your tax advisor if this
occurs.
There is no minimum account size or minimum fee requirements
for financial planning services.
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT
STRATEGIES, AND RISK OF LOSS
We employ a variety of asset allocation models and tools across
our firm. As a result, our modeling in programs outside of
financial planning services may vary depending upon the asset
allocation model, amount invested, and software program used for
analysis.
Limitations on Statistical Analysis:
Forward-looking analyses are presented based upon various risk
and return assumptions developed by the Stifel IS team. In
addition, historical statistical data, based on the performance of
various market indices, may be provided in the financial planning
reports to show relative historic risk and return information
regarding the asset allocation strategies presented. Probabilistic
modeling (which presents the likelihood that the client may be
able to achieve certain goals) may be presented using forward-
looking or historical assumptions, is hypothetical in nature, does
not reflect actual investments results, and is not a guarantee of
future results. These analyses do not analyze specific securities.
Rather, the asset allocation presented is analyzed. Actual market
conditions may result in outcomes significantly different than
those illustrated. With respect to probabilistic modeling, the
results may vary over time and with each use if any of the
underlying assumptions or profile data is adjusted. In addition, the
analysis does not present the results that could occur from an
extreme market event, either positive or negative, due to the low
probability of such an occurrence.
The analyses and reports included in your financial plan will
describe the applicable basis, limitations, and potential risks.
Please review this information carefully.
Our Asset Allocations
Our fee-based financial planning services typically include asset
allocation recommendations. Our asset allocations are based on a
proprietary methodology. In developing those allocations, our
Investment Strategy Group (“Stifel IS”) considers asset class risk
and return results that are based on estimated forward-looking
return and risk (measured by standard deviation) assumptions
(“capital market assumptions” or “CMAs”). These CMAs are
also based on our proprietary research, with the development
process including a review of a variety of factors, such as the
return, risk, correlations and historical performance of various
asset classes, and inflation. CMAs have multiple uses, including
developing strategic asset allocations, custom portfolio analysis,
and risk monitoring. The CMAs are used in developing asset
allocation models for financial planning purposes, and can be
also used under certain circumstances in developing investment
portfolios. Stifel IS periodically reviews the economic or market
conditions or other general investment considerations that it
believes may impact the capital market assumptions. For key
asset classes, Stifel IS uses a building block approach by
estimating the key components of return. For example, our U.S.
Large Cap Equity return assumption includes estimates for
inflation, real earnings growth, and dividend yield. Our fixed
income return assumption includes an estimate for cash yield, a
term premium for investing in longer bonds, and a credit
premium for investing in bonds not guaranteed by the U.S.
government. Importantly, Stifel IS utilizes a survey process for
this work, and seeks input from colleagues across our
organization, based on areas of expertise.
Those analyses and/or reports will be developed based on
information that you provide. The accuracy of the analysis is
dependent upon your providing accurate and complete data. The
results presented in any analysis or report are not guarantees of
future results.
Page 8 of 14
SF1602-3/26
and WSPs regarding the cited supervisory deficiencies prior
to the entry of the AWC.
3. In March 2019, Stifel, along with 78 other investment
Our personnel make a number of assumptions during the
financial planning process. These assumptions may turn out to
be wrong, and as a result, your returns may be less than
anticipated. While we attempt to provide recommendations that
are designed to assist you in meeting your stated goals and
objectives, we cannot and do not guarantee that you will meet all
of your goals and objectives by following our recommendations.
The economic environment (including, the rate of inflation,
prevailing tax rates, etc.) that you experience as you implement
the recommendations may vary from the assumptions made in
creating the plan. Similarly, the rate of return that your
investments are able to achieve will likely also vary from the
assumptions in the plan, all of which will impact your ability to
reach your financial planning goals.
While our financial plans do not include specific investment
recommendations, in evaluating the recommendations covered
by the plan, you should understand that all investments involve
risks. These risks include (but are not limited to) the risk that an
investment’s value will decline because of downturns in the
general securities markets. You should consider each
investment’s risks and expenses carefully before investing in any
security.
Please refer to our Advisory Consulting Services and/or our
Wrap Fee Programs Disclosure Brochures for detailed
discussions of our investment strategies and methods of analysis
used in connection with the investment advisory services
provided under those brochures.
advisers who voluntarily participated in the SEC’s Share
Class Selection Disclosure Initiative, consented to the entry
of an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease-and-Desist
Proceedings Pursuant to Sections 203(e) and 203(k) of the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Making Findings, and
Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order
(the “Order”) by the SEC instituted pursuant to Sections
203(e) and 203(k) of the Advisers Act without admitting or
denying the findings therein except those related to
jurisdiction and the subject matter of the proceedings. The
Order entered against Stifel alleged that Stifel willfully
violated Sections 206(2) and 207 of the Advisers Act as a
result of its inadequate disclosure of conflicts of interest
related to (a) the selection of mutual fund share classes that
charged 12b-1 fees, which are recurring fees deducted from
fund’s assets, when an alternative share class was available
that did not charge a 12b-1 fee, and (b) the receipt of 12b-1
fees in connection with these investments. The SEC did not
impose a civil penalty against Stifel in recognition of the fact
that Stifel self-reported the issue to the SEC. However, Stifel
was censured and ordered to cease-and-desist from
committing or causing any violations and future violations of
Sections 206(2) and 207 of the Advisers Act, pay
disgorgement and pre-judgment interest in the amount of
$6,037,175.98 to affected investors, and comply with several
undertakings related to notifying affected investors of the
terms of the Order.
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION
4. On January 26, 2018, Stifel entered into a Letter of
1. On September 24, 2024, in connection with the industry-
wide sweep into off-channel communications, the SEC
entered an administrative order against Stifel, Nicolaus &
Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the “Firm”). The SEC
found that the Firm willfully violated Section 17(a) of the
Exchange Act and Rule 17a-4(b)(4) thereunder, as well as
Section 204 of the Advisers Act and Rule 204-2(a)(7)
thereunder, due to recordkeeping failures related to
electronic communications. The Firm also failed to
reasonably supervise its personnel to prevent or detect
aiding and abetting violations of these sections. The SEC
ordered Stifel to cease and desist from committing or
causing any violations, censured the Firm, and imposed
undertakings including retaining an independent compliance
consultant. Additionally, a civil money penalty of
$35,000,000 was imposed.
2. On September 1, 2020, Stifel entered into a Letter of
Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA to
settle allegations that the firm (i) traded ahead of certain
customer orders at prices that would have satisfied the
customer orders; (ii) did not maintain adequate supervisory
controls that were reasonably designed to achieve compliance
with FINRA Rule 5320 and Supplementary Material .02 of
FINRA Rule 5320; and failed to report an information barrier
identifier with its order audit trail system (OATS) submission
for certain orders. These allegations were considered to be
violations of FINRA Rules 2010, 3110, 7440(b)(19), and
NASD Rule 3010. While not admitting or denying the
allegations, the firm consented to a censure, monetary fine of
$37,500, plus interest of $318.25, restitution payments to
affected investors, and an undertaking to revise its written
supervisory procedures relating to Rule 5320 and
Supplementary Material .02 of FINRA to settle these
allegations.
5. On January 26, 2018, Stifel entered into an AWC with
FINRA to settle allegations that the firm failed to report to
the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (“TRACE”)
transactions in TRACE-eligible securitized products within
the time required by FINRA Rule 6730. While not admitting
or denying these allegations, the firm agreed to a censure and
a fine of $17,500.
6. On November 3, 2017, Stifel entered into a consent
Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA to
settle allegations that, during the period of October 31, 2017
through February 27, 2020, the firm lacked a supervisory
system, including written supervisory procedures (WSPs),
reasonably designed to detect and prevent Stifel and its
registered representatives from executing pre-arranged
transactions in violation of Municipal Securities Rulemaking
Board (MSRB) Rule G-27. While not admitting or denying
the allegations, the firm consented to a censure and
monetary fine of $40,000 to settle the allegations. As
indicated in the AWC, Stifel updated its supervisory system
agreement with the State of North Carolina, as part of a
multi-state task force agreement, regarding the sale of
Page 9 of 14
SF1602-3/26
directing Stifel to cease and desist from violating Rule 5.15
of the Mississippi Securities Act of 2010, a books and
records rule, and to pay the Division $49,500 on its behalf as
well as $500 on behalf of the former registered
representative.
10. On December 6, 2016, a final judgment (“Judgment”) was
securities commonly known as Auction Rate Securities
(“ARS”). The state regulatory authority claimed that Stifel
failed to reasonably supervise the sales of ARS by failing to
provide sufficient information and training to its registered
representatives and sales and marketing staff regarding ARS
and the mechanics of the auction process applicable to ARS.
As part of the consent agreement, Stifel agreed to pay the
state $18,088.80, to cease and desist from violating
securities laws and regulations, to retain at Stifel’s expense a
consultant to review the firm’s supervisory and compliance
policies and procedures relating to product review of
nonconventional investments, and repurchase certain
auction rate securities from the firm’s clients.
7. In June 2017, Stifel entered into an AWC with FINRA to
entered against Stifel by the United States District Court for
the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Civil Action No. 2:11-cv-
00755) resolving a civil lawsuit filed by the SEC in 2011
involving violations of several antifraud provisions of the
federal securities laws in connection with the sale of
synthetic collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”) to five
Wisconsin school districts in 2006. As a result of the Order,
Stifel is required to cease and desist from committing or
causing any violations and any future violations of Section
17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, and Stifel and a
former employee are jointly liable to pay disgorgement and
prejudgment interest of $2.5 million. Stifel was also required
to pay a civil penalty of $22 million. The Judgment also
required Stifel to distribute $12.5 million of the ordered
disgorgement and civil penalty to the school districts
involved in this matter.
settle allegations that Stifel did not provide timely
disclosures to a municipal issuer in connection with its role
as placement agent in a placement of bonds issued by the
municipal issuer in accordance with interpretive guidance
issued by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
(“MSRB”) regarding MSRB Rule G-23. In May 2012, Stifel
recommended that the issuer do a placement, in lieu of a
public offering, in order to save on debt service costs. The
issuer accepted Stifel’s recommendation and agreed that
Stifel would serve as placement agent. However, Stifel did
not provide the disclosures regarding its role in a timely
manner. As a result, the firm was alleged to have violated
MSRB Rule G-23 by serving as both financial advisor and
placement agent on the same issue. While not admitting or
denying the allegations, Stifel agreed to a regulatory censure
and a monetary fine of $125,000.
11. On April 8, 2016, Stifel entered into an AWC with FINRA to
settle allegations that the firm used permissible customer-
owned securities as collateral for bank loans procured by the
firm. However, on several occasions over a period of years,
prior to performing its customer reserve calculation, Stifel
substituted those loans with loans secured with firm-owned
collateral. The substitution thereby reduced the amount that
Stifel was required to deposit into the Customer Reserve
Account. FINRA found the practice to be a violation of
applicable rules, including Section 15I of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 15c3-3(e)(2) thereunder.
Throughout the relevant period, the firm had sufficient
resources to fund the Customer Reserve Account even if the
substitutions had not occurred. While not admitting or
denying the allegations, the firm consented to a censure and
fine of $750,000.
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES AND
AFFILIATIONS
8. In March 2017, Stifel consented to the entry of a Cease and
Desist Order (“Order”) by the SEC in which Stifel was
found to have violated Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act
and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder by failing to adopt or
implement adequate policies and procedures to track and
disclose the trading away practices of certain Investment
Managers in several of Stifel’s discretionary wrap fee
programs, including information about additional costs
incurred by clients as a result of the Investment Manager’s
use of another broker to execute transactions away from
Stifel. Stifel neither admitted nor denied the findings
contained in the Order, except those related to jurisdiction
and the subject matter of the proceeding. Stifel made several
undertakings enumerated in the Order related to the trading
away practices of third-party managers, including a review
and update of its policies and procedures, providing
information to financial advisors and clients, and training
financial advisors. Stifel was ordered to pay a civil penalty
of $300,000 and ordered to cease and desist from violating
Section 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder.
9. On January 4, 2017, an Administrative Consent Order
As set forth above, our firm is dual registered as an investment
adviser and a broker-dealer, and is also a licensed insurance
agency with various states. We have a number of affiliates that
are registered as investment advisers or broker-dealers (or both).
A number of our affiliated investment advisers serve as fund
manager to various registered investment companies (mutual
funds). None of these affiliates provide services to our clients in
connection with the fee-based financial planning services covered
by this brochure. In addition to being registered representatives of
Stifel, some of our management persons may be registered
representatives of these affiliated broker-dealers. Similarly, some
of our management persons may be management persons of our
affiliates, included affiliates that are registered investment
advisers. Finally, some of our management persons may be
licensed to practice law in various states. These individuals do not
provide legal services to advisory clients, including clients to
whom we provide fee-based financial planning.
(“Order”) was entered against Stifel and a former registered
representative associated with Stifel by the Securities
Division of the Mississippi Secretary of State (“Division”)
resolving an investigation into certain activities occurring in
two branch offices during the period of September 2000
through November 2013. Without admitting or denying the
findings in the Order, Stifel agreed to the entry of the Order
Page 10 of 14
SF1602-3/26
periodically review securities holdings in the accounts of persons
who may have access to advisory recommendations.
You should refer to our Advisory Consulting Services and/or
Wrap Fee Programs Disclosure Brochures for a more detailed
discussion of our firm’s other industry activities and affiliations
applicable to our other investment advisory services.
Since our financial planning recommendations do not include
recommendations of specific securities, we do not anticipate any
conflicts between the financial planning recommendations and the
personal trading by our associated persons.
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST IN
CLIENT TRANSACTIONS, AND PERSONAL TRADING
BROKERAGE PRACTICES RELATING TO FEE-BASED
FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES
Code of Ethics
In addition to Stifel Financial Corp.’s Code of Ethics Policy,
which is applicable to all Stifel personnel, our Advisory
personnel are also subject to our Investment Advisory Code of
Ethics (“IA Code of Ethics”). A copy of the IA Code of Ethics is
available upon request. Set forth in the IA Code of Ethics are
standards reasonably designed to promote honest and ethical
conduct, comply with federal securities laws and governmental
rules and regulations, maintain privacy of Client information,
protect nonpublic information, and encourage associates to
report any known violations. Such standards include placing
Client interests first, avoiding any material or potential conflicts
of interest, and ensuring that personal securities transactions are
conducted appropriately. Compliance periodically reviews the
IA Code of Ethics to ensure adequacy and effectiveness in
complying with applicable regulations.
About Our Broker-Dealer
Our firm’s principal business in terms of revenue and personnel is
that of a securities broker-dealer. As a broker-dealer, we execute
securities transactions per client instructions. As an integral part
of the services offered, when providing brokerage services,
Financial Advisors may assist clients in identifying investment
goals, creating strategies that are reasonably designed to meet
those goals, and making suitable buy, hold, and sell
recommendations based on risk tolerance and financial
circumstances. However, Financial Advisors do not make
investment decisions on behalf of clients and do not charge any
fees for any incidental advice given when providing brokerage
services. Absent special circumstances, Financial Advisors are
not held to fiduciary standards when providing brokerage
services. Legal obligations to disclose detailed information about
the nature and scope of our business, personnel, commissions
charged, material or potential conflicts of interest, and other
matters, are limited when acting as a broker-dealer
Our Responsibilities as a Broker-Dealer
As a broker-dealer, our firm is held to the legal standards of the
Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
FINRA rules, and state laws where applicable. Such standards
include fair dealings with Clients, reasonable and fair execution
prices in light of prevailing market conditions, reasonable
commissions and other charges, and reasonable basis for
believing that securities recommendations are suitable. Brokerage
clients generally pay commission charges for transactions
executed in their brokerage accounts.
Participation or Interest in Client Transactions
We do not execute transactions as part of our fee-based financial
planning services. If you implement our financial planning
recommendations by opening an account with us, we will
execute transactions for your account pursuant to the terms of
agreements that you enter into with us to open that account.
Those agreements (and the disclosure documents provided with
the agreements) will, among other things, address how and in
what capacity we execute transactions for the accounts you open.
In general, we offer a wide variety of investment products and
services that provide different levels of compensation to our firm
and Financial Advisors. As a result, our Financial Advisors have
an incentive to favor those investment products and services that
generate a higher level of compensation than those that generate
a lower level of compensation. For more information about the
other investment products and services, the terms and conditions
that apply when we provide those products and services, as well
as the conflicts that we face in connection with our
recommendations and execution of client transactions, you
should refer to the agreement(s) and disclosure documents that
you receive relating to the accounts that you open with us.
Application of Brokerage Services to Fee-Based Financial
Planning Clients
We do not recommend broker-dealer firms as part of our financial
planning services. If you choose to engage Stifel in its capacity as
a broker-dealer to implement the recommendations in your
financial plan, you will need to sign a separate agreement that will
cover the type of brokerage services that our firm is to provide to
that account. You should pay particular attention to the
disclosures provided with such agreement, as they will also cover
the type of fees and charges that could apply to those services.
REFERRAL PROGRAMS
We generally do not act as investment adviser when making the
referrals described in this section. You should consider the
referral compensation Stifel and/or your Stifel Financial Advisor
may be eligible to receive when evaluating your relationship with
us and the reasonability of any fees or other charges you pay us.
Personal Trading
Our written supervisory procedures are designed to detect and
prevent the misuse of material, non-public information by
employees. We prohibit transactions in our firm account(s) and
accounts of associated persons in any security that is the subject
of a recommendation of our Research department until the
recommendation has been disseminated to Clients and a
reasonable time has elapsed following the dissemination. Our
directors, officers, and employees are prohibited from buying or
selling securities for their personal accounts if the decision to do
so is substantially derived, in whole or in part, by reason of their
employment, unless the information is also available to the
investing public or through reasonable inquiry. We maintain and
Page 11 of 14
SF1602-3/26
Referrals for Trust Services
Our parent company, Stifel Financial Corp., along with the Firm
(together the “Service Providers”), have entered into Referral,
Operating, and Service agreements with our affiliated trust
companies – Stifel Trust Company, National Association
(“STC”) and Stifel Trust Company Delaware, National
Association (“STCD”) (STC and STCD, individually and
collectively, sometimes referred to hereafter as the “trust
companies”).
Pursuant to these agreements, STC and STCD pay the Service
Providers for providing services, referral services, and client
services. The Service Providers receive, on a quarterly basis,
20% of the net fiduciary fees received by STC and STCD.
Specifically, the Firm pays its Financial Advisors a portion of
net fees on a monthly basis for the life of the account. Fees shall
not be payable with respect to those accounts for which the
Service Providers do not provide the referral services or the
client services.
These payments create an incentive for Financial Advisors to
refer you to STC or STCD. There may be an interim period
between the time a referral is made and the time the trust
companies begin to provide services.
Credit Line Loans extended by an Affiliated Bank are typically
demand which allows an Affiliated Bank to demand repayment at
any time, and are subject to collateral maintenance requirements.
If the required collateral value is not maintained, an Affiliated
Bank may require additional collateral, or partial or entire
repayment of any Credit Line Loans extended. Clients may need
to deposit additional cash or securities as collateral on short notice
or repay a partial or entire amount of the funds borrowed if the
value of their portfolio declines below the required loan-to-value
ratio. An Affiliated Bank may refuse to fund any advance request
due to insufficient collateral. An Affiliated Bank may increase
your collateral maintenance requirement at any time without
notice, and may call your Credit Line Loan at any time and for
any reason. Because an Affiliated Bank assigns different release
rates to different asset types, in some cases, Clients may also be
able to satisfy such requirements by selling securities with a low
release rate and investing and/or holding the proceeds in assets
that have a higher release rate for the loan. In each case, failure to
promptly meet requests for additional collateral or repayment, or
other circumstances including a rapidly declining market, may
cause our banking affiliate to instruct us to liquidate some or all
of the collateral supporting any Credit Line Loan in order to meet
collateral maintenance requirements without needing your prior
approval. You will not be entitled to choose the securities that
will be sold. Depending on market circumstances, the prices
obtained for the securities may be less than favorable. Any
required liquidations may interrupt the account’s investment
strategy and may result in adverse tax consequences or additional
fees being assessed.
Credit Line Loans
In some circumstances, Clients are able to use Advisory account
assets as collateral for variable or fixed rate credit lines (“Credit
Line Loans”) offered by an Affiliated Bank. An example of a
Credit Line Loan is the Stifel Pledged Asset (“SPA”) Loan,
which is offered by Stifel Bank & Trust. The SPA loan account
is subject to application and credit approval by Stifel Bank &
Trust. Please refer to the terms and conditions outlined in the
Stifel Pledged Asset Loan Account Agreement, which is
provided separately to applicants by Stifel Bank & Trust.
The Affiliated Banks typically pay us a fee of up to 0.25% per
annum, on a quarterly basis, of the outstanding SPA Loan
balance, a portion of which is paid to your Financial Advisor. In
addition, the Affiliated Banks pay Stifel up to $50 for each newly
booked loan, which Stifel will then pay to the Financial Advisor’s
Client Service Associate (“CSA”) for the CSA’s assistance to the
borrower in completing the related application. Neither we nor
Stifel financial advisors currently receive payment on other credit
line loans, which is subject to change.
Clients repay the principal balance and interest on outstanding
balances on Credit Line Loans to Stifel Bank & Trust and/or
other Affiliated Bank(s). For variable-rate loans, clients have the
option to repay the principal at any time without prepayment
fees. If interest rates rise, your borrowing cost will also rise. For
fixed-rate loans, clients may be subject to prepayment fees (as
described in the loan documents) if the loan is repaid before the
end of the fixed-rate contract. The proceeds of certain loans may
not be used for the purpose of (a) purchasing, carrying, or
trading in securities, (b) repaying or retiring any indebtedness
incurred to purchase, carry, or trade in securities, or (c) repaying
or retiring any debt, and/or otherwise purchase any product or
service, unless consent is provided by the lending Affiliated
Bank.
These payments are in addition to any Advisory Account Fees
charged with respect to the Advisory assets used to collateralize
the Credit Line Loan. As such, these payments present a conflict
of interest for us in that they create a financial incentive for your
Stifel Financial Advisor to make recommendations based on the
additional compensation to be received rather than solely based
on your financial needs. For example, a Financial Advisor may
recommend that you open a Credit Line Loan rather than
withdraw money from your Advisory accounts in order to retain
the Advisory Account Fee that such assets are otherwise
generating and to receive the additional compensation from the
banking affiliate with respect to any outstanding Credit Line Loan
balance that you maintain.
If Advisory account assets are used to collateralize Credit Line
Loans, clients are not permitted to withdraw funds or other assets
unless sufficient amounts of collateral remain to continue supporting
the Credit Line Loans (as determined by the applicable Affiliated
Bank, in its sole discretion). Clients may still terminate their
Advisory relationship with Stifel at any time, at which time these
funds or assets will be maintained in a brokerage account at Stifel.
Clients pay interest to the Affiliated Bank on Credit Line Loans at
customary interest rates. Certain eligibility requirements must be
met and loan documentation must be completed prior to applying
for Credit Line Loans.
Similarly, a Financial Advisor may recommend the continued
maintenance of such Credit Line Loan to retain such payments.
Finally, a Financial Advisor may recommend that you invest or
hold your Advisory account assets in positions that have been
assigned high release rates and/or lower release rates by the
applicable Affiliated Bank for the Credit Line Loan (but which
positions ultimately generate low investment returns for your
Page 12 of 14
SF1602-3/26
the Financial Advisor making the original introduction would be
paid a portion of the fees earned on each transaction.
Mortgage Lending
Residential mortgage loans are loans that are used to purchase a
home, refinance an existing mortgage, or to take cash out for
other purposes. These loans are secured by residential real estate,
and, in certain cases, brokerage or advisory account assets are
used to provide additional collateral support for the mortgage
loans. Clients repay the principal amount borrowed to Stifel Bank
& Trust, plus interest. These loans may have origination fees,
application fees, and certain other fees and costs, including
closing costs, which are disclosed before the loan is made.
Mortgage loans are originated by Stifel Bank & Trust, Equal
Housing Lender, NMLS #375103. Your Stifel Financial Advisor,
however, does not offer residential mortgage products and is
unable to accept any residential mortgage loan applications or to
offer or negotiate terms of any such loan. Financial Advisors may
refer current clients of Stifel to Stifel Bank & Trust for a
mortgage loan. Where permissible by law, the Firm compensates
Stifel Financial Advisors in connection with the origination of
any mortgage loan. Compensation is paid after the loan is fully
closed and funded.
Advisory account) in order to avoid maintenance calls on the
Credit Line Loan which would require loan repayment and/or the
liquidation of Advisory assets. Depending on your specific
circumstances, including the intended use of the proceeds from
the Credit Line Loan and the return on your Advisory account,
over the long term, it may cost you more to take out the Credit
Line Loan than if you had withdrawn the money from your
Advisory account. Clients are therefore encouraged to carefully
consider the total cost of taking out any Credit Line Loan, and
any additional compensation that the Financial Advisor will
receive, when determining to take out and/or maintain Credit
Line Loans. Finally, to the extent that a maintenance call is
triggered in connection with a Credit Line Loan and we are
obligated to liquidate assets in your Advisory account that have
been used as collateral for such Credit Line Loan, we will act
solely in our capacity as a broker-dealer (and not as an
investment adviser or other fiduciary), even where such
collateral is held in an Advisory account. Moreover, if selling
such assets, we will seek to maximize our interest (and/or those
of our Affiliated Banks),and will not prioritize a Client’s interest.
For more information, please refer to the applicable
Affiliated Bank credit line agreement.
Other Important Considerations Relating to the Use of
Margin or Credit Line Loans in Connection With Advisory
Accounts.
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS
Our Financial Planning engagement with you will terminate when
we have delivered a final plan to you. In addition to your
Financial Advisor, a member of our Wealth Planning Department
will review the plan prior to its delivery for adherence to our
standards for fee-based financial plans. Once a plan has been
delivered and you have acknowledged receipt of the plan, we do
not undertake, in any way, to provide any monitoring or ongoing
advisory services to you in connection with the plan. For
example, we will not be under any obligation to revise a plan that
was previously delivered because you subsequently make us
aware of changes to your life or financial circumstances that
occur after the plan was delivered.
Margin and Credit Line Loans involve risk and may not be
appropriate for all borrowers. The return on your Advisory
accounts must be higher than your financing cost in order for
you to generate a positive return in your Advisory account. The
market value of your Advisory account may decline, which may
result in the value of that collateral no longer covering an
outstanding loan amount. None of the Stifel, our Affiliated
Banks, or our Financial Advisors provide legal or tax advice.
Clients should consult legal counsel and tax advisors before
using borrowed funds as collateral for loans. Neither our firm
nor our affiliates act as investment adviser with respect to the
liquidation of securities held in Advisory accounts to meet
margin calls or Credit Line Loan demands, and as creditors, our
firm and our affiliates may have interests that are adverse to
Clients. There are substantial risks associated with the use of
borrowed funds for investment purposes and the use of securities
as collateral for loans. Additional limitations and availability
may vary by state.
Privacy Policy
We will deliver our Private Notice to you as part of the
disclosures that are delivered to you in connection with your fee-
based financial planning agreement with us. We will not deliver
amended or annual Privacy Notices to you, unless you decide to
implement the financial planning recommendations with us, in
which case you will receive periodic ongoing notices as an
account holder and continuing client of the firm.
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION
Investment Banking
Financial Advisors are able to introduce clients and others to
Stifel’s Investment Banking area. Investment Banking helps
corporations with raising capital, structuring mergers and
acquisitions, and navigating other complex financial issues. If
Investment Banking receives any investment banking business
resulting from such introductions, on the first three transactions
with the client, Stifel’s Private Client Group currently receives a
portion of the net fees earned by Investment Banking, a
percentage of which will then be paid to the Financial Advisor. It
is a benefit to your Financial Advisor, and a potential conflict, to
make these introductions. Where appropriate to meet the needs
of a client who may not meet the minimum threshold required,
Stifel’s Investment Banking department may make an
introduction to an unaffiliated partner firm. In these instances,
Stifel Alliance Program
In general, we require that all solicitation or referral arrangements
comply with applicable regulatory requirements, including, but
not limited to, disclosures to clients about the referral
arrangement as well as any fees received (or paid) in connection
with such referral, at the time of the referral or, in any case, prior
to the execution of an advisory agreement (including, to the
extent applicable, a fee-based financial planning agreement). We
have policies and procedures designed to assure that proper
disclosures are provided to clients at the time of solicitation
Page 13 of 14
SF1602-3/26
CUSTODY
and/or account opening, as well as that all clients sign
appropriate disclosure delivery receipts. Each affected client will
receive disclosures from the applicable solicitor disclosing the
solicitation arrangement, as well as the fee that Stifel will pay
the solicitor in respect of the solicitation.
Our firm will not maintain custody or otherwise require fee-based
financial planning clients to maintain their assets at Stifel. To the
extent that you implement planning recommendations through our
firm, you should note that we generally maintain custody of client
assets. If you open investment advisory accounts with us, you
should refer to our Advisory Consulting Services and/or Wrap
Fee Programs Disclosure Brochures for more detailed discussion
of our firm’s custodial practices for investment advisory clients.
INVESTMENT DISCRETION
Arrangements with solicitors to refer investment advisory clients
to our firm are made under our Stifel Alliance Program
(“Alliance”). In such arrangements, we compensate individuals
or companies for referring investment advisory clients to our
firm by sharing a portion of the investment advisory fees that we
receive from the referred client(s). Our policies prohibit our
Financial Advisors from up-charging any Client to make up for
the portion paid to or otherwise expended in connection with an
Alliance solicitor. We and/or our associated persons may pay for
registration costs (if any) relating to the solicitor to facilitate the
solicitor’s state registration (if required). As a result, such
solicitors would have incentive to refer clients to Stifel over
other firms.
Our firm will not exercise investment discretion in connection
with our fee-based financial planning services as outlined in this
brochure. As set forth above, you are responsible for
implementing the recommendations provided in any financial
plan, and may elect to implement such recommendations at Stifel
or at an unaffiliated financial services company. You should refer
to the appropriate Disclosure Brochures for a detailed discussion
of the terms and conditions specific to the program(s) in which
you decide to enroll.
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES
Compensation From Third Parties for Client Referrals
We may refer fee-based financial planning clients to third parties
for investment advisory services and, therefore, will receive
referral fees for such activities. Our disclosure brochures for
non-fee-based investment advisory services contain information
about these arrangements – you should refer to those disclosures
for more details.
We do not accept proxy voting authority from clients in
connection with our fee-based planning services. We accept
proxy voting delegation from clients that receive other investment
advisory services from our firm. You should refer to the
appropriate disclosure brochure for more details about our proxy
voting policies and practices applicable to any other advisory
program in which you decide to enroll.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Stifel does not have any adverse financial conditions to disclose.
Page 14 of 14
SF1602-3/26
Additional Brochure: STIFEL'S WRAP FEE PROGRAM BROCHURE (2026-04-06)
View Document Text
SEC Number: 801-10746
WRAP FEE PROGRAMS
Disclosure Brochure
March 31, 2026
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated
(“Stifel”) and the wrap fee programs that we offer. We also offer other advisory programs, including (but not limited to) advisory
consulting services and fee-based financial planning services, which are covered in separate brochures. If you have any questions
about the contents of this brochure, please contact us at the address or telephone number provided below. The information in this
brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or by any state
securities authority. Additional information about Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated is available on the SEC’s website at
adviserinfo.sec.gov. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training.
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated
501 North Broadway
St. Louis, Missouri 63102
(314) 342-2000
Stifel.com
INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED • NOT A BANK DEPOSIT • NOT INSURED BY ANY
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE
Page 1 of 49
SF1600-3/26
MATERIAL CHANGES
This section describes the material changes that have been made to Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the
“Firm”)’s Wrap Fee Programs Disclosure Brochure (the “Brochure”) since March 2025. This Brochure, dated March 31, 2026, has
been prepared according to the SEC’s disclosure requirements.
The following material changes to this Brochure have occurred since its last annual amendment:
New material changes:
• Stifel Independent Advisors, LLC (“SIA”) has been acquired by Equitable Holdings, Inc. All references throughout this
Brochure to SIA being an affiliate of Stifel Financial Corp or its affiliates, and any mention of an affiliation have been updated
to reflect the new ownership.
• Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies, and Risk of Loss. Section updated to provide additional details regarding the
risks associated with indirect investments in digital assets, including that some recommended funds/ETPs may have exposure
to cryptocurrencies, which are highly speculative and can be extremely volatile—so investors could lose some or all of their
investment and may have fewer protections than with traditional products. It also warns of additional risks like fraud, hacking
and loss of access (e.g., private keys), limited oversight, pricing differences versus net asset value, and the fact that crypto
trades 24/7 while related ETFs/brokerage products trade only during market hours, creating potential gaps and price impacts.
• Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies, and Risk of Loss. A new subsection has been added to discuss the firms use
of, and the risks associated with, artificial intelligence (“AI”). Stifel expects to expand its use of AI technologies across
investment and middle-/back-office operations under its governance, security, and risk-management frameworks, with
protocols that will evolve over time. It also notes that AI is rapidly changing and data- and algorithm-dependent, creating risks
such as errors, regulatory constraints/costs, third-party dependency, and potential data leakage or performance failures that
could materially harm Stifel and/or clients.
Instead of providing an updated brochure each year, we generally provide this summary of material changes by April 30 of each year. Because it is a summary, it does
not contain all of the updates that were made to the brochure. Please read the full brochure, which is available to you at no charge at
stifel.com/disclosures/investment-advisory-services/program-disclosures under the section “Stifel Form ADV 2A Disclosure Brochures” or by contacting your
Financial Advisor. Capitalized terms used in this section have the meanings assigned to them in the main body of this brochure.
Page 2 of 49
SF1600-3/26
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
ADVISORY BUSINESS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4
WRAP FEE PROGRAMS OFFERED BY STIFEL ............................................................................................................................... 6
STIFEL SOLUTIONS PROGRAM ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
STIFEL OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM .................................................................................................................................................. 6
STIFEL HORIZON PROGRAM ............................................................................................................................................................. 7
STIFEL CONNECT PROGRAM ............................................................................................................................................................ 7
STIFEL FUNDAMENTALS PROGRAM .............................................................................................................................................. 7
STIFEL CUSTOM ADVISORY PORTFOLIO PROGRAM ............................................................................................................... 9
STIFEL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CONSULTING PROGRAM .......................................................................................... 9
OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAMS ....................................................................................................................... 9
FEES AND COMPENSATION .............................................................................................................................................................. 11
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE MANAGEMENT ...................................................................................... 22
ACCOUNT REQUIREMENTS AND TYPES OF CLIENTS ............................................................................................................. 22
PORTFOLIO MANAGER SELECTION AND EVALUATION ....................................................................................................... 23
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT STRATEGIES, AND RISK OF LOSS ...................................................................... 24
CLIENT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO PORTFOLIO MANAGERS ....................................................................................... 32
CLIENT CONTACT WITH PORTFOLIO MANAGERS .................................................................................................................. 32
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION .......................................................................................................................................................... 32
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 32
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES AND AFFILIATIONS ........................................................................................ 34
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST IN CLIENT TRANSACTIONS, AND PERSONAL TRADING ........ 36
BROKERAGE PRACTICES ................................................................................................................................................................. 37
REFERRAL PROGRAMS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….41
CASH SWEEP OPTIONS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 43
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 45
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION ................................................................................................................ 46
CUSTODY ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 47
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES .......................................................................................................................................................... 47
FINANCIAL INFORMATION .............................................................................................................................................................. 47
ERISA RULE 408(B)(2) DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLANS ...................................... 47
Page 3 of 49
SF1600-3/26
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
standards of care, and separate contracts with clients govern
each. While there are similarities among brokerage and
Advisory services, our firm’s contractual relationship with
and legal duties to you are subject to a number of important
differences depending on whether we are acting in a
brokerage or Advisory capacity.
ADVISORY BUSINESS
About Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the
“Firm”) is a broker-dealer that has been registered with the
SEC since 1936 and an investment adviser that has been
registered with the SEC since May 7, 1975. Stifel is owned by
Stifel Financial Corp., a publicly held company whose
common stock trades under the symbol “SF.” Stifel is a
leading full-service wealth management, investment advisory,
broker-dealer, and investment banking firm serving the
investment and capital needs of its clients. Stifel is a member
of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”),
the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”), and
various exchanges. Information about Stifel’s qualifications,
business practices, portfolio management techniques, and
affiliates is accessible on our website at Stifel.com as well as
via publicly available filings with the SEC at
adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Types of Advisory Services Offered By Stifel
Our services include discretionary and non-discretionary1
Advisory services, which generally involve account and/or
portfolio management, asset allocation and related services,
and recommendation of, or assistance with the selection of,
securities and/or investment managers (“Managers”). Such
Managers include firms that are independent of our firm
(“Independent Managers”) as well as firms owned by our
parent company, Stifel Financial Corp., or one of its
subsidiaries (“Affiliated Advisers” or “Affiliated Managers”).
We enter into written advisory agreements (each, an
“Advisory Agreement”) with clients acknowledging our
Advisory relationship and disclosing our obligations when
acting in an Advisory capacity to Clients.
In this brochure, the pronouns “we,” “our,” “us,” and similar
words will refer to Stifel. The pronouns “you,” “your,” and
similar words will refer to you as the Client. References to the
singular throughout this brochure include the plural and vice
versa. Capitalized terms shall have the meanings assigned to
them in this brochure.
Services We Provide
We offer both investment advisory (“Advisory”) and
brokerage services to our Clients. As a dually registered
broker-dealer and investment adviser, most of our registered
representatives are licensed and qualified to provide both
brokerage and investment advisory services. It is important
that you understand the cost and benefits of each option and
discuss any questions you may have with your representative.
We believe that investment advisory services are suitable and
appropriate for a wide variety of our clients; however, these
services are not for everyone. There likely will be situations
where the fees and expenses associated with investment
advisory services exceed those that would apply for
brokerage-only services. We encourage you to review both
options very carefully before settling on one option.
This brochure focuses primarily on our advisory services;
however, we also discuss various aspects of our brokerage
services throughout this brochure, particularly under the
section “Brokerage Practices” below. You can also obtain
additional information relating to our brokerage services by
referencing your Stifel Account Agreement and Disclosure
Booklet provided in connection with your custodial account at
Stifel, a copy of which is also available under the “Important
Disclosures” section of Stifel.com (“Account Agreement”).
We provide Advisory services to a variety of Clients,
including individuals, corporations and other businesses,
pension or profit sharing plans, employee benefit plans, trusts,
estates, charitable organizations, state and municipal
government entities, private funds, educational institutions,
insurance companies, and banks or thrift institutions
(“Clients”). We generally provide Advisory services through
our investment advisory representatives (“Financial
Advisors”), who determine the services that are most
appropriate for Clients based on each Client’s stated
individual investment goals, financial circumstances, and
other information provided by the Client. We are able to fulfill
Clients’ wealth management needs by acting as broker-dealer,
investment adviser, or both. Our Advisory services cover
many types of debt and equity (or equity-related) securities of
domestic and foreign companies, as well as national, state, and
local government issuers, whether trading on an exchange or
over-the-counter. In addition to stocks and fixed income
securities, we recommend or invest Client assets in other types
of investments, such as rights and warrants, options,
certificates of deposit (“CDs”), mutual funds and other open
and closed-end funds, exchange traded products (“ETPs”),
including exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), unit investment
trusts (“UITs”), real estate investment trusts (“REITs”),
American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), foreign ordinary
shares, publicly traded master limited partnerships (“MLPs”),
private investment vehicles (including, but not limited to,
hedge funds and private equity funds), and other investments
deemed appropriate for our Clients.
You should understand that brokerage services are separate
and distinct from Advisory services, and that different laws,
1 In discretionary investment services, Financial Advisors have discretion to select and allocate eligible investment products within the
Client’s portfolio. In non-discretionary investment services, Financial Advisors either select for the Client or recommend and assist
the Client in the selection of eligible investment products in which to invest and the Client makes the final decision on when to
invest/divest what investments.
Page 4 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately
$126,839,531,130 of Client assets that were managed on a
discretionary basis and $70,692,702,372 in non-discretionary
assets.
For accounts in which Stifel has discretionary trading
authority, where an investment restriction applies to prevent
the purchase of a security, the funds that would have been
invested in the restricted position will either be invested in
cash equivalents (including short-term fixed income
instruments), other substitute securities, or re-allocated among
other positions at our discretion. If your account is traded by
its Manager, the Manager will determine the appropriate
alternative to use in the event of a restriction, consistent with
its policies as disclosed in its Form ADV 2A. In each case, a
higher than usual allocation to cash, cash equivalents, or other
securities as a result of investment restrictions will impact the
performance of the account relative to other accounts that are
fully invested.
We define and/or identify certain permissible category
restrictions (e.g., prohibiting investments in particular
industries or based on social consciousness) by reference to
information provided by a third-party service provider using
the provider’s proprietary methodologies. If you elect to
impose investment category restrictions on an account, we will
apply the restrictions based on our internal policies, by
referencing the third-party service provider’s information. The
service provider typically flags securities as violating specific
category restrictions based on the issuer’s revenue or asset
levels from the restricted activity(ies). The threshold or level
at which revenue or assets are considered to have violated a
particular restriction can change at any time, without notice to
you. In addition, you should note that Managers with trading
responsibility over your account may use their own trading
systems and, as a result, may use different reference points
than Stifel in defining prohibited investments, activity, or
revenue levels for category restrictions.
Our Responsibilities as an Investment Adviser
When serving as an investment adviser to Advisory Clients,
we are acting as a fiduciary with respect to the assets held in
accounts covered by the Advisory Agreement. In our capacity
as an investment adviser, we are held to the legal standards set
forth in the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers
Act”), certain state laws, and common law standards
applicable to fiduciaries, as well as, where applicable,
obligations imposed under the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) or other relevant
regulations for Advisory retirement accounts. Such standards
include the duty of care, including the obligation to have a
reasonable basis for believing that our investment
recommendations are suitable and consistent with Client’s
stated objectives and goals (including any restrictions placed
on the account by the Client) and the duty of loyalty, including
the obligation to provide Clients with full disclosure of
material conflicts of interest. Our duties of care and loyalty
differ depending on our Client relationship, authority, agreed
services, and other factors, including whether we provide non-
discretionary versus discretionary services or when we provide
episodic (e.g., financial planning) versus continuous advice.
Our duty of care may be defined in our Client agreement, and
our duty of loyalty may be modified or limited through Client
disclosure and affirmative or implied Client consent by
receiving and not objecting to the disclosure. Additional
information about our fiduciary obligations, including some of
the policies and procedures that we undertake to fulfill those
obligations, is available throughout this brochure, including
under the section entitled “Participation or Interest in Client
Transactions.”
As set forth above, we accept investment restrictions only if
we conclude that those restrictions are reasonable and can be
accommodated through our current monitoring processes. We
will reject any proposed investment restriction that does not
meet this standard, in which case you have the option of (i)
modifying your restrictions until acceptable to us or (ii) not
opening or otherwise terminating your discretionary
account(s) with us.
We generally do not accept the responsibility for monitoring
investment restrictions in non-discretionary accounts. As a
non-discretionary account, you must approve
recommendations for your account before the related trades
can be implemented. We expect you to consider your
applicable investment restrictions when considering
recommendations for your non-discretionary account(s), and
to approve a trade only to the extent you conclude that the
recommendation does not violate your investment restrictions.
Investment Restrictions
If you have accounts in our discretionary programs, you may
request investment restrictions on any of those accounts (or
specific assets within the accounts), such as restricting
investments in specific securities, types of securities,
industries, or sectors. We generally require Clients to provide
requests for investment restrictions in writing. If we determine
that your proposed investment restrictions are reasonable and
accept them, we and/or the Manager you have selected will be
responsible for managing the account consistent with the
restrictions that you have imposed. It is important for you to
understand that if the restrictions are approved and imposed on
your account, the performance of the account will differ (even
significantly) from the performance of other accounts in the
same portfolio without similar restrictions.
You may request in writing that specific mutual funds or ETFs
not be purchased in your discretionary Advisory account(s);
however, we cannot accommodate requests to restrict the
underlying securities that may be purchased or sold by mutual
funds, ETFs, private funds, or other collective investment
vehicles in Advisory accounts.
Investment Policy Statements
We do not accept any responsibility for monitoring
compliance with a Client’s investment policy statement
(“IPS”) unless the Client account is in one of our discretionary
programs and the Client is using a Stifel-approved template
for the IPS, or our home office personnel have reviewed the
Client’s IPS and determined that the requirements and
limitations of the IPS are reasonable and that we are capable
Page 5 of 49
SF1600-3/26
of monitoring them, and we have confirmed in writing that we
have accepted responsibility for monitoring compliance with
the IPS.
investment advisory agreement within our Connect Program.
Finally, we may refer to Portfolios provided by Managers and
made available through our Programs as “Manager Portfolios”
throughout this brochure.
Clients may submit their IPS for review and will be notified in
writing if and when their IPS has been accepted by Stifel.
STIFEL SOLUTIONS PROGRAM
About Our Solutions Program
Our Solutions Program (“Solutions”) offers discretionary
account management by certain Stifel Financial Advisors who
have been approved by Stifel to participate in the Solutions
Program.
Please note that you are solely responsible for monitoring
compliance with your own IPS, even where you have
provided a copy of the IPS to your Financial Advisor(s),
until you have received written notice from Stifel of its
acceptance of your IPS.
In the event that you update your IPS, you are responsible for
providing Stifel with the updated document for our review and
approval. If we agree that we can continue to monitor your
IPS with the new guidelines, we will notify you in writing of
our acceptance. Stifel will not be responsible for monitoring
any new guidelines until we have notified you of our
acceptance.
In Solutions, generally, Financial Advisors who are granted
participation in Solutions have met standards of education,
industry experience, investment management experience, and
compliance. Applications to participate in Solutions are
reviewed by Program Management, Compliance, and Branch
Management/supervision. Program Management admits
qualified Financial Advisors into Solutions after a thorough
review.
Stifel’s goal is to follow your IPS. However, market,
economic, or geopolitical conditions may impact our ability to
do so and, in those cases, Stifel’s policy is to do what it deems
to be in the client’s best interest.
WRAP FEE PROGRAMS OFFERED BY STIFEL
Once a Client has established the Client’s investment
objectives, goals, and risk tolerance, the Financial Advisor
will assist the Client in selecting an appropriate investment
strategy for the Client’s assets in the Solutions account. To
implement a Client’s investment objectives and risk tolerance,
a Financial Advisor may utilize fundamental, qualitative,
quantitative, and/or technical research published by Stifel or
another source. Financial Advisors in Solutions may also
employ short-term purchases and/or limited options trading,
provided such strategies are appropriate for the Client and, as
applicable, approved for the account. Our Financial Advisors
use different strategies to manage Client accounts, and a
Financial Advisor may utilize multiple strategies and/or may
customize a strategy to fit particular Clients’ situations. As
such, the performance of accounts managed by any one
Solutions Financial Advisor will differ (at times, materially)
from similarly situated Client accounts of the same or other
Financial Advisors. Each Client is encouraged to discuss and
review with the applicable Financial Advisor how the Client’s
account will be managed, as well as the specific risks
applicable to the Client’s Solutions account.
STIFEL OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM
We offer a number of different wrap fee programs (each, a
“Program” and collectively, the “Programs”) as well as, where
applicable, different portfolios within each Program (each, a
“Portfolio” and collectively, the “Portfolios”). For these
Programs, we are the sponsor and, in certain Programs, both
the sponsor of the Program and portfolio manager for
Portfolios within the Program. A “wrap fee” is an annual fee
paid by a Client that is intended to cover applicable services to
the account, including investment advice and, where
applicable, may include portfolio management, trade
execution, clearing, settlements, custody, administrative, and
account reporting services provided by Stifel, as well as
investment advice and/or portfolio management services
provided by a Manager to the Portfolio. To the extent that
portfolio management or similar services are provided by
Managers, a portion of the wrap fee will be paid to such
Managers for their services – please refer to the section “Fees
and Compensation” below for additional details about our
wrap fees (also called Advisory Account Fees). Additional
information about the Programs covered by this brochure is
provided below.
About Our Opportunity Program
In our Opportunity Program (“Opportunity”), we offer Clients
access to various Portfolios by Independent and Affiliated
Managers. The Financial Advisor will assist the Client in
selecting one or more Portfolios from those available in the
Opportunity Program. Each Client should carefully review
each proposed Portfolio to understand the types of investment
the Portfolio will make as well as the risks related to each such
Portfolio prior to investing in any Portfolio.
We have entered into a master agreement (or sub-advisory
agreement) with each applicable Manager pursuant to which
the Manager makes its Portfolios available to our Clients in
one of two ways: a Portfolio may be traded directly by its
Manager (in such case, a “Manager-Traded Portfolio”), or we
Throughout this brochure and depending on the type of
Program referenced, the term “portfolio manager” shall refer
to, as applicable, (i) Stifel where it or your Financial Advisor,
as agent for Stifel, provides discretionary portfolio
management services (e.g., in connection with our Solutions
Program discussed below) and/or (ii) an Independent Manager
or Affiliated Manager to whom Stifel has delegated
discretionary authority as a sub-adviser, such as manager-
traded Portfolios in our Opportunity Program, or to whom you
have otherwise granted investment discretion, such as a
Manager with whom you have entered into a separate
Page 6 of 49
SF1600-3/26
In the Connect Program, you will have a separate and direct
relationship with the Connect Manager, and the Connect
Manager will have trading authority over your account (for
this reason, the term Investment Managers as used in this
brochure will also refer to Connect Managers). Stifel does not
have and will not exercise any discretionary authority with
respect to the management of the assets in the account.
Additionally, if you are considering entering into Connect
Program arrangements, you should note that Stifel performs
limited due diligence with respect to Connect Managers, as
discussed under the section titled “Portfolio Manager
Selection and Evaluation.” As a result, you will be
responsible for carefully reviewing any and all information
and/or material provided by the Connect Manager, and for
determining the appropriateness of continuing the
relationship.
may retain trading responsibility over accounts in the Portfolio
(in such case, a “Model-Based Traded (“MBT”) Portfolio”).
Manager-Traded Portfolios. The Manager for a Manager-
Traded Portfolio assumes full discretionary portfolio
management responsibilities over each Client account invested
in the Portfolio (in that capacity, the Manager will be referred
to as an “Investment Manager”), including determining the
securities to be bought or sold, implementing those decisions
for the invested accounts, and for all other aspects of portfolio
management for the accounts. An Investment Manager may
implement trades through Stifel in our capacity as a broker, or
may implement trades through another broker-dealer if the
Investment Manager determines, in its sole discretion, that
such other broker-dealer is providing best execution in light of
all applicable circumstances. Please refer to the section “Fees
and Compensation – Fees and Expenses Associated With
Trades Executed By Investment Managers Away From Stifel”
for more information about Investment Managers’ trade-away
practices.
Finally, you should note that any fees charged by a Connect
Manager and any other third-party fees or expenses incurred
by your account as a result of implementing the Connect
Manager Portfolio are separate from the fees charged by
Stifel, and are not considered part of the Stifel Fee or Product
Fee (as defined in the section “Fees and Compensation”
below).
STIFEL FUNDAMENTALS PROGRAM
MBT Portfolios. Alternatively, if you select an MBT Portfolio,
the Manager will provide us with its model Portfolio and
ongoing updates, and we will be responsible for implementing
those transactions (in such capacity, the Manager will be
referred to as a “Model Adviser”)*. Therefore, with respect to
MBT Portfolios in Opportunity, we will retain discretionary
trading authority over Client accounts.
*In limited circumstances, the Manager may utilize the
services of affiliated or unaffiliated third parties in providing
its services.
STIFEL HORIZON PROGRAM
About Our Fundamentals Program
Under our Fundamentals Program (“Fundamentals”),
Financial Advisors assist Clients in selecting from a set of
proprietary Portfolios, referred to below as “Stifel Choice.”
Available Portfolios utilize mutual funds, ETFs, or individual
equity securities; more Portfolios that utilize other types of
investments may be added to the Program in the future. Stifel
Choice Portfolios may be offered to clients both outside of the
Fundamentals Program and outside of the firm.
About Our Horizon Program
Under the Horizon Program (“Horizon”), a Financial Advisor
provides Clients non-discretionary Advisory services, such as
recommending and advising on the appropriateness of specific
investments for Clients in accordance with their stated
investment objectives and risk level. In the Horizon Program,
Financial Advisors may recommend any of the investments
listed above under the section “Advisory Business,” provided
such strategies are appropriate for the particular Client.
If you enroll your account in the Horizon Program, you will be
ultimately responsible for determining whether to implement
your Financial Advisor’s recommendations for the account.
The Financial Advisor will assist the Client in selecting one or
more Portfolios from those available in the Fundamentals
Program. Each Client should carefully review each proposed
Portfolio to understand the types of investments the Portfolio
will make, as well as the risks related to each such Portfolio
prior to investing in any Portfolio. Clients grant Stifel
discretionary authority to invest account assets in accordance
with the chosen Portfolio, and to rebalance account assets
periodically in order to implement any updates made to a
Portfolio.
STIFEL CONNECT PROGRAM
Fundamentals Portfolio Management Process
For investments in mutual funds and ETFs, the Stifel Chief
Investment Officer (“CIO”) Office guides the asset allocation
of each Portfolio within and across the asset classes, which
may be influenced by the firm’s long-term strategic asset
allocation and shorter-term dynamic asset allocation guidance.
About Our Connect Program
In our Connect Program (“Connect”), a Financial Advisor
assists Clients in the selection of a Manager to manage the
Client’s Connect account on a discretionary basis, in
accordance with the terms of a separate investment advisory
agreement between the Client and the Manager (in this case,
each a “Connect Manager”). In each case, the Financial
Advisor will assist the Client in establishing and maintaining
a relationship with the Connect Manager.
The Stifel CIO Office also selects the specific traditional
mutual funds and ETFs to be included in the Portfolios and the
associated allocations to generally align with the desired asset
allocation of the Portfolio. For mutual funds or ETFs
considered to be Liquid Alternatives (as defined below),
Stifel’s Alternative Investments Due Diligence Group
Page 7 of 49
SF1600-3/26
(“AIDDG”) selects the funds to be included in the Portfolios
and determines the allocation to each of these funds within the
category’s allocation.
invests in (such as, for example, investing in real estate or
commodities). In general, Liquid Alternatives may employ a
wide variety of investment techniques, including (but not
limited to) shorting of equities and credit and the use of
derivatives or leverage. Clients should carefully review the
risks associated with each model being considered for
investment.
New mutual fund and ETF portfolio holdings may be, but are
not required to be, selected from the firm’s Recommended
Lists. The Stifel CIO Office and AIDDG each periodically
reviews its positions in the Portfolios and may (but need not)
adjust the Portfolios when a position is dropped from the
applicable Recommended List, or when each determines that a
different investment represents a better investment opportunity
for the particular Portfolio. Additional information about the
processes employed in developing each Recommended List is
provided below under “Portfolio Manager Selection and
Evaluation – Recommended Lists.”
For investments in individual securities, the Stifel CIO Office
selects the securities to be included in the Portfolios and
manages the allocations across various holdings. The team
may utilize equity research from Stifel’s Research Department
as part of its analysis of individual securities.
Stifel Choice Component Portfolios
Mutual Funds and ETFs Series – Each Portfolio in this series
aligns with the Stifel CIO Office’s dynamic leanings for a
specific asset class or category. The offerings include, but may
not be limited to, U.S. equity, non-U.S. equity, taxable fixed
income, municipal fixed income, and Liquid Alternatives.
These Portfolios are designed to provide Clients and their
Financial Advisors flexibility in implementing custom asset
allocations, allowing them to build a comprehensive portfolio
by combining multiple offerings, or to satisfy an allocation to
a particular asset class with an individual offering in these
Portfolios to complement the Client’s other investments.
Clients should carefully review the risks associated with an
investment in each offering.
Stifel Choice Asset Allocation Portfolios
Dynamic U.S.-Focused Mutual Fund, ETF, and Core
American Portfolios
The Dynamic U.S.-Focused Mutual Fund, ETF, and Core
American Portfolios invest in mutual funds and/or ETFs and
generally align with the Stifel CIO Office’s Dynamic U.S.-
Focused asset allocation models. The allocation for each
Portfolio is designed to reflect a specified risk level and
objective, defined primarily by the equity allocation; Clients
and their Financial Advisors can select the option that best
suits the Client’s desired risk level and objective. While these
portfolios are primarily U.S. focused, a portion of the asset
allocation models may include exposure to international
investments.
Stifel Choice Equity Portfolios
Equities Series – The Stifel Choice Equities Series is
comprised of several Portfolios invested in individual stocks,
with each Portfolio aligned with a specific segment or style of
the equity market. To gain certain market or industry
exposure, we may from time to time also invest in ETFs. The
offerings may include, but are not limited to: large cap high
dividend stocks; large cap growth stocks sometimes related to
a specific investment theme; large cap stocks with the goal of
providing capital appreciation over the long term in
consideration of downside risk; income & growth with
holdings selected from the large cap high dividend and large
cap growth models; small cap stocks; value stocks; and non-
U.S. equity stocks. Non-U.S. equity holdings may include
ADRs. These Portfolios provide Clients and their Financial
Advisors the additional flexibility of investing in one or more
offerings, as necessary, to satisfy the Client’s overall asset
allocation and needs.
Dynamic Global and Tactical ETF Portfolios
The Dynamic Global and Tactical Portfolios invest in mutual
funds and/or ETFs and align with the Stifel CIO Office
Dynamic Global asset allocation models. The global models
and Portfolios have a larger allocation to non-U.S. equities
than the Dynamic U.S.-Focused Portfolios discussed above.
Non-U.S. equities in the Portfolios include developed market
equities, and usually include emerging markets equities. As
such, these Portfolios will have greater exposure to foreign
securities risks detailed in the Methods of Analysis,
Investment Strategies, and Risk of Loss section of this
brochure.
NOTE: The Tactical ETF Portfolios are not currently open
for new investments.
In general, the Stifel CIO Office publishes its changes to the
Stifel Choice Asset Allocation Portfolios, Component
Portfolios and Equity Portfolios, including to Stifel Financial
Advisors, after the changes have been implemented for Client
accounts in the Fundamentals Program. Some Financial
Advisors may elect to follow and consider the Stifel CIO
Office views for the Stifel Choice Portfolios, but implement
these mandates through accounts enrolled in the Solutions or
Horizon Programs, or through brokerage accounts, rather than
by enrolling the accounts into the Fundamentals Program. The
performance of Clients’ accounts whose Financial Advisors
elect to implement these views on their own will vary, at times
significantly, from accounts in the Fundamentals Program.
Option of Traditional or Alternative Models. The Dynamic
Portfolios are generally available as traditional models (that is,
invested solely in traditional mutual funds and/or ETFs), and
some are available as alternative models that include
allocations to non-traditional or alternative mutual funds or
ETFs (also referred to as “Liquid Alternatives”). A Liquid
Alternative fund may be defined by how its manager invests
(that is, use of alternative strategies), as well as what the fund
Page 8 of 49
SF1600-3/26
STIFEL CUSTOM ADVISORY PORTFOLIO
PROGRAM
STIFEL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
CONSULTING PROGRAM
About Our Custom Advisory Portfolio Program
The Custom Advisory Portfolio (“CAP”) Program offers
clients investment management services utilizing various
investment products within a single account. As described
below, Clients determine whether to select the Client-Directed
option or the Financial Advisor-Directed option.
About Our Investment Management Consulting Program
This Program is only available on a limited basis. The
Investment Management Consulting (“IMC”) Program offers
a comprehensive and structured approach to guide Clients
through investment planning and portfolio management for
one or more accounts, all covered under a single Advisory
Agreement. The IMC Program is available for Clients looking
for bundled investment advisory, consulting, discretionary
investment management, trade execution and clearing, and
custodial services. The services provided generally include a
review of the Client’s investment objectives and goals, the
development of an appropriate personalized investment
strategy, and ongoing monitoring of investments.
Financial Advisors either select for the Client, or recommend
and assist the Client in selecting, eligible investment products
in which to invest in order to implement all or a part of the
Client’s asset allocation in the Custom Advisory Portfolio.
Eligible investment products for the Program include mutual
funds, ETFs, and/or various Portfolios, including Portfolios
that are also available in our Opportunity and/or Fundamentals
Programs.
In addition, a Client may also grant Stifel discretionary
authority to rebalance Client accounts, from time to time, to
within a reasonable range (set by Stifel) of the target
allocation for each investment product comprising Client’s
Custom Advisory Portfolio.
Stifel also may determine to remove an Investment Product
from the CAP Program, and we may make changes to a
Client’s account, including but not limited to, transferring
from such Investment Product to one or more replacement
investment products.
Depending on the Client’s objectives and goals, Financial
Advisors may assist Clients in selecting an appropriate
Portfolio made available in the Program by Independent
and/or Affiliated Managers. Portfolios in this Program are
generally traded by the Investment Manager of the selected
portfolio. An Investment Manager may implement trades
through Stifel in our capacity as a broker, or may implement
trades through another broker-dealer if the Investment
Manager determines, in its sole discretion, that such other
broker-dealer is providing best execution in light of all
applicable circumstances. Please refer to the section “Fees and
Compensation – Fees and Expenses Associated With Trades
Executed By Investment Managers Away From Stifel” for
more information about Investment Managers’ trade-away
practices.
The same products are available in both options (Client-
Directed and Financial Advisor-Directed).
Alternatively, Financial Advisors may recommend that Clients
implement all or a portion of their asset allocation through
direct investments in mutual funds and/or ETFs. Finally,
Financial Advisors may recommend that certain eligible
Clients invest a portion of their assets in private investment
funds (such as hedge funds). In each case, Clients must
approve each investment recommendation prior to
implementation by their Financial Advisor.
Client-Directed Custom Advisory Portfolio Option
In the Client-Directed CAP option, Clients must approve
investment product recommendations prior to implementation.
Each Client-approved Investment Product will be segmented
to a specific portion of the Client’s Custom Advisory Portfolio
(each, a “Sleeve”). Client must select any investment products
to be purchased from the list of eligible products approved for
our Advisory platform.
At a Client’s request, Financial Advisors may also provide
investment management consulting services on assets held
with a custodian other than Stifel.
OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAMS
Financial Advisor-Directed Custom Advisory Portfolio
Option
The Financial Advisor-Directed CAP option offers
discretionary account management by Stifel Financial
Advisors who have gone through an approval process to
participate in this option.
As discussed above, we enter into written Advisory
Agreements with Clients acknowledging our Advisory
relationship, disclosing our obligations when acting in an
Advisory capacity, and describing the roles and
responsibilities of each party.
Clients’ Financial Advisors have discretion to select and
allocate eligible investment products within the Client’s
Custom Advisory Portfolio.
A Client in this Program authorizes Stifel as Client’s limited
agent and attorney-in-fact, and the Client’s approved Financial
Advisor will be authorized on behalf of Stifel to select
investment products for their Stifel CAP account, consistent
with the strategy discussed as part of a Client’s account
opening process.
Where we have assumed trading discretion over a Manager’s
Portfolio (i.e., for MBT Portfolios), there may be times when
we are unable to implement a Manager’s recommendations for
its model Portfolio due to various restrictions to which we are
subject as a firm. For example, our policy is generally not to
use discretion (investment or trading) in the purchase of our
parent company stock, Stifel Financial Corp. (SF). If a
Page 9 of 49
SF1600-3/26
accounts as promptly as possible; however, we may not be
able to complete all necessary liquidations on the same day as
the submission; moreover, the execution prices achieved when
we liquidate all positions at once may not be as favorable as
could have been achieved if the positions were liquidated over
time. Finally, even after our firm has completed reviewing an
account’s eligibility for a Program, additional delays may still
occur if the account is to be traded by a Manager. Some
Managers take multiple days to review Client profiles,
proposed investment restrictions (if any), and/or any other
special instructions prior to determining whether to accept an
account into their Portfolios.
Manager were to relay model Portfolio recommendations that
require the purchase of such securities, we would not
implement such recommendation but would, instead, request a
substitute from the Manager. If the Manager is unable or
unwilling to provide a substitute, we will determine a
substitute for the recommended position – we typically
substitute cash for the position but may, on occasion, re-
allocate among existing positions or use other alternatives that
we deem reasonable. Clients should refer to the Cash Sweep
section for information relating to how cash positions are
typically held in accounts at our firm. For these reasons,
Clients should be aware that MBT Portfolios, as implemented
at Stifel, may differ from a Manager’s marketed Portfolios.
In general, please note that the turnaround time for processing
new Advisory accounts or conversions between Programs or
Portfolios may take several business days to complete, even
under normal market conditions. Neither Stifel nor any
Manager is responsible for changes in market prices that
occur between the time you execute Advisory account
documentation (or otherwise authorize enrollment into a
Program or Portfolio) and the eventual investment of the
account in the selected strategy. Prior to enrolling into any
Portfolio, you should talk to your Financial Advisor about the
expected processing period for that Portfolio.
Your Advisory account is expected to hold some level of
otherwise uninvested cash at all times to facilitate its ongoing
operations (“maintenance cash”). Levels of maintenance cash
will fluctuate over time and may vary by investment strategy,
objective, or implementation vehicle(s). Maintenance cash is
intended to meet the account’s short-term liquidity needs
(including trade settlement, account and administrative fees,
and rebalancings) and avoid having to liquidate investments at
inopportune times. Clients should refer to the sections “Cash
Balance Risks” and “Cash Sweep Options” below for
information on cash balances in Advisory accounts.
Processing Guidelines for Advisory Accounts
Processing Guidelines for Ongoing Account Maintenance
Requests
Availability of Funds/Securities Added to Discretionary
Accounts for Trading – When you add funds or securities to
your discretionary accounts, those funds and/or securities are
generally available for trading by the Manager and/or our
internal trading personnel no earlier than the next business
day.
New Accounts Processing
As set forth in our Advisory Agreements, our Advisory
relationship with you begins after we have accepted a fully
executed Advisory Agreement (referred to as the “effective
date” in the Advisory Agreements). In general, this occurs
after (i) your Financial Advisor has submitted all required
account opening documentation through the appropriate
channels (typically through our account opening system); (ii)
all required internal approvals have been documented and
submitted; (iii) our processing personnel have confirmed that
the account documentation is in good form (for example,
Client signatures are generally required to be dated within 90
days of submission); (iv) your account is funded with no less
than the minimum amount required for the particular Program
or Portfolio in which you are seeking to invest; and (v) the
account has been coded as an Advisory account in our
recordkeeping systems.
Processing Partial Liquidation/Withdrawal Requests in Firm
Discretion and Manager Portfolios – to the extent possible, we
process liquidation requests promptly after our trading and/or
processing staff receive those instructions from your Financial
Advisor. If a Manager has trading discretion over your
account, we will then relay those instructions to the Manager
for implementation. You should note that, in periods of
unusually high volumes (which may occur, for example,
during highly volatile market conditions), we can take more
than one business day to implement these requests.
Additionally, if you are invested in a Manager-Traded
Portfolio, you should also note that even after we relay a
request to a Manager, the Manager may take some time (such
as multiple days) to implement the request. You should refer
to each Manager’s Form ADV 2A for applicable disclosures.
In each case, please note that frequent withdrawals from your
account will affect your account’s performance. We reserve
the right to terminate any account that falls below the
minimum account value for the applicable Program due to
partial liquidations/withdrawal requests.
You should refer to the section “Terminations; Refund of Fees
Upon Terminations” below for a discussion of the processing
guidelines relating to account terminations from our Advisory
Programs.
Processing times may vary due to a number of factors,
including (but not limited to) the volume of new Advisory
accounts being processed, whether additional verification
activities are needed, etc. If an account enrolling into a
discretionary program has been funded (in whole or in part)
with securities, additional processing time will be required to
liquidate the legacy positions in order to generate the funds
needed to purchase Portfolio securities. We consider your
decision to enroll the account as direction to us, in our
capacity as a broker-dealer, to sell current positions in the
account at market prices. Although effected as brokerage
transactions, we do not charge commissions for such
liquidating transactions. Where necessary, we may liquidate
those positions by purchasing the securities into our inventory.
We strive to liquidate legacy positions used to fund Advisory
Page 10 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Other Maintenance Requests – You may also experience
delays in connection with other ongoing account maintenance
requests. For example, in our Client-Directed CAP option, we
process re-allocation requests on the next business day after
we receive notice of the request from your Financial Advisor.
This means that the trades to implement a re-allocation among
existing positions and/or Portfolios in your CAP account will
lag at least one business day behind your communication of
those same instructions to your Financial Advisor. During
times of unusually high volumes of requests from Clients, it
can take multiple business days to process and implement
ongoing maintenance requests.
Advisor. You should note, however, that once you agree to a
fee for an account, we will not reduce our fees if you decide
not to take advantage of any of the services that would
otherwise be covered by the wrap fee. For example, if you
open an account in our non-discretionary wrap fee program,
your fee would not be reduced if you decide not to implement
your Financial Advisor’s recommendations and, as a result,
experience a low level of trades in your account. Similarly, we
will not reduce our fee if you decide to move your assets to
another custodian and, as a result, do not receive the custodial
services that would otherwise have been covered by your wrap
fee.
In each case, we recommend that you communicate your
maintenance requests to your Financial Advisor as early as
possible. You should note that, for certain securities (such as
mutual funds), we are not able to process trade instructions
received after 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Product Fees
Depending on the Program and/or Portfolio selected, you will
also be responsible for the applicable Product Fees used to
compensate for any portfolio or model management services
provided by a Manager and/or internal Stifel units to the
Portfolio. Product Fees vary by Program and/or Portfolio
(including based on whether it is Manager-Traded or MBT),
are generally not negotiable, and generally range as follows:
● Manager-Traded Portfolios: Between 0.10% to 0.85%,
Neither Stifel nor any Manager is responsible for changes in
market prices that occur between the time you communicate
an account maintenance request for any discretionary
account to your Financial Advisor and the eventual
implementation of that request by Stifel and/or a Manager.
depending on the applicable Portfolio and between 0.10% to
0.75% for programs open to new investors.
● MBT Portfolios (including those in the Custom Advisory
FEES AND COMPENSATION
Portfolio Program): Between 0.10% to 0.50%, depending on
the applicable Portfolio. Some Portfolios do not have a
Product Fee, such as where the Manager invests Portfolio
assets in its affiliated mutual funds. If you invest in those
Portfolios, you will (as always) be responsible for all fees
and expenses of the funds in your account.
● IMC Program: Between 0.23% to 0.75%, depending on the
For the services provided under the applicable Advisory
Agreement, Clients pay an annual asset-based “wrap” fee at
the rates set forth below (the “Advisory Account Fee,” the
“fee,” or the “Advisory fee”). The Advisory Account Fee
consists of: (i) a fee for the services provided by Stifel
(referred to as the “Stifel Fee” or “Stifel Advisory Fee”) and,
if applicable, (ii) a fee for the portfolio management services
with respect to each Portfolio in which a Client’s Advisory
account is invested (the “Product Fee(s)”). For Portfolios with
no Product Fee, the Stifel Fee constitutes the entire Advisory
Account Fee.
Portfolio. Certain Managers may charge a premium in
addition to the Product Fee set forth above. In such cases,
you will be responsible for any premium charged, the
amount of which will be disclosed to you prior to
enrollment with the particular Manager.
● Connect Program: Stifel does NOT charge a Product Fee
The Stifel Fee
For the Programs described in this brochure, absent special
circumstances, each Client pays an asset-based wrap Stifel Fee
of up to 2.00%, which covers our account reporting and
investment advisory services, trade execution for trades
through or with Stifel, compensation to the Financial Advisor,
and, as applicable, portfolio management and clearing
services.
with respect to the Connect Program. However, the
Connect Adviser charges a separate fee for its services, in
each case as specifically set forth in your separate
agreement with such Connect Adviser. You should consider
the total cost of accessing the Connect Adviser Portfolio
when considering enrolling into a Connect Program
arrangement and/or continuing with such arrangement.
Product Fees set forth above are deducted on a quarterly basis.
For certain Programs (e.g., the Custom Advisory Portfolio
Program), the actual Product Fee charged will vary as the
percentage charged is a weighted average based on each
sleeve’s allocation relative to the total portfolio.
You can generally negotiate the Stifel Fee with your Financial
Advisor, subject in certain cases to final approval from Stifel
(e.g., if the proposed fee is below certain ranges). Factors that
Financial Advisors may consider in setting the Stifel Fee
include (but are not limited to) the nature and size of the
overall Client relationship; your particular advice
requirements and product preferences; and/or the level, type,
and frequency of advisory and other services expected to be
provided to you under the relationship.
Product fees paid to our Affiliated Managers result in
additional compensation to our parent Stifel Financial Corp.
Neither Stifel nor our Financial Advisors share in that
additional compensation, but this additional revenue creates a
conflict of interest.
As set forth above, you should generally consider the level of
services that you are expecting to receive under the
relationship when negotiating your fee(s) with your Financial
Page 11 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Please see the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON FEES
AND OTHER COMPENSATION section below for more
information on conflicts of interest.
Finally, as covered in more detail below, you will be
separately responsible for any embedded fees and expenses
associated with investments in mutual funds, closed-end
funds, UITs, ETFs, hedge funds, and other collective
investment vehicles. These embedded fees and expenses are
not part of the Advisory Account Fees.
In valuing assets in all Client accounts held at our firm, we
rely on publicly recorded information, use various vendor
systems that we have reviewed and reasonably believe to be
reliable, and/or rely on valuations provided by the entities
holding assets and/or accounts that are part of a Client’s
Advisory relationship with us (such as, for example,
administrators or other service providers to hedge funds or
other private funds in which our clients are investors or other
brokerage firms, banks, or other entities serving as qualified
custodians of our client assets). For assets held at Stifel, if
prices are unavailable, we determine prices in good faith to
reflect an understanding of the assets’ fair market value.
Billable Value vs. Net Portfolio Value: As set forth above,
your Advisory Account’s Fee is calculated based on the
account’s closing market value, generally as reflected on your
custodial account statement for that same period. There may
be times when the amount used to calculate the fee (i.e., the
billable value) does not match the net portfolio value reflected
on your custodial account statement (i.e., the statement value)
that you receive from Stifel. For example:
How We Charge for Advisory Services Covered in This
Brochure
Your Advisory Account Fee will be set forth on the applicable
fee schedule(s) of the Advisory Agreement between you and
Stifel for each account. As set forth above, the Stifel Fee is
negotiable and you could pay more or less than seemingly
similarly situated Clients, depending on your particular
circumstances (such as the pricing model, the size and scope
of your entire relationship with Stifel, additional or differing
levels of service, and/or the asset class to which each Portfolio
is attributable, as applicable). If you negotiate fees with
different tiers, including flat fees, you could end up paying a
higher fee than as set forth in this brochure as a result of
fluctuations in your assets under management and/or account
performance.
● Your Advisory account’s billable value will be less than its
net portfolio value if we have allowed you to hold assets
that would otherwise not be permitted in the account
(“unsupervised assets”) or have otherwise agreed to exclude
certain assets held in the account when determining the
Advisory Account Fee.
There are certain other fee schedules that are no longer offered
to new Clients or are only offered to a limited number of
Clients, depending on their individual circumstances. There
are also other fee schedules that apply to certain Portfolios in
the Programs referenced above.
● Your Advisory account’s billable value will generally be
more than its net portfolio value if you are using margin
(and have outstanding margin loans reflected in the
account), or have short positions (including short options) in
the account. The custodial account statements display a net
portfolio value that is less any margin loans or short
positions. In contrast, we generally do not deduct the value
of any assets attributable to these strategies when
calculating the Advisory Account Fee.
Your Advisory Agreement will indicate whether you must
approve, in writing, any increase in the Advisory Account Fee
or if we can increase the Advisory Account Fee with prior
written notice to you. We may, however, determine to lower
any portion of the Advisory Account Fee at any time, without
notice to you.
Intra-Period Fee Adjustments. Once the quarterly Advisory
Account Fee has been assessed and deducted from your
account, we will assess and deduct intra-quarterly fee
adjustments in the following circumstances:
CAP Program: If you have an account enrolled in our CAP
Program and the assets in that account are held at Stifel:
● Portfolio Changes – You will be assessed the applicable
Product Fee if you invest in a new Portfolio within a
calendar quarter and/or will be due a rebate if you
transition out of any Portfolio with a Product Fee within
a calendar quarter.
● Rebalances – If, due to market fluctuation, a rebalance
of your Account results in assets moving from one
Portfolio to another Portfolio within the account, we will
recalculate the Product Fees due based on the value of
the assets moved to or from each Portfolio as of the
rebalance date. In general, you will be charged if the
Product Fee rate for the Portfolio to which new Assets
are added is higher than the Product Fee rate for the
Portfolio from which those Assets were moved, and will
receive a rebate if the inverse is true.
Calculation of Advisory Account Fees
The Advisory Account Fee is generally due quarterly in
advance; however, from time to time, we may agree to
alternative billing terms based on negotiations with the
applicable Client (e.g., in arrears, or on a monthly cycle, etc.).
The initial fee for each account is charged in full as of the
effective date of the Advisory relationship relating to that
account (see the discussion under Processing Guidelines for
Advisory Accounts above) and is usually based on the
account’s opening market value. In calculating quarterly
installments of the annual Advisory Account Fee, we assume a
360-day annual period. For the initial fee, the period for which
the fee relates is the effective date through the last day of the
calendar quarter in which the account is opened, and is
prorated accordingly based on the actual number of days
remaining in the quarter. Thereafter, the fee is based on the
account’s closing market value on the last business day of the
previous calendar quarter, as reflected on your custodial
account statement (except as set forth below). The fee is
generally due on the business day following the assessment
day.
Page 12 of 49
SF1600-3/26
● Additions/Withdrawals – If you add to or withdraw funds
from your Account held at Stifel, a prorated fee
adjustment will be charged or rebated, based on the
number of days left in the calendar quarter. For the
Product Fee portion, the additional fee and/or rebate will
be assessed in all cases. In contrast, for the Stifel Fee
portion, we will only assess an additional fee and/or
issue a rebate if the fee amount is at least $1.
accounts that could be placed in a billing household and
potentially result in lower overall fees to you. You should also
note that special tax rules apply to the inclusion of IRAs and
Keogh plans in a household (you should consult your tax
advisor for more information), and that Stifel will not accept
requests to combine retirement accounts subject to ERISA
with non-retirement accounts into a single fee household. You
should contact your Financial Advisor(s) for more detailed
information about fee householding Advisory Accounts,
including whether your accounts are eligible to be grouped
into a fee household for this purpose.
For each event, the amount charged or rebated will be
prorated based on the actual number of days remaining in
the quarter.
All Other Programs: For accounts invested in all other
Programs and assets held at Stifel, we generally will charge
a prorated fee on additional contributions made during a
quarter and/or issue a rebate for withdrawals from your
Account, to the extent such additions or withdrawals are
valued at more than $25,000 and would generate a prorated
quarterly fee or rebate of more than $25. In each case, the
fee addition and/or rebate will be calculated based on the
actual number of calendar days remaining in the quarter.
You should refer to the section “Termination; Refund of
Fees Upon Termination” for applicable rebates in the event
of a termination.
Deduction of Advisory Account Fees
Unless we agree otherwise, the Advisory Account Fee is
automatically deducted each quarter from available cash or
cash equivalents, including money market funds, in your
Advisory account on the billing date. Per the direction in our
Advisory Agreements with you, where necessary, we
rebalance or liquidate sufficient securities in your account to
generate sufficient funds to cover the fee in the following
order: first, we liquidate mutual fund positions, followed by
equities securities (including ETFs), unit investment trusts,
corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and any other securities.
You should note that incidental, special, or indirect damages
(including, but not limited to, lost profits, trading losses, or tax
consequences) may be incurred in the account as a result of
such rebalance or liquidation to pay for fees. You (not Stifel)
are responsible for any such damages or losses. In addition,
subject to agreement between us, other permissible fee
payment options may include:
For All Programs: We may, in our sole discretion, make
changes to these thresholds at any time, without notice to
you. In certain limited circumstances (such as with respect
to accounts subject to a flat-fee arrangements, or accounts
held with other custodians, etc.), we will neither charge a
prorated fee on intra-quarter contributions nor provide a
rebate on intra-quarter withdrawals from the Account.
● Alternate Billing Account (Alter-Bill): The Advisory
Account Fee may be deducted from a separate Stifel
account on the due date each quarter. In certain cases, a
signed Letter of Authorization (“LOA”) will be required. If
the designated account has insufficient funds, we reserve the
right to automatically debit the Advisory account to collect
the amount due.
● Client Invoice: In certain limited cases (such as where a
Fee Charges on Customer Account Statement. Scheduled
quarterly charges of the Stifel Fee and Product Fee are
typically reflected as a single line “Advisory Fee” on the
monthly account statement that you receive from us for the
applicable period. If your account experiences activity that
results in intra-period fee adjustments as set forth above, those
charges will show as separate fee line items on the statement
for each net fee adjustment. As a result, there may be times
when you will see multiple fee charges on a single monthly
account statement. Where a Product Fee is charged (or
rebated) separate from a Stifel Fee, the Product Fee may be
reflected on your statement as a Manager Fee. If you’ve
elected to utilize a third-party manager through the Connect
Program, there will be separate “Advisory Fee” lines, one
described as “Advisory Fee” and a second as “Manager Fee.”
Client’s account is held at another custodian), we may agree
to provide you with an invoice setting out the fees due each
billing period in return for your agreement to remit the fee
payment promptly. If we do not receive the fee payment
from you within a reasonable time, we reserve the right to
automatically debit your Advisory account to collect the
amount due. If the fee payment is debited from a qualified
plan and funds are received thereafter, applicable law
requires the receivable to be classified a contribution to your
retirement account.
Terminations; Refund of Fees Upon Termination
Termination Events
● You can terminate your Advisory Agreement with respect to
any account at any time with notice to your Financial
Advisor.
● We similarly reserve the right to terminate our Agreement
with you at any time, for any reason, at our sole discretion.
● Depending on the Portfolio in which your account is
invested and in our sole discretion, we will also consider
Fee Householding
You may request to household eligible Advisory accounts held
at our firm (that is, combine multiple eligible Advisory
accounts for purposes of calculating the Stifel Fee in order to
qualify for available lower fee tiers in each Program). Fee
householding can result in lower overall fees if the aggregate
household value is high enough to qualify for lower fee tiers in
the applicable Programs. You can fee household eligible
Advisory accounts across multiple Programs. You should note,
however, that it is your responsibility, not Stifel’s, to
determine whether you have multiple eligible Advisory
Page 13 of 49
SF1600-3/26
instructions to liquidate all or a significant portion of an
account enrolled in a discretionary Program as direction to
terminate the account from the Advisory Program.
● Finally, we will treat the receipt of any account transfer
instructions from you as termination of your Advisory
relationship with us with respect to that account (once we
have received notice and have had reasonable time to act on
the notice).
In connection with each termination event, we will
implement any accompanying liquidation instructions
consistent with the guidelines set forth below.
requests as early as possible to increase the likelihood that
your instructions can be processed on the same day. If you
are invested in a Manager Portfolio, you should note that
certain Managers (particularly Managers with complex
strategies and/or securities with limited liquidity) require
advance notice of termination, and may take multiple days to
process termination and related liquidation request(s). You
should review each applicable Manager’s Form ADV 2A for
relevant information. Finally, you should note that, in some
Portfolios (for example, those investing in affiliated mutual
fund completion shares), all or some of the positions in your
account will be liquidated upon termination, even if you do
not specifically request a liquidation in connection with your
account termination instructions.
Effect of Termination
Compensation in Connection With the Termination of a
Client’s Relationship With Stifel
Although we do not charge additional fees in connection with
the termination of an Advisory Agreement, if you elect to
distribute or transfer all of your assets from the account held at
our firm to an account at another financial institution, you will
be charged a $100 account transfer fee.
● In the event of a termination, you generally will receive a
pro rata refund of any pre-paid quarterly fee based on the
number of days remaining in the quarter of termination.
However, we reserve the right to retain pre-paid quarterly
fees if you terminate the Advisory Agreement at any time
within the first quarter of the first year of service. This is
intended to discourage clients from opening an Advisory
account, executing multiple trades at no transaction costs,
then seeking to close the Advisory account before the end of
the calendar quarter.
● If you provide liquidation instructions with your termination
request (including where your request for a significant or
complete liquidation of a discretionary account results in
termination), we will liquidate those positions at no
additional cost to you as part of terminating your account
from the Advisory relationship. However, any liquidations
processed after your account has been fully terminated
from an Advisory Program and converted into a regular
brokerage arrangement will be subject to customary
transaction fees.
● In connection with account transfer instructions, if we are
Unsupervised Assets
If your account includes “unsupervised assets” that are
excluded from billing (which may include, but are not limited
to, positions in our parent company stock, Stifel Financial
Corp. (SF), annuities, or other assets that are deemed
ineligible for the Program in which the account is enrolled),
you should note that those unsupervised assets are not
considered part of our Advisory relationship with you. We
periodically allow Clients to hold unsupervised assets in
Advisory accounts solely as an accommodation to the Client.
Our firm specifically disclaims any fiduciary obligations with
respect to unsupervised assets held in a Client’s Advisory
account. This means that we do not undertake to monitor any
such assets even though they are held in the Advisory account.
You can request a list of the unsupervised assets (if any) held
in your accounts at any time, without charge, from your
Financial Advisor.
unable to transfer any of the securities in your account to the
new custodian, we typically will liquidate those securities in
order to facilitate the transfer of your account. Any
liquidations to facilitate the transfer of your account to
another institution will be undertaken in our capacity as a
registered broker-dealer. In our capacity as a broker-dealer,
we may liquidate the securities that cannot transfer by
purchasing them for our own account (that is, through a
principal transaction).
Other Fees and Expenses Not Included in the Advisory
Account Fee
The Advisory Account Fee does not include the fees, charges,
and expenses outlined below. If applicable, you will be
separately charged said fees, charges, and expenses in addition
to the Advisory Account Fee. If an investment product
purchased for the benefit of your account is offered by a
prospectus or other offering document, you should review the
information about the related fees, charges, and expenses set
forth in such prospectus or other offering document.
Processing Liquidations in Connection With Terminations
Termination and related liquidation instructions are processed
as promptly as possible following receipt by our processing
staff. However, you should note that in certain cases, we will
not be able to process liquidation requests on the day that we
receive the request. Those cases include when we experience
an unusually high volume of liquidation and/or termination
requests in a single day (such as during periods of significant
market volatility). Even during relatively normal market
conditions and low liquidation/termination volume, we
generally are not able to process requests received late in the
trading day (typically after 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time).
You should therefore communicate your liquidation
Fees and Expenses Associated With Trades Executed By
Investment Managers Away From Stifel
Each Investment Manager (including Connect Advisers) that
manages and is responsible for trading all or a portion of a
Client’s Advisory account retains the authority to determine
the execution venue for transactions in the Client accounts. As
such, Investment Managers may determine to execute trades
through other broker-dealer(s) (known as “trading away”) if
the Investment Manager determines, in its sole discretion,
Page 14 of 49
SF1600-3/26
other fees associated with qualified retirement plans
(including IRAs).
● Fees or expenses related to trading in foreign securities
such trades would be in the best interests of the affected
Clients, such as to satisfy its best execution obligations. An
Investment Manager may trade away for a variety of reasons,
the type of securities that the Investment Manager is buying or
selling, or because the Investment Manager is aggregating
Stifel Client trades with other non-Stifel client accounts (as
further explained below), or for some other reason determined
in the sole discretion of the applicable Investment Manager. If
an Investment Manager trades away from Stifel, impacted
Clients may incur additional execution costs for the trade.
(other than commissions payable to Stifel). This includes
“Pass-through fees” charged by third parties with respect to
foreign securities, including, but not limited to, transaction
processing fees, creation fees, and/or conversion fees in
connection with ADRs, custody-related expenses charged
by third parties for such securities, as well as any wire
charges related to payments for transactions in those
securities.
● Exchange fees, transfer or other taxes, and other fees
required by law, including (but not limited to), taxes or
fees imposed by any foreign entity in connection with
securities transactions in the account.
You should ask your Financial Advisor about the Investment
Manager’s trading away practices before selecting, or while
reviewing, a particular investment strategy. You should also
review each applicable Investment Manager’s Form ADV Part
2A Brochure for specific information about that Investment
Manager’s trade-away practices.
● Electronic fund and wire transfer fees (including, but not
limited to, those associated with alternative investment
transactions).
● Fees or expenses associated with preparing and/or filing
If additional execution costs (whether as a commission or
markup or markdown) are incurred, the Client will be
responsible for such execution costs in addition to the
Advisory Account Fee. Additional information about
Investment Manager trade-away practices is provided below in
the section “Brokerage Practices” of this brochure.
tax forms in connection with privately issued securities or
other investments that generate unrelated business taxable
income (including, but not limited to, Form 990T for
IRAs).
● Any fees or charges associated with cash management
options or privileges selected for an account (including, but
not limited to, check-writing, debit or credit card services,
and
e-bill services).
Other Excluded Fees and Expenses
In addition to the Advisory Account Fee, Clients will also be
responsible for and separately bear the cost of (i) any fees or
expenses assessed to their investments or account by third
parties (or by Stifel in order to pay such third parties) and (ii)
other fees and expenses set forth below:
● Fees, charges, and other costs and expenses related to
● Brokerage commissions, markups, markdowns, spreads,
and odd-lot differentials on orders an Investment Manager
effects through a broker-dealer other than Stifel or its
affiliates (that is, costs relating to trades away from our
firm).
● To the extent permitted by applicable law, markups and
markdowns on principal trades resulting from orders an
Investment Manager places through our firm or an affiliate.
collective investment vehicles, including, but not limited
to, closed-end funds, mutual funds, money market funds,
ETFs, unit investment trusts, REITs, and private funds.
These fees and expenses include, but are not limited to,
operating expenses, portfolio management, distribution and
marketing, redemption fees, and similar fees, in each case
as outlined in the fund prospectus, private offering
memorandum, or similar document. Additionally, the value
of account assets invested in shares of collective
investment vehicles is included in calculating the Advisory
Account Fee to the extent permitted by applicable law.
● Any interest expense charged to the account including, but
not limited to, margin interest charged with respect to any
direct or cross-collateralized margin loans.
● Exchange and auction fees, transfer or other taxes, and
● The public offering price (including underwriting
other fees required by law.
● Any other costs associated with products or services not
specifically included in the services described in the
applicable Advisory Agreement, but set forth in the Stifel
Account Agreement and Disclosure Booklet and any other
charges mandated by applicable law.
Each Client should carefully consider the overall cost when
selecting a Program or Portfolio.
commissions or discounts) on securities purchased from an
underwriter or dealer (including the firm or an affiliate to
the extent permitted by applicable law) in a distribution or
public offering of securities. Even where such securities
are purchased from a broker-dealer other than our firm or
an affiliate, our firm or an affiliate may directly or
indirectly benefit if our firm or an affiliate is a member of
the underwriting syndicate from which the security is
purchased.
● Account maintenance fees and expenses, account
administration fees, transactional expenses, custody fees,
and/or any other expenses charged by the custodian or
other party in connection with maintaining those assets.
These include, but are not limited to, administration and
Additional Information on Certain Fund-Related Charges and
Fees. As set forth above, any fees or expenses charged by
investment funds in which your account invests are excluded
from the Advisory Account Fee and, therefore, are your sole
responsibility. You should pay particular attention to each
investment fund’s prospectus and/or other offering documents
Page 15 of 49
SF1600-3/26
sharing level for equity strategies is different than for fixed
income strategies. In general, discount sharing creates an
incentive for Financial Advisors to price accounts above the
set minimum fee level in order to receive their standard
Payout Rate.
for a full understanding of all applicable charges and fees. For
example, certain fixed income UITs available for investment
in our Advisory Programs charge an upfront fee of up to
0.60% on the amount invested, payable to the product sponsor,
in connection with their advisory share classes. Certain mutual
funds and closed-end funds also charge short-term redemption
fees if shares of the fund to be redeemed have been held for
less than the fund’s prescribed minimum holding period
(typically anywhere from less than thirty (30) days to twelve
(12) months). Where applicable, short-term redemption fees
are imposed without regard to the share class held – which
means that you may incur (and be separately responsible for)
the short-term redemption fee even in your Advisory accounts.
In certain limited circumstances, a fund may offer waivers for
short-term redemptions – please refer to each applicable
fund’s prospectus or offering document and discuss with your
Financial Advisor.
Other Benefits. Equity awards from our parent company, SF,
are a standard component of our Financial Advisors’
compensation. Your Financial Advisor is eligible to receive
other benefits based on his or her Production. These benefits
include recognition events, conferences (e.g., for education,
networking, training, and personal and professional
development), and other forms of noncash compensation that
generally increase in value as the amount of the Production
your Financial Advisor generates increases. These benefits
create an incentive for your Financial Advisor to recommend
certain Programs over others and/or transactions, products,
and services that generate additional fees and expenses in
order to obtain the most benefits.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON FEES AND
OTHER COMPENSATION
Compensation to Financial Advisors
We pay a percentage (“Payout Rate”) of the Stifel Advisory
Fee that we receive from you to your Financial Advisor(s).
Payout Rates generally range from 25% to 50%; the applicable
percentage paid to your Financial Advisor will depend on your
Financial Advisor’s employment agreement and arrangements
with us and the total amount of revenue your Financial
Advisor generates from all clients (including from brokerage
clients) (referred to as “Production”). Our compensation to the
Financial Advisor can also include a bonus that is also based
on the Financial Advisor’s Production.
Recruiting Transition Assistance. Some Financial Advisors are
eligible for special incentive compensation and other benefits
based on client assets in accounts at our firm (including assets
held in your retirement accounts). These incentives and
benefits can be in the form of recruitment and retention
bonuses, and eligibility for repayable loans or loans for which
repayment is made under certain conditions, for your Financial
Advisor by an entity affiliated with us. These incentives and
benefits generally increase as the Financial Advisor brings
more client assets to us and generates more revenue. These
benefits create an incentive for your Financial Advisor to
recommend that you transition accounts held at other financial
institutions to our firm, as well as to recommend certain
transactions, products, and services over others in order to
obtain the benefits.
Your Financial Advisor’s Payout Rate will be the same
regardless of the Advisory Program in which your accounts
are enrolled. However, as a general matter, your Financial
Advisor’s total cash compensation increases as his or her
Production increases, and this creates an incentive for your
Financial Advisor to recommend certain Programs or
Portfolios over others and/or other products or services in
order to increase his or her Production. In connection with the
Programs covered by this brochure, we mitigate these conflicts
by limiting Advisory-related Production compensation to
Stifel’s share of the Advisory Account Fees (that is, your
Financial Advisor generally does not share in any additional
fees and expenses that your account incurs as a result of types
of investments made (or transactions effected) in the account).
We also seek to mitigate these conflicts by disclosing them to
you and by establishing other risk-based supervision policies
and procedures (including, e.g., to review certain new
Advisory account enrollments).
Branch Manager/Supervisory Activities. In addition, we pay
compensation to branch managers based on aggregate
Production generated by the Financial Advisors operating
from the manager’s branch office. In some cases, a portion of
a Financial Advisor’s Production can result in compensation
to his or her branch manager or another Financial Advisor for
supervision and administrative or sales support. When a
supervisor is compensated based on the Production of the
person he or she is supervising, this creates a conflict of
interest since the supervisor has an incentive for you to make
investments that generate greater compensation for the
supervisor. The particular compensation arrangements
between your Financial Advisor and his or her branch
manager also create incentives for your Financial Advisor to
recommend transactions, investment products, and services
that generate greater amounts of revenue for us, the branch
manager, and your Financial Advisor.
Discount Sharing. Financial Advisors receive less than their
standard payout when accounts are priced below the set
minimum fee level for the applicable Program. While
Financial Advisors may be allowed to set the Stifel Fee for an
account below the minimum fee level, doing so typically
results in a reduction to the Financial Advisor’s Payout Rate
(generally referred to as discount sharing) potentially down to
0%. The fee levels at which discount sharing starts to apply
vary by Program and/or style: for example, the discount
Page 16 of 49
Outside Business Activities. Your Financial Advisor is
permitted to engage in certain business activities approved by
us, other than the provision of brokerage and advisory services
through Stifel. In certain cases, these outside business
activities can cause conflicts with the Advisory services that
your Financial Advisor provides to you and your account(s).
We mitigate these conflicts by requiring your Financial
SF1600-3/26
Advisor to disclose to us and obtain approval for outside
business activities by establishing certain other policies and
risk-based procedures to the approval of outside business
activities. Where such activities are deemed material (as
determined by regulation), we disclose such activities are
deemed material (as determined by regulation), disclosing
them to you through the Financial Advisor’s Form ADV Part
2B, and by establishing certain other policies and risk-based
procedures to the approval of outside business activities.
purchase additional shares of that Fund after such termination
or removal, which will have an adverse impact on any future
investment plans that include that Fund. Moreover, in certain
cases (such as where we have discretionary authority over the
accounts, or where you have otherwise provided us the
relevant authority), we may also decide to sell any shares
held by our Client accounts with the terminated or removed
Fund to further limit our exposure to that Fund. A sale of
Fund shares may have tax consequences for you, depending
on the type of account that you hold. You should consult with
your tax advisor about potential tax consequences of your
investment(s) in our Programs.
Certain Compensation in Addition to the Stifel Advisory
Fee
Stifel, our Financial Advisors, and our affiliates may, from
time to time, receive additional compensation in connection
with certain types of assets in which Clients’ Advisory
accounts are invested, as discussed in more detail below. To
the extent received in connection with Advisory accounts, this
compensation is in addition to the Stifel Advisory Fee that you
pay to us for our investment advisory services. The receipt of
such additional compensation presents a conflict of interest
for us as it creates an incentive for our Financial Advisors
to recommend investment products based on the
compensation received rather than solely based on your
investment needs. You have the option to purchase
investment products that we recommend through brokers who
are not affiliated with us.
Funds typically offer multiple share classes, each with
different levels of fees and expenses. The share classes of
Funds available through the Programs will not necessarily be
the least expensive share classes available at the Funds and
will depend on our agreement with the Fund companies and
their affiliates. Other Funds and share classes may have
different charges, fees, and expenses, which may be lower
than the charges, fees, and expenses of the Funds and share
classes we make available through the Programs. For
example, there may be a share class of a Fund available
through the Programs that does not include the additional
compensation discussed below. These other Funds and share
classes may be available through other financial
intermediaries or directly from the Funds themselves.
Because each share class of a Fund with multiple share
classes generally invests in the same portfolio of assets, an
investor who holds a less-expensive share class of the Fund
will pay lower fees and expenses over time – and earn higher
investment returns – than an investor who holds a more-
expensive share class of the same Fund.
Brokerage Commissions
For all fee-based Programs, the Stifel Fee includes the costs
associated with our execution services. We generally do not
charge separate brokerage commissions (including markups or
markdowns) for trades that we execute for wrap accounts in
the Programs covered in this brochure, unless disclosed to the
affected Client (such as in the Advisory Agreement or its
schedules and addendums, or in other applicable documents).
However, the majority of our Financial Advisors are
authorized to provide both brokerage and Advisory services to
clients. As a result, Financial Advisors may effect securities
transactions for commissions in connection with brokerage
accounts, including brokerage accounts that you own in
addition to your Advisory accounts.
We generally strive to invest Client assets in the least
expensive share class, interest, or CUSIP that is made
available to our firm and for which our Advisory accounts are
eligible (for this purpose, such share class, interest, or CUSIP
will be referred to as “advisory” share classes); provided that
those Funds and share classes pay us “Omnibus Fees” and/or
“Networking Fees” (as discussed below). This means that
the Funds and share classes we offer or choose will not
necessarily be the lowest cost share class for which you
may be eligible because there may be less expensive share
classes that do not pay us Omnibus Fees and/or
Networking Fees. Use of a more expensive share class will
reduce the performance of your investment. This limitation
does not apply to Funds on our Recommended List, which
are offered without regard to whether there are Omnibus Fees
and/or Networking Fees paid to us. We may make exceptions
and offer or choose Funds that do not pay us Omnibus Fees
and/or Networking Fees in certain circumstances. Ask your
Financial Advisor for details.
Compensation From Funds
If you invest in mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, UITs,
and/or money market funds (collectively referred to as
“Funds”), you will bear your proportionate share of each
Fund’s fees and expenses, including, but not limited to,
investment management fees and performance-based
compensation paid to the Fund’s investment adviser, fees paid
to service providers, transaction costs, and other operating
costs. Each Fund’s fees and expenses are included in the price
of a Fund’s shares, are described in the Fund’s prospectus or
other offering document, and are in addition to the Advisory
fee you pay in the Programs.
Certain Funds may not offer multiple share classes, or may not
allow us to make the “advisory” share class available to
certain Programs (e.g., to our Vantage Program). Moreover,
we may allow a limited universe of legacy “non-advisory”
share classes to be held in some of Advisory accounts for a
period, pending a conversion into the appropriate “advisory”
share class. In addition, Funds may offer new share classes
with lower fees or expenses or change the investment
minimums or other restrictions for certain share classes.
When structuring the Programs, we determine the Funds that
will be made available in the Programs. We may add new
Funds and/or remove existing Funds from the platform
generally, or from one or more Programs, at any time and in
our sole discretion. When we terminate or remove a Fund
from our platform or the Programs, you will not be able to
Page 17 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Where this occurs, we will determine, at our own discretion,
whether and in what manner to offer those share classes in the
Programs, including based on whether the Funds pay us
Omnibus Fees and/or Networking Fees. When we designate a
new (lower cost) share class to be used in our Advisory
Programs, we will seek to convert the share class then held by
our Advisory accounts (both discretionary and non-
discretionary) into the newly designated share class, in each
case without seeking Client approval. However, our success in
effecting such conversions will depend entirely on each Fund
company’s willingness to cooperate with us in effecting a
conversion that does not otherwise trigger tax consequences
for our account holders.
share class. Any omnibus payments paid to our firm are
paid from investor assets in the Funds (and, like other
Fund expenses, are included in the “annual operating
expenses” or “expense ratio” charged and reported by
each Fund and disclosed in the Fund’s prospectus), but in
some cases may be paid or subsidized in part by the
adviser or distributor of the Funds or their affiliates.
Where we receive omnibus fees from or with respect to a
Fund, we generally receive omnibus fees with respect to
all share classes of the Fund held by our clients, including
(for example) “advisory” share classes held in our Client
accounts, but not necessarily in the same amounts. These
fees and fee rates are subject to change from time to time,
and may be received individually or as part of a
“bundled” arrangement with a Fund that includes other
types of fees, such as administration and distribution
payments. We do not require our Financial Advisors to
recommend Funds that pay omnibus fees; additionally, to
mitigate the conflict as to Fund and share class
recommendations, we do not share any omnibus fees
received with respect to the Funds with our Financial
Advisors. Moreover, we rebate back to Client accounts
omnibus fees received, net of any third-party expenses we
incur and pay as direct reimbursable expenses, in
connection with Fund shares held in Advisory retirement
accounts. To the extent received in connection with
Advisory non-retirement accounts, omnibus payments are
in addition to the Stifel Fee that we earn directly from the
relevant Clients invested in those Funds.
(ii) Networking Fees. Fund companies that are not traded
We consider various factors, including our costs to operate the
Programs and compensation we receive from Fund companies
and/or their affiliates, in deciding which Funds and share
classes to make available in the Programs. You should expect
that we will receive certain payments from Fund companies
and/or their affiliates in connection with your investment in a
Fund, and that amounts we receive will depend on the share
class, interest, or CUSIP you hold. The additional
compensation varies between Funds, poses a conflict of
interest, and can influence the selection of Funds and share
classes we make available through the Programs. We seek to
address this conflict of interest by disclosing it to you, as well
as through our policies designed to ensure that the fees we
charge are fair and reasonable. If we did not receive this
additional compensation, you should expect that we would
charge higher fees or other amounts to you for the services we
provide. In addition, we are not obligated to negotiate more
favorable terms with Funds or, except as otherwise described
below, to rebate any portion of the additional compensation
we receive. You should carefully consider this compensation
in addition to the Advisory fee you pay in the Programs when
evaluating the reasonability of our fees and the total
compensation we receive for providing you these Advisory
services.
In each of our Programs, you should expect that we receive
various fees and compensation with respect to your
investments in Fund shares, including (but not limited to):
omnibus are traded on a networked basis, which means
our firm submits a separate trade for each individual
client to the Fund companies and therefore maintains
certain elements of the shareholder information. Such
Fund companies and/or their affiliates may compensate us
for maintaining shareholder information, which the Fund
companies would otherwise be required to maintain
themselves. We receive networking fees that typically
range from $5.00 to $12.00 per position per year. Not all
Fund companies pay networking fees, and networking
fees that we receive vary by Fund company, by Fund, and
by share class. Any networking fees that Fund companies
pay to us are deducted from the Fund’s assets, but in some
cases may be subsidized, in part, by affiliates or the
distributor of the Funds. As with omnibus fees, to the
extent received, we generally receive networking fees
with respect to all share classes of the Fund held by our
clients, including (for example) “advisory” share classes
held in Client accounts, but not necessarily in the same
amounts. We do not require our Financial Advisors to
recommend Funds that pay networking fees; additionally,
to mitigate the conflict as to Fund and share class
recommendations, we do not share any networking fees
received from Funds with our Financial Advisors.
Moreover, we rebate networking fees received in
connection with Fund shares held in Advisory retirement
accounts. To the extent received in connection with
Advisory non-retirement accounts, networking payments
are in addition to the Stifel Fee that we earn directly from
the relevant Clients invested in those Funds.
(i) Omnibus Fees: A number of Fund companies and/or their
affiliates compensate us for providing record-keeping and
related services associated with Fund shares held in client
accounts (both brokerage and Advisory). Our firm
processes some fund transactions with Fund companies
on an “omnibus” basis, which means we consolidate our
clients’ trades into one daily trade with the Fund, and
therefore maintain all pertinent individual shareholder
information for the Fund. The compensation for these
services is commonly referred to as “omnibus fees” or
“sub-accounting fees.” For traditional omnibus trades, we
receive omnibus fees that typically range from 0.02% to
0.12% annually or $16.00 to $19.00 per position per year.
For super-omnibus trades (we utilize a third party to
facilitate execution), we receive a blended rate that
typically ranges from 0.0868% to 0.2409% annually or
$18.00 to $19.72 per position per year. The omnibus fees
that we receive vary by Fund company, by Fund, and by
Page 18 of 49
SF1600-3/26
education programs and seminars for our Financial
Advisors. For example, a Fund company might host
events for Financial Advisors designed to provide training
and education about their Funds and products. In doing
so, they agree to bear the cost (or part of the cost) for our
Financial Advisors and other personnel to attend the
events. The amounts paid by Fund companies vary, and
Stifel does not require any Fund company to host,
participate in, or contribute to the costs of these events as
a condition of Stifel making a Fund company’s Funds
available on our platform. A Financial Advisor’s
attendance and participation in these events, as well as the
increased exposure to Fund companies who sponsor the
events, may lead the Financial Advisor to recommend
Funds of those Fund companies as compared to Funds of
Fund companies that do not sponsor these events.
(iii) 12b-1 Distribution Fees (“12b-1 fees”). 12b-1 fees are
generally paid by Funds to compensate us for providing
distribution-related, administrative, and informational
services, as applicable, associated with each Fund. 12b-1
fees are included in the “annual operating expenses” or
“expense ratio” charged and reported by each Fund, and
are deducted directly from the Funds automatically. In
general, we seek to make available share classes that do
not have any associated 12b-1 fees in the Programs
covered by this brochure. There may, however, be some
Funds available through the Programs that have 12b-1
fees due to share class availability, or if a share class
subject to 12b-1 fees is the only share class on which we
can receive Omnibus Fees and/or Networking Fees. To
the extent received, we generally rebate back to the Client
any 12b-1 fees received (including Omnibus Fees and/or
Networking Fees that are paid from the 12b-1 fees) in
connection with Fund shares held in Advisory accounts,
but only to the extent that such 12b-1 fees relate to the
period during which the account has been enrolled in one
of our Advisory Programs.
(iv) Marketing Support and Revenue-Sharing Payments. We
receive revenue-sharing payments from the assets of the
Fund manager or its affiliate (and not the Fund) for
providing ongoing marketing, training, and education to
our Financial Advisors with respect to the Fund sponsor
and its products. Revenue-sharing payments, which
typically range from 0.02% to 0.08% annually on assets
under management and can be up to 0.15% on new sales,
do not directly reduce the amount invested by an investor.
Not all Fund managers or affiliates make revenue-sharing
payments to us, and the revenue-sharing payments we
receive vary between Fund companies. Revenue-sharing
payments may include fixed payments, payments based
on the total assets placed by our Clients at a Fund
company or in a particular Fund or Fund share class (i.e.,
a percentage of total client purchases, both brokerage and
Advisory), or a combination of the two. Because the
amount of revenue-sharing payments we receive can vary
between Funds or share classes of a particular Fund, we
have an incentive to recommend to you a Fund (or a share
class of a particular Fund) that pays us a higher amount of
revenue sharing than another Fund or share class. We
seek to mitigate this potential conflict through a number
of measures, including, as described above, the manner in
which we make share classes available. In addition, our
Financial Advisors do not directly share in any revenue-
sharing payments we receive, and we do not require our
Financial Advisors to recommend Funds providing
revenue-sharing payments to us. Moreover, we rebate
revenue-sharing fees received in connection with Fund
shares held in Advisory retirement accounts. To the extent
received in connection with Advisory non-retirement
accounts, marketing and revenue share payments are in
addition to the Stifel Fee that we earn directly from the
relevant Clients invested in those Funds.
(v) Training and Education Expense Contributions. Fund
(vi) Fees Received By Our Affiliates for Providing Services to
Funds: Some of our affiliates serve as investment adviser
or model providers, or provide other services to, various
Funds that are made available in some Programs. For
example, a number of our affiliates (including Affiliated
Managers) receive licensing and other fees from ETFs for
which the affiliate provides the constituent index or other
services. Such licensing and other fees depend on the
amount of assets invested in the ETF and the amount of
shares outstanding, including (but not limited to)
investments made, and shares held, through our Advisory
Programs. Our Financial Advisors may recommend
and/or purchase these Funds to or for Advisory Clients
where allowed in a Program. If our affiliate provides
services to a Fund that is purchased or held in a Client’s
Advisory account, the affiliate generally will receive fees
(or a share thereof) from the Fund and/or its affiliates in
connection with the Client’s investment in the Fund, even
though the Client’s investment in the Fund is also subject
to Stifel’s Advisory Account Fees. Neither our firm nor
our Financial Advisors directly share in any of the fees
received by our affiliates for their services to these Funds.
However, as part of an affiliated group, we may receive
indirect benefits from such compensation through our
parent company. We may limit the purchase of such
Funds in our Programs at any time, in our sole discretion.
If a Client’s retirement Advisory account invests in such a
Fund, we rebate an amount representing the fee or other
compensation our affiliate receives in connection with the
Client retirement account’s investment in the Fund,
subject to the limitations discussed below. We may also
decide, in our sole discretion, to provide similar rebates to
non-retirement accounts in discretionary Programs if such
Funds are otherwise allowed in the relevant Program. We
generally will not provide rebates for Funds held by non-
retirement accounts in our non-discretionary Programs.
Clients should understand that rebates are calculated
retroactively, based on the value of the Fund shares held
in the Client account as of a pre-determined date
(typically, as of the last business day of the calendar
month), and are credited back to the account one quarter
or more in arrears (without interest). Moreover, our
rebating process applies only to Funds held in the Client’s
account as of the first business day of the calendar month
companies and/or their affiliates may pay all or a part of
the cost of particularized and/or firm-wide training
Page 19 of 49
SF1600-3/26
and assumes that such Funds are held for the entire
month. As such, an Advisory account that purchases a
Fund on a day other than the first business day of the
calendar month will not be eligible for the rebate with
respect to the fees and compensation our affiliates earn
with respect to the Fund for that month. Similarly, an
Advisory account that sells a Fund prior to the last
business day of the calendar month will receive a month’s
rebate based on the assumption that the Fund was held
for the entire calendar month even though it was not. Our
policies and procedures require that our Financial
Advisors purchase and sell interests in Funds, or
recommend that a Client purchase or sell interests in
Funds, at times when it is appropriate for the Client to do
so, based on the Client’s investment objectives and needs
and not to avoid rebating compensation the Firm’s
affiliates receive in connection with such investments.
discretion, to provide similar rebates to non-retirement
accounts in discretionary Programs if the products are allowed
in such discretionary Programs. We generally will not provide
rebates for such products held by non-retirement accounts in
our non-discretionary Programs. Clients should understand
that rebates are determined retroactively, based on the value of
the product (e.g., fund shares) in the Client account as of a
pre-determined date (typically at month-end), and are paid a
quarter or more in arrears (without interest). Moreover, our
process only reviews whether a product is held in Advisory
accounts as of the beginning of the month and, thereafter,
assumes that each such product is held (or not held) in the
account(s) for the remainder of the month. As such, an eligible
Advisory account that purchases a product other than on the
first business day of the month will not receive any rebate for
that month and, similarly, an eligible Advisory account that
sells a product in the middle of the month will receive a rebate
for the entire month even though the position was only held for
part of the month.
Notwithstanding, some investment products (e.g., brokered
CDs) may not have any embedded fees that can be rebated
back to the Client, even where such products are held in an
Advisory account. Clients should carefully consider any and
all disclosures provided in connection with transactions in
such products. Clients investing in Stifel brokered CDs
authorize deposits in the appropriate Affiliate Bank (defined in
the section OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY
AFFILIATIONS), and acknowledge the benefits that Stifel, the
Affiliated Bank, and the Financial Advisor derive from the
Stifel brokered CDs as disclosed in applicable offering
documents. With respect to retirement accounts, such deposits
will bear a reasonable rate of interest as required by 29 C.F.R.
Section 2550.408b-4(b)(2). Please contact your Financial
Advisor for additional information.
Funds generally are sold by prospectus or other offering
document only. The prospectus or other offering document
contains important information about the specific Fund being
offered and should be reviewed carefully before investing.
Any compensation set forth above that we receive from Fund
companies and/or their affiliates is derived, directly or
indirectly, from fees that investors pay to the Funds. The
amount of compensation received will vary depending on our
arrangement with the applicable Fund company. Each Fund’s
prospectus typically describes the amount of compensation to
be paid for specified services provided to its shareholders. If
such payments are received in connection with shares held in
Advisory accounts, the Fund companies will continue to pay
us for such shares for the duration of the Advisory
arrangement and, in some circumstances, may extend
payments beyond the termination of the Advisory Agreements
if Clients continue to hold Fund shares through brokerage
accounts held at Stifel. A listing of the types and ranges of
compensation that we receive from various Fund companies is
also available under the Important Disclosures section of
Stifel.com. We highly encourage all Clients to review this
information carefully.
As discussed elsewhere in this brochure, we do not allow
Advisory accounts to use margin except in limited
circumstances. With respect to any such margin transactions,
Client accounts that are specifically approved to engage in
such margin transactions should note that we charge interest
on the amount borrowed and, if the proceeds are used to
purchase securities in the Advisory account, our Advisory
Account Fees are based on the market value of the account
without regard to the amount borrowed. We do not reduce our
Stifel Advisory Fee by the value of any interest or similar
payments that we receive from Clients in this regard. Each
Client is strongly advised to carefully review the impact
(including the long-term effects) that each of these practices
will have on their overall account.
Finally, to the extent that a Client uses Advisory assets as
collateral for loans taken from our Affiliate Banks (“Credit
Line Loans”), we typically (but not always) receive a fee
(expressed as a percentage of the outstanding loan balance)
from the applicable Affiliated Bank for the duration of the
loan. To the extent received, we pay a portion of any such fees
received to the Financial Advisor. These payments present a
material conflict of interest for us, as they create a financial
incentive for the Financial Advisor to recommend such Credit
Line Loans on the basis of the additional compensation to be
Compensation From Other Products
From time to time, Stifel may receive compensation from
third-party vendors or dealers in the way of volume discounts
that are paid to firms that place several million dollars’ worth
of securities with the issuer. Volume discounts can take into
account investments made across both brokerage and
Advisory accounts. For example, we may receive volume
discounts from sponsors/issuers of structured products as well
as from various Funds made available to brokerage and/or
Advisory accounts. Our affiliates may also be compensated in
connection with other non-Fund products in which our Client
assets are invested. For example, some of our affiliates may
issue investment products, such as brokered CDs, which are
made available for purchase on our platform. We may limit
the purchase of such products in our Programs at any time, in
our sole discretion. If such products are allowed in an
Advisory Program, we rebate an amount representing the pro-
rated fee or other compensation received (if any) by our
affiliate in connection with those products held in Clients’
retirement accounts. We may also decide, in our sole
Page 20 of 49
SF1600-3/26
received. Additional information about Credit Line Loans is
provided under the section “Referral Programs” below.
or prior to the time the investment is made, disclosures
relating to the fees and compensation that our firm and/or the
Financial Advisor will receive in connection with the
investment (including, to the extent applicable, any ongoing
payments to be received in connection with the investment).
Clients should carefully consider such arrangements in
determining whether to implement a Financial Advisor’s
recommendations relating to private investment funds.
Cash Sweep
As set out in the section “Cash Sweep Options” below, if we
serve as custodian of your assets, uninvested cash in your
account, including maintenance cash, will generally be swept
in accordance with the applicable sweep option for your
account. For most clients, the applicable sweep option is our
insured bank deposit sweep program. We and our affiliated
banks earn fees and receive other benefits for deposit balances
in the insured bank deposit sweep program.
Training and Education Expense Contributions From
Managers. Managers (Independent or Affiliated) may pay for
all or part of the cost of particularized and/or firm-wide
training and education programs and seminars for our
Financial Advisors and other personnel. For example, an
Adviser might host events for Financial Advisors designed to
provide training and education about the Manager and its
strategies and agree to bear the costs for our Financial
Advisors and other personnel to attend these events. The
amounts paid by Managers vary, and Stifel does not require a
Manager to host, participate in, or contribute to the cost of
these events as a condition of Stifel making the Manager’s
Portfolios available on our platform. A Financial Advisor’s
attendance and participation in these events, as well as the
increased exposure to the Managers who sponsor these events,
may lead the Financial Advisor to recommend Portfolios
offered by such Managers as compared to Managers that do
not sponsor these events.
Float
As set out in the section “Cash Sweep Options” below, if we
serve as custodian of your assets, un-invested cash in your
account will generally be swept in accordance with your
sweep option for the account. If we receive a cash deposit
from you before the close of business on a day in which the
NYSE was open, the deposited funds will be credited to your
sweep account as of the end of the next business day; if you
deposit a check, the funds will be credited to your sweep
account as of the end of the second business day following
deposit. If we receive deposits after the close of business on a
day in which the NYSE was open or on a day the NYSE was
closed, the funds will be considered received the following
business day and will be credited to your sweep account
consistent with the timeline discussed above. As such,
depending on the time that cash is received, we may earn
interest or receive other benefits (referred to as “float”) during
the interim period between when funds are received in our
firm account and the time those funds are credited to your cash
sweep account. Similarly, if you are withdrawing money from
your account (or we otherwise issue funds to you) by check or
an ACH payment, we will generally earn float on those funds
until you have cashed the check or the ACH payment has
settled. We retain any float earned (generally at Federal Funds
Rates) during any of these periods.
Insurance Commissions
In addition to being a dual registrant, our firm is also licensed
as an insurance agency with various states. Some of our
Financial Advisors are licensed as insurance agents and, in
such capacity, are able to offer various insurance products to
Clients and effect the resulting insurance transactions for
separate and customary commission compensation. Clients
that determine to purchase insurance products offered by our
Financial Advisors should note that such products will not be
held in our Advisory accounts, and will not be part of the
Advisory arrangement between Stifel and such Client. Our
firm receives a portion of any commissions that the issuing
insurance company pays with respect to insurance products
sold by our Financial Advisors.
Non-Cash Compensation
Subject to the firm’s policies, Financial Advisors may receive
non-cash compensation in the form of occasional gifts, meals,
tickets, and/or other forms of entertainment from third parties,
including mutual fund companies (or their agents or affiliates),
Managers, insurance vendors, and/or sponsors of products that
we make available for purchase to our Clients.
General Disclosure on Conflicts of Interest
As set forth above, the additional compensation associated
with the Programs and/or investments described in the
preceding section, to be paid to and retained by Stifel (which
may be shared with your Financial Advisor) and/or one or
more of our affiliates may present a conflict between your
interests on the one hand and those of the Financial Advisor,
our firm, or affiliates on the other hand. This additional
compensation provides an incentive to us, in exercising
discretion or making recommendations for your account, to
Revenue Sharing and Other Compensation Arrangements
With Private Investment Funds or Their Sponsors
We may allow certain Financial Advisors to recommend
investments in approved private investment funds with respect
to accounts invested in certain Advisory Programs. From time
to time, we may enter into revenue-sharing and other
compensation arrangements with such private investment
funds (or the managers or sponsors of such private funds) with
respect to our Clients’ investments in such private investment
funds. For example, we may enter into placement agent
agreements pursuant to which our firm and our Financial
Advisors receive upfront and/or ongoing placement fees from
private investment funds, or their agents or affiliates, as
compensation for recommending and/or selling shares or
interests of the fund to our clients. In certain cases, the fees
that we receive from such private investment funds may be in
addition to, and in other cases, in lieu of, the Stifel Fee
otherwise chargeable with respect to the investment. To the
extent that we receive placement fees and/or have a revenue-
sharing or other compensation arrangement with respect to
private investment fund shares or interests purchased in an
Advisory account, the affected Client will typically receive, at
Page 21 of 49
SF1600-3/26
transaction infrequency could have a bearing on whether a
wrap, asset-based fee account is more appropriate for you than
a commission-based account.
choose or recommend investments that result in higher
compensation to our firm, your Financial Advisor, and/or
affiliates of Stifel. For example, for certain Programs, your
Financial Advisor will receive a portion of the Advisory
Account Fee that we retain after paying, as applicable, the
portion due to the Manager.
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE
MANAGEMENT
We do not charge performance-based fees for our investment
advisory services.
As a result, our Financial Advisors could have an incentive to
offer Advisory Programs in which the fee is not shared with a
third-party Manager (e.g., Solutions) in order to receive a
higher portion of the fee.
ACCOUNT REQUIREMENTS AND TYPES OF
CLIENTS
The Advisory services offered in this brochure are generally
available to a variety of Clients, including individuals,
corporations, institutions, pension or profit sharing plans,
employee benefit plans, trusts, estates, charitable
organizations, other business and government entities,
educational institutions, and banks or thrift institutions.
However, please note that not all types of investors are eligible
for each Program or each Portfolio within a Program.
We may decide at any time to restrict any of our Programs
and/or Portfolios within a Program to U.S. residents only.
Even where open to foreign citizens and/or residents, we may
decide not to accept potential clients that are located in certain
countries, in each case in our sole discretion.
Additionally, for those Programs in which we pay a portion of
the Advisory Account Fee to Managers, which tends to be less
if we trade the Portfolio internally than if it is Manager-
Traded, a Financial Advisor may have an incentive to
recommend MBT Portfolios in the applicable Programs over
Manager-Traded Portfolios, or Portfolios where the related
Product Fee is low, in order to retain a larger portion of the
Advisory Account Fee. Finally, even where you are not
charged a separate Stifel Fee in connection with an investment
with respect to which Stifel has a compensation arrangement
with the product sponsor, a Financial Advisor may still have
an incentive to recommend the investment if the compensation
received from the product sponsor is higher than the Stifel Fee
that would otherwise have been charged in connection with
the investment. In these circumstances, it is our duty to
determine that an investment made in your Account or
recommended to you that results in such additional
compensation is suitable for you based upon the information
you have provided to us.
You should generally select a Program or a Portfolio within a
Program based on an analysis of the Portfolio’s objectives and
risk profile versus your particular situation and needs. In
general, (i) you should consider your specific circumstances
(such as age, net worth, income and liquidity needs, as well as
risk tolerance) compared to the investment strategy,
recommended time horizon, and risk profile for the Portfolio;
and (ii) the amount that you allocate to any one Program or
Portfolio within a Program should be reasonable in light of
your overall asset allocation and investment goals.
Program Minimums
The following minimum account sizes are generally required
to open an account in the available Programs outlined in this
brochure. Specific minimums may vary, depending on the
Portfolio that you select. Exceptions to the stated minimums
can be granted in Stifel’s (and, to the extent applicable, the
Manager’s) discretion.
● Opportunity and IMC Programs: Varies by Portfolio and
Manager, but is typically between $10,000 and $500,000
● Custom Advisory Portfolio Programs: $50,000
● Solutions and Horizon Programs: $25,000
● Fundamentals Program: Between $5,000 and $100,000,
ETF Models $10,000 minimum
● Connect Program: Varies by Portfolio and Manager, but is
typically between $50,000 and $100,000
It is important to note that the services provided to you
under the Programs described above may be obtained on an
unbundled basis and may result in overall lower costs. You
could use a commission-based brokerage account instead of a
fee-based investment advisory account and/or independently
retain a third-party adviser to manage your account. In certain
cases, the total charges that you pay in Advisory fees may be
higher than the commissions that could have been charged for
brokerage-only services. There may also be cases where the
Advisory Account Fee charged for Programs covered in this
brochure may be higher than if you obtained the services
covered by such fee separately (that is, if you paid separately
for advisory services, portfolio management services, trade
execution, custody, and related services). Even in cases where
additional compensation (such as 12b-1 fees) is rebated back
to you, there may be cases where your total return on the
investment would have been better in a fund/share class that
did not pay such rebated compensation, where available. You
should consider the value of the Advisory services provided or
to be provided under each Program when evaluating fees or
the appropriateness of the Advisory account in general. The
combination of brokerage and Advisory services may not be
available separately or may require multiple accounts and
varying forms of payment. You are responsible for
determining whether a wrap fee program is appropriate
for you. Therefore, you should understand the investment
strategy you have selected, the types of investments to be
made, and the amount of anticipated trading activity in
assessing the overall cost of the Program. Relative
Page 22 of 49
SF1600-3/26
PORTFOLIO MANAGER SELECTION AND
EVALUATION
the Manager or fund manager, its ability to successfully
implement the identified strategy, and the relevance of the
strategy to Stifel Clients. However, we may also determine to
add a Manager (or one of its Portfolios), mutual fund, or ETF
due to other business interests, such as (but not limited to) the
entity’s (or its affiliate’s) overall business relationship with
our firm or our affiliates. Our Affiliated Advisers may also
serve as Investment Manager for a Program or Portfolio within
a Program and, in such cases, may be responsible for trading,
adjusting allocations, and rebalancing Client accounts invested
in such Program or Portfolio, as appropriate, as well as
implementing any applicable investment restrictions, and other
portfolio management decisions. Subject to our fiduciary
obligations, we generally approve Affiliated Advisers to
manage Portfolios where the Affiliated Adviser’s investment
style is in line with the asset class, investment style, and
investment methodology that we are looking to fill for the
relevant Program. However, it is important for Clients to note
that our due diligence processes for Affiliated Advisers are
less rigorous than for Independent Advisers, and there may be
times when we approve and/or continue to make available an
Affiliated Adviser’s Portfolio which would not have been
approved, or would have been terminated, if offered by an
Independent Adviser.
Our staff conduct periodic due diligence reviews of Advisers,
typically through a review of the investment results, as well as
a review of the Adviser’s responses to our due diligence
questionnaire.
Connect Program
As set forth in the description above, as part of the Connect
Program, a Financial Advisor may assist a Client in the
selection of a Connect Manager, based on the Client’s goals
and objectives and the Connect Manager’s investment
philosophy and policies. The Financial Advisor will assist
such Client in establishing the relationship with the Connect
Manager, including entering into a separate advisory
agreement. Due to this separate and direct relationship with
each Connect Manager, Stifel performs limited initial and
ongoing reviews of the Connect Manager’s services to the
Client’s account. New Connect Managers are typically added
primarily as an accommodation to new Stifel Clients that were
previously invested with the Connect Manager at a prior firm;
however, Stifel may also add a new Connect Manager for
other reasons, including general business considerations. After
Connect Program Management assesses whether a proposed
Connect Manager meets the business and operations
requirements for onboarding, Program Management can
request that the CIO Office conduct an initial due diligence
review limited to the Connect Manager’s responses to Stifel’s
general investment adviser onboarding questionnaire. Based
on these reviews, Connect Program Management makes a
recommendation to Stifel’s TPWG as to whether or not to
onboard the Connect Manager. Thereafter, ongoing reviews
are typically limited to annual reviews of regulatory status,
investment strategy characteristics, and investment
performance, among other factors. Clients are responsible for
carefully reviewing all information provided by the Connect
Manager to determine whether to continue with the
arrangement.
Recommended Lists: As set forth above, our firm creates
Recommended Lists for mutual funds, ETFs, and SMAs. The
Recommended Lists are made available to our Financial
Advisors for consideration; however, we do not require our
Financial Advisors to restrict their Portfolio or Fund
recommendations to products on the applicable Recommended
List. Candidates for inclusion on any of the Recommended
Lists are subject to a higher level of review than used in
determining whether to make an Adviser, mutual fund, or ETF
broadly available on our platform.
● Traditional Mutual Fund, SMA, and ETF Recommended
Lists:
Managers in All Other Programs (Other Than Connect)
As further discussed in the section “Methods of Analysis,
Investment Strategies, and Risk of Loss” below, Stifel
conducts initial due diligence with respect to Managers
providing Portfolios made available in our other Programs,
and with respect to investment companies (or family of
companies) that are seeking to make their mutual funds and/or
ETFs included on our Recommended Lists. We conduct
annual due diligence reviews of Managers on our Advisory
platform. More frequent reviews are conducted if a Manager’s
Portfolios are included on our separate Recommended List for
separately managed accounts (“Traditional Mutual Fund,
SMA, and ETF Recommended Lists”).
Traditional Actively Managed Products: The Stifel CIO
Office conducts manager research on actively managed
strategies for their possible inclusion on our
recommended lists. In order to be included on such a list,
the strategy is evaluated across multiple dimensions,
which includes, but is not limited to: firm, team,
philosophy, process, portfolio performance, and product
(investment vehicle). Such an evaluation can include a
review of written information provided by the candidate
firm and/or meetings/calls with candidate firm
representatives.
Our Process for Selecting Independent and Affiliated
Managers
We generally select Independent and Affiliated Managers and
fund managers in order to provide our Clients with access to
investment strategies in the major asset classes and investment
styles and methodologies that can be used to pursue the
Clients’ investment goals.
Traditional Passively Managed Products: The Stifel CIO
Office evaluates passively managed strategies for their
possible inclusion in our Recommended Lists. In order to
be included on such a list, the strategy is quantitatively
evaluated to assess its effectiveness to deliver a
When evaluating potential Managers, mutual funds, and/or
ETFs for addition to our platform, generally, we request and
review information from the Manager or fund manager
relating to the business maturity and investment resources of
Page 23 of 49
SF1600-3/26
performance experience reasonably aligned with the
strategy’s benchmark index.
the Advisory status of any account that remains in a
terminated Portfolio as of the stated effective time.
● Liquid Alternative Mutual Fund Recommended List:
AIDDG is responsible for creating and maintaining the
Liquid Alternative Mutual Fund Recommended List,
comprised of non-traditional or alternative mutual funds.
This Recommended List is updated and published
periodically and made available to all Stifel personnel. All
Liquid Alternative Mutual Fund Recommended List
Candidates are subjected to the AIDDG research process.
Fund characteristics considered during the review process
may include, but are not limited to: portfolio management
personnel (professional experience/ educational
background/succession plan/compensation
structure/personal investment), investment process/
philosophy, historical performance/risk statistics, risk
management process, and asset level/capacity.
Independent and Affiliated Manager Performance
Information
We obtain Manager performance information from a number
of different sources. In addition, certain Managers may
provide performance information directly to Stifel, or directly
to Clients. In such cases, the Manager is responsible for
reviewing the information provided. Stifel does not
independently verify or guarantee that a Manager’s
performance information is accurate or complete. In addition,
Managers may use different methods for calculating
performance; as a result, performance information presented
to Clients may not be calculated in a uniform and consistent
basis. For Client accounts, periodic reports (as defined in the
below-referenced section) are available by request from a
Financial Advisor. More detailed information regarding our
reports, including performance calculation methodology, can
be found below in the section titled “Performance
Information.”
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT
STRATEGIES, AND RISK OF LOSS
When it comes to Stifel considering candidates for the
Recommended Lists, clients should understand that we will
not review the entire universe of mutual funds, ETFs, and/or
adviser portfolios available in the market or on our platform.
As a result, there may be one or more Independent Managers
or unaffiliated Funds that might be more appropriate for a
given Recommended List or a client’s account. These other
funds, ETFs, and/or Portfolios may outperform Portfolios,
mutual funds, or ETFs selected for our platform generally, our
Recommended Lists, any of our Portfolios, or a Client account
in any of our Programs.
Manager Portfolios (SMAs) and Funds included on our
Recommended Lists are subject to periodic due diligence
reviews. These periodic due diligence and/or monitoring
activities may include reviews of investment results and
portfolio characteristics, or reviews with the investment and
other personnel of the Managers or Fund managers. Advisers
and Funds generally report performance and other events on a
quarterly basis using industry sources and databases and/or
questionnaires, to which we have access and review
periodically.
Methods of Analysis and Investment Strategies
As discussed above, Stifel’s Traditional Products Working
Group (TPWG) is responsible for the analysis, selection, and
onboarding of the Funds, ETFs, and Managers (including their
specific Portfolios) to be made generally available at our firm.
After the applicable program or product management assesses
whether a product meets the business and operations
requirements for onboarding, the applicable program or
product management may ask the Stifel CIO Office to conduct
an initial due diligence review limited to the product firm’s
response to Stifel’s general investment adviser onboarding
questionnaire. Based on these reviews, the applicable program
or product management brings the product to Stifel’s TPWG
for approval to onboard to the platform. Note that we conduct
such a due diligence review for most SMAs, but only do so for
mutual funds and ETFs on an exception basis.
In selecting Funds and/or ETFs to be made available for
purchase broadly at Stifel, the TPWG considers many factors,
including, but not limited to, a fund’s investment objectives
and style, long-term performance records, and annual expense
ratios (i.e., costs). Note that TPWG may provide minimum
criteria to Product Management to allow them to onboard
mutual funds or ETFs that meet such criteria. In these cases,
such additions will be reported to the TPWG at its next
meeting.
From time to time, as discussed above, select Funds, ETFs,
and/or Portfolios from the broad universe of those that are
approved for Stifel’s platform are selected for the firm’s
Traditional and/or Alternative Mutual Fund, SMA, and ETF
Recommended Lists by the appropriate unit.
Replacing Independent and Affiliated Managers
We may consider replacing Managers if there are substantial
changes in their investment style or if Portfolio characteristics
are inconsistent with our expectation for the stated style,
philosophy, and policies upon which they were hired.
Additionally, we may consider replacing Managers who have
invested in prohibited securities, experienced material changes
in their business structure, failed to abide by Client objectives
and/or restrictions, failed to abide by the terms or conditions
of the agreement or any amendments thereto, and/or have
demonstrated unacceptable performance. We notify all
affected Clients in the event we determine to replace or
otherwise terminate a Manager (or a Portfolio) from our
Advisory Platform. To the extent possible, we provide Clients
advance notice of the termination, together with a list of
potential replacements to consider. However, it is ultimately
the Client’s decision whether to invest with any of the
potential replacements provided. We will generally terminate
Page 24 of 49
SF1600-3/26
For investments in individual equities in the Fundamentals
Portfolios, the Stifel CIO Office selects the securities to be
included in the portfolios and manages the allocations across
various holdings.
recommend to a Client, the appropriate type of security
(government, corporate, or municipal), the appropriate
maturity and diversification, and the appropriate parameters
that will apply to the fixed income securities to be purchased
for the Client account.
When selecting securities, the team may use information about
the economy, industries, groups of securities, and individual
companies obtained from various sources. These sources may
include, but not be limited to, research material prepared by
affiliates and/or third parties (including Stifel’s Research
Department), written reports, online media, telephone
contacts, and/or personal meetings with affiliated and
unaffiliated research analysts.
In general, our Advisory services with respect to the Programs
offered in this brochure typically combine asset allocation and
periodic rebalancing with the aim of growing and/or
preserving principal. Our Financial Advisors generally assist
Clients in designing portfolios with a long-term perspective,
and periodically rebalance (or recommend rebalancing) the
portfolios, as they deem appropriate, to manage risk.
Additional information on the investment strategies and
methods of analysis used in connection with each Portfolio is
available upon request to your Financial Advisor.
In consideration of this information, the Stifel CIO Office
seeks to evaluate the security across multiple dimensions,
which may include, but not be limited to, economic trends,
management, business strategy, financial strength,
profitability, competitive strength, and valuation.
Risk of Loss
You should understand that all investment strategies and the
investments made when implementing those investment
strategies involve risk of loss, and you should be prepared to
bear the loss of assets invested. The investment performance
and the success of any investment strategy or particular
investment can never be predicted or guaranteed, and the
value of your investments will fluctuate due to market
conditions and other factors.
Our Financial Advisors may recommend a wide array of
investments, and as discussed above, each Program and/or
Portfolio covers a wide range of securities. As such, the
specific type(s) of risks that each Client is exposed to will vary
depending on the particular Program and/or the Portfolio in
which the Client is enrolled, as well as the investments held in
the Client’s Advisory account. We do not offer any guarantees
that any investment recommendations made with respect to
our Programs will be profitable. Moreover, Clients should
note that past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
In cases where Financial Advisors are directing and/or
recommending specific securities or investments, they use
information obtained from various sources, including financial
publications, inspections of corporate activities, company
press releases, research material prepared by affiliates and/or
third parties, rating or timing services, regulatory and self-
regulatory reports, and other public sources. Financial
Advisors use research provided by our research department,
our internal product specialists, and/or from other sources
relating to a broad range of research and information about the
economy, industries, groups of securities, and individual
companies, statistical information, market data, accounting
and tax law interpretations, political developments, pricing
and appraisal services, credit analysis, risk measurement
analysis, performance analysis, and other information that may
affect the economy or securities prices. The research used may
be in the form of written reports, telephone contacts, and
personal meetings with research analysts, economists,
government representatives, and corporate and industry
spokespersons. Additional information about the various
research sources that our Financial Advisors may use in
connection with Advisory accounts is provided below under
the section “Brokerage Practices – Research and Other
Benefits.” Financial Advisors use any and/or a combination of
fundamental, technical, quantitative, and statistical tools and
valuation methodologies. The use of these different
methodologies may result in technical or quantitative research
recommendations that may differ from, or be inconsistent
with, fundamental opinions for the same security.
Material Risks
For the Portfolios listed or referenced above, equities, ETFs,
mutual funds, options, and fixed income securities are the
primary investments. The material risks described below do
not include every potential risk associated with the Programs
and investment products, and you should not rely solely on the
descriptions provided below. You should ask questions about
risks applicable to particular Programs and investment
products, read all product-specific risk disclosures, and decide
whether a particular Program and investment product is
appropriate for you based on your specific circumstances,
investment objectives, and financial situation. For example,
you should read the prospectus and other offering documents
(or, in the case of a Manager Portfolio, the Manager’s Form
ADV Part 2A) for a full description of risks associated with
particular investments. You should consider all disclosed risks
associated with the types of transactions and securities
involved in the Portfolio and/or product in which you are
contemplating an investment as well as the potential impact
that engaging in any of the below transactions may have on
the account’s overall performance.
Important issues and valuation measures that Financial
Advisors may consider when selecting specific equity
securities for Advisory accounts may include, but are not
limited to, dividend return, ratio of growth rate to
price/earnings multiple, ratio of market price to book value,
market capitalization to revenue ratio, relative strength,
management capability and reputation, corporate restructuring
trends, asset value versus market value, and other fundamental
and technical analysis. With respect to fixed income securities,
Financial Advisors can assist a Client to determine, or
Page 25 of 49
SF1600-3/26
The following material risks may also be applicable to
Advisory accounts invested in the Programs covered in this
brochure:
General Economic and Market Conditions Risks: The
success of the firm’s activities will be affected by general
economic and market conditions, such as interest rates,
availability of credit, inflation rates, economic uncertainty,
changes in laws, trade barriers, currency exchange controls,
energy prices, commodity prices, national and international
political circumstances (including government intervention in
financial markets, wars, terrorist acts, or security operations),
natural disasters and regional, national, and global health
crises (for example the global outbreak of the coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 2020). These factors may affect
the volatility of securities prices and the liquidity of your
investments. Volatility or illiquidity could impair your
profitability or result in losses. The firm’s clients may
maintain substantial trading positions that can be adversely
affected by the level of volatility in the financial markets.
position to aggregate trades from multiple Managers into a
single block, which may get better execution. As a result,
different Client accounts in MBT Portfolios and/or other
Programs may receive different intra-day prices even where
such accounts have traded in the same security for the day.
There may also be times when we are obligated to purchase a
security for an MBT Portfolio on the same day that we are
selling the security for another MBT Portfolio or other
Program. Finally, Managers that provide Portfolios to us for
implementation generally also provide the same Portfolios to
multiple other sponsor firms, or manage the client accounts of
other sponsor firms enrolled in such Portfolios directly.
Therefore, when Managers communicate changes to such
Portfolios to our firm, such changes are also disseminated to
multiple sponsor firms, each of whom will likely attempt to
implement the changes as soon as they are received, which
will generally result in increased demand for the specific
securities covered by such Portfolios, which generally will
increase the price at which each such security may be bought
(or decrease the sale price, as the case may be). Clients should
note that this may, in turn, adversely affect the performance of
their accounts. Based on all of the foregoing, Clients investing
in Portfolios that we trade based on Manager
recommendations should understand that the performance
returns achieved by their accounts may differ (at times
significantly) from the performance of the Portfolio as
reported by its Manager.
Management Style Risks: As set forth above, a number of our
Programs, including (but not limited to) Opportunity, Custom
Advisory Portfolio, IMC, and Connect, are, or may be,
managed or advised by Independent or Affiliated Managers. In
general, we consider a Manager’s performance track record,
among other things, during the selection process. However, a
Manager’s past performance is not a guarantee of its future
results; as such, its investment strategies may fail to produce
the intended results.
Investment Company Securities Risks: A number of
Portfolios covered in this brochure are heavily invested in
mutual funds. In addition, Advisory accounts may invest in
other investment companies, including ETFs, UITs, and/or
closed-end funds. Each fund in a Portfolio may be subject to a
variety of risks, depending on its investment strategies and/or
the securities held. For example, mutual funds that primarily
hold a portfolio of small capitalization companies will be
subject to small capitalization risks, which may include
increased volatility and decreased liquidity (relative to large
capitalization companies). Each of these investments is subject
to internal fees, which affect its net asset value and reduce the
return that a Client will realize with respect to the investment.
● Delayed Redemptions or Redemptions In-Kind – Stifel
Clients may collectively own a large percentage of certain
Funds through the Programs covered in this brochure
(e.g., through Fundamentals and CAP). If the aggregate
ownership exceeds certain thresholds set by a Fund
company, the Fund may determine to delay or otherwise
limit redemptions in our Client accounts, particularly in
connection with large volume redemptions (for example,
where our portfolio managers determine to reduce or exit
out of a Fund position held in one or more Portfolios in
the Fundamentals Program). This may result in delays in
our firm’s ability to fully liquidate or redeem out of the
Fund, which could in turn result in increased the risk of
loss for participating accounts. If allowed under its
prospectus, a Fund could also decide to redeem shares
“in-kind” instead of in cash in connection with such large
redemption requests. In that event, your account in the
Program may receive the actual underlying (i.e., non-
Fund) securities held by the Fund. The underlying
Model-Based Trading Risks: As set forth above, our firm is
responsible for trading certain Portfolios provided to us by
Independent or Affiliated Managers, in the applicable
Programs in this brochure. When the Portfolios are provided
by the Manager, we attempt to match the holdings, and to
enter trades within the timeline and/or in the lots as may be
directed by the Manager; however, there may be times when
we are unable to execute trades in the allocations or at the
prices deemed ideal by the Manager. There may also be times
when we are entirely unable to implement a recommendation
due to restrictions applicable to us in our capacity as a broker-
dealer. For example, we may not be able to purchase a security
recommended by a Manager because the security is the subject
of a research report by one of our firm’s research analysts, or
because our firm is involved in investment banking activities
with the issuer of the security or is otherwise affiliated with
the issuer. In such cases, if the Manager is unable or unwilling
to provide a substitute, we will typically re-allocate the
position to cash, but may determine other substitutes,
including re-allocating among existing positions or other
alternatives that we deem reasonable. Differences in the
Portfolio as implemented at Stifel and the Manager’s
recommendations generally will result in differences in how
our Client accounts perform relative to the Manager’s model
Portfolio (which differences may at times be material). There
may also be times when we receive trade instructions from
more than one Manager for the same security during the same
day. Because our firm’s policy is to execute trades as promptly
as possible after receipt from a Manager, and, to the extent
possible, in the order received, we will not always be in a
Page 26 of 49
SF1600-3/26
and credit of the U.S. and may only be supported by the right
of the agency or instrumentality to borrow from the U.S.
Treasury.
securities could lose value before we are able to sell them
(if our Firm or an FA has discretion). To the extent
possible, we will work with Fund companies to minimize
potential adverse impact of large volume redemptions to
accounts in our Programs, but there is no assurance that
you will be able to avoid the risk of loss and other adverse
consequences.
Exchange Traded Product Risks: Exchange Traded Products
(“ETP”s) are types of securities that derive their value from a
basket of securities such as stocks, bonds, commodities, or
indices, and trade intra-day on a national securities exchange.
Generally, ETPs take the form of ETFs or exchange traded
notes (“ETN”s). ETFs are discussed above under Investment
Company Securities Risks; ETNs are senior unsecured debt
obligations of an issuer, typically a bank or another financial
institution; however, ETNs are not categorized as typical fixed
income products.
Structured Investments Risks: We may allow accounts in
certain Programs to invest in Structured Investments. We may,
in our sole discretion, refuse to allow any Client account to
invest in structured investments, even if that account is
enrolled in a Program that otherwise allows for their use.
Structured investments are financial instruments that are
generally derived from or based on a single security, basket of
securities, an index, one or more interest rates, a commodity or
basket of commodities, a debt issuance, a foreign currency or
basket of currencies, and/or an actively or passively managed
fund or collection of funds (each, a “Structured Investment”).
Structured Investments may not be suitable for all investors.
Clients that invest in Structured Investments (or in a Portfolio
that invests in Structured Investments) should be prepared to
hold the Structured Investment until maturity. Clients that do
not fully understand how Structured Investments work, as well
as their associated risk, should not invest in these products (or
in Portfolios that invest in these products). Structured
Investments require the investor to assess several
characteristics and risks that may not be present in other forms
of investment, including structure risks (risks related to
movements in the underlying asset and the effect of such
movements on payouts under the Structured Investment),
currency risks, liquidity risks, tax-treatment risks, loss of
principal risk, call risk, and other types of risks. Some
Structured Investments offer protection of the principal
invested (contingent on the ability of the issuer to repay its
senior unsubordinated obligations at maturity), whereas others
offer more limited or no protection of the principal. Because
the principal or interest payment on a Structured Investment is
tied to the value of another asset or assets, a change in the
value of that asset can affect the return on the Structured
Investments in a manner not characteristic of non-structured
obligations. In certain cases, an affiliate of Stifel may receive
compensation from the issuer of the notes in connection with
research and other services provided by the affiliate to the
issuer of Structured Investments that we may offer to clients.
Except in connection with retirement accounts, the affiliate’s
compensation generally will not affect our firm’s
compensation in connection with Clients that hold these
investments in their advisory accounts – you should refer to
the section “Additional Information on Fees and Other
Compensation” for more details on affiliate compensation on
certain products that we offer. Important information and risks
specific to each Structured Investment offering will be
disclosed in the offering materials for the specific product, and
you should carefully review all related disclosures prior to
investing in any Structured Investment. Additional
Information is also available in the Structured Products
Disclosure available on our website (under Important
Disclosures).
Other Risks for Structured Certificates of Deposit (CDs). To
the extent that the Structured Investments purchased in
advisory accounts are CDs, the investments could also be
subject to the following additional risks:
Fixed Income Securities Risks: A number of Portfolios
and/or Financial Advisors may invest in a variety of fixed
income securities. Fixed income securities are subject to credit
risk, interest rate risk, and liquidity risk. Credit risk is the risk
the issuer or guarantor of a debt security will be unable or
unwilling to make timely payments of interest or principal or
to otherwise honor its obligations. Interest rate risk is the risk
of losses due to changes in interest rates. In general, the prices
of debt securities rise when interest rates fall, and the prices
fall when interest rates rise. Duration measures the change in
the price of a fixed income security based on the increase or
decrease in overall interest rates. Bonds with higher duration
carry more risks and have higher price volatility than bonds
with lower duration. Therefore, if interest rates are very low at
the time of purchase of the bonds, when interest rates
eventually do rise, the price of such lower interest rate bonds
will decrease, and anyone needing to sell such bonds at that
time, rather than holding them to maturity, could realize a loss.
High-yield debt securities (junk bonds) generally are more
sensitive to interest rates. Such securities are also highly
subject to liquidity risk. Liquidity risk is the risk that a
particular security may be difficult to purchase or sell and that
an investor may be unable to sell illiquid securities at an
advantageous time or price. There are also special tax
considerations associated with investing in high-yield
securities structured as zero coupon or pay-in-kind securities.
Municipal Bonds may also have a call feature, entitling the
issuer to redeem the bond prior to maturity. A callable
security’s duration, or sensitivity to interest rate changes,
decreases when rates fall and increases when rates rise
because issuers are likely to call the bond only if the rates are
low. Investors in callable bonds are therefore subject to
reinvestment risk – that is, the risk that they will need to
reinvest their proceeds at lower rates. Municipal bonds are
also subject to state-specific risks, such as changes in the
issuing state’s credit rating, as well as the risk that legislative
changes may affect the tax status of such bonds. Investments
in government-sponsored entity securities also exhibit these
risks, although the degree of such risks may vary significantly
among the different government-sponsored entity securities.
Some securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. government
agencies or instrumentalities are not backed by the full faith
Page 27 of 49
SF1600-3/26
1. Income Risk. Many Structured CDs do not pay a fixed rate
of interest; instead, such products’ return may be realized
at maturity based upon the underlying asset or basket of
assets or index. The interest rate earned may be lower than
the interest rate available on other investments with the
same maturity and could even be as low as zero. Some, but
not all, Structured CDs may have maximum rates of return,
regardless of the performance of the underlying index or
strategy.
our insured bank deposit sweep program. Our insured bank
deposit sweep programs pay comparable market interest rates
to insured bank checking accounts but may have significantly
lower rates when compared to unaffiliated money market
funds or other cash equivalents that could otherwise be used to
hold cash in Client accounts. Under certain market conditions,
holding cash results in lower overall account return, such as
when riskier assets outperform cash. Moreover, while
maintaining Advisory account assets in cash may protect those
assets from the risk of loss in the event of a market downturn,
holding cash, particularly high cash concentrations for long
periods of time, through an Advisory account may result in
underperformance given the impact of Advisory Account
Fee(s) and the rates of return on maintenance cash and other
cash equivalents.
2. Principal Risk. Although Structured CDs are insured CDs,
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) limit
of $250,000 per depositor only applies to the principal
amount of the CD purchased. If sold prior to maturity, the
sale will be subject to market prices and the principal may
not be fully returned.
In all cases, each Client has the option to hold cash in a
brokerage account at Stifel and/or in deposit accounts through
the Affiliated Bank or with other banks, in which case such
cash would not be subject to the Advisory Account Fee.
Clients also have the option of using (including directing their
Financial Advisors to use) other cash equivalents in their
accounts; while subject to the Advisory Account Fee, these
cash equivalents will likely earn higher interest rates than cash
held through our insured bank deposit sweep programs.
Clients should compare the terms, interest rates, required
minimum amounts, and other features of the automatic sweep
option with other cash equivalent investments. More
information about our automatic sweep option is available at
stifel.com/agreementanddisclosurebooklet. Information about
current interest rates for our insured bank deposit sweep
programs is available by contacting your Financial Advisor or
through Stifel.com.
Brokered Certificates of Deposit Risks: Clients in certain
Programs may invest in brokered CDs issued by U.S.
depository institutions (each, a “CD Issuer”). These CDs are
insured by the FDIC up to applicable limits, and Clients are
responsible for monitoring the total amounts of deposits with
any one CD issuer for FDIC guarantee limits. Brokered CDs
held in Advisory accounts are subject to the Advisory Account
Fee, and Clients should consider the impact of the Advisory
Account Fee on the yield of any brokered CDs in their
account(s). Among the risks relating to CDs are adverse
changes in general economic conditions, as well as exposure
to credit losses arising from possible financial difficulties of
CD Issuers. Although Stifel generally seeks to select CDs of
highly qualified CD Issuers that are subject to extensive
governmental regulations, a CD Issuer’s profitability largely
depends on the availability and cost of funds for the purpose
of financing lending operations under prevailing money
market conditions. Redeeming CDs before maturity may result
in loss of principal due to fluctuations in the interest rate, lack
of liquidity, or transaction costs. CDs sold prior to maturity
may be worth less or more than the original purchase. Rates
paid on brokered CDs may be lower or higher than the rates
available directly through the CD Issuer or through a Stifel
brokerage transaction. Clients should refer to the disclosures at
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/Certificates-Of-Deposit.pdf
for additional general information regarding CDs, including
terms, important investment consideration, and the extent of
and limitations on FDIC insurance, and to the “Specific
Investment Product Disclosure” Section of the Stifel Account
Agreement and Disclosure Booklet for additional information
regarding Brokered CDs.
Derivatives Risks: A number of Portfolios covered in this
brochure may engage in derivative transactions, including, but
not limited to, hedge funds, options, overlays, and managed
futures products, for any purpose consistent with the Client’s
investment objective and/or the Portfolio in which the Client
account is invested. Generally, a derivative is a financial
arrangement, the value of which is derived from, or based on,
a traditional security, asset, or market index. Such transactions
may be used for several reasons, including hedging unrealized
gains. Hedging strategies, if successful, can reduce the risk of
loss by offsetting the negative effect of unfavorable price
movements in the investments being hedged. However,
hedging strategies can also reduce the opportunity for gain by
offsetting the positive effect of favorable price movements in
the hedged investments. A Portfolio may also use derivative
instruments to, amongst other objectives, obtain market
exposure (that is, for speculative purposes rather than hedging)
or generate income. A Portfolio may establish a position in the
derivatives market as a substitute for buying, selling, or
holding certain securities. The use of derivative transactions is
a highly specialized activity that involves investment
techniques and risks that may be more heightened than those
associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions.
Cash Balance Risks:
Cash balances, including maintenance cash, in Advisory
accounts are subject to the Advisory Account Fee. Depending
on prevailing interest rates, it is likely that cash balances held
in Advisory accounts will underperform, including resulting in
negative returns after application of Advisory Account Fees,
as compared to alternative arrangements for holding cash
positions. This is particularly true if such cash balances are
held through an automatic sweep option, as the return that a
Client will earn on cash held through a sweep option will most
likely be less than the applicable Advisory Account Fee. For
most Clients in our Programs, the applicable sweep option is
Page 28 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Unrelated Business Taxable Income: Unrelated business
taxable income (“UBTI”) is income regularly generated by a
tax-exempt entity by means of taxable activities. This income
is not related to the main function of the entity, but is needed
to generate a small portion of income. UBTI is typically
associated with income received from investments in limited
partnerships and master limited partnerships, which are
required to pay out most of their profits. Clients may also be
affected if a Fund in their account in turn invests in entities
that generate income that qualifies as UBTI for their
retirement account. When UBTI of $1,000 or more is received
from investments held in a client’s tax-deferred retirement
account (such as an IRA), as custodian, Stifel will take the
necessary steps to pay the UBTI tax liability from the assets of
the retirement account and will use a vendor to prepare and
file the required Form 990-T with the IRS. Affected retirement
accounts will incur filing fees for each Form 990-T that Stifel
files on behalf of the account. Clients with retirement accounts
investing directly in such securities, or through Portfolios that
invest in such securities, should refer to the Stifel Account
Agreement and Disclosure Booklet for additional information
about the processing fee charged for these filings.
Short Selling (or Short Sale Exposure Risks): Certain
portfolios in our Programs may engage in short selling. A
short sale involves the sale of a security that is borrowed. The
short position(s) will lose money when the value of the
underlying (borrowed) security rises, a result that is the
opposite of traditional strategies. The existence (and volume)
of short positions can also lead to more volatile performance
of the underlying security, which will in turn affect the
performance of the shorting strategy. Short sales expose a
Client’s account to the risk that it will be required to acquire,
convert, or exchange securities to replace the borrowed
securities (also known as “covering” the short position) at a
time when the securities sold short have appreciated in value,
thus resulting in a loss. An account’s investment performance
may also suffer if required to close out a short position earlier
than initially anticipated. Moreover, under certain market
conditions (such as during periods of high volatility),
regulators may also limit or otherwise impose significant
requirement on short sales, which would have an adverse
effect on the strategy and, therefore, the Client’s account. In
addition, an account may be subject to expenses related to
short sales that are not typically associated with other
Advisory accounts in the Program, such as borrowing costs (or
short sale charges) or margin account maintenance costs. Prior
to enrolling in any Portfolio that engages in these strategies,
each Client is urged to carefully consider the impact that
engaging in any of these transactions will have on the
account’s overall performance.
Tax-Exempt Securities Risks: Certain Portfolios may seek to
invest in tax-exempt securities, including (but not limited to)
municipal bonds as well as tax-exempt mutual funds and
ETFs. In order to attempt to pay interest that is exempt from
federal or state and local income tax, tax-exempt securities
must meet certain legal requirements. Failure to meet such
requirements may cause the interest received and distributed
to shareholders to be taxable. In addition, income from one or
more municipal bonds held in a Portfolio could be declared
taxable because of unfavorable changes in tax or other laws,
adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service
(“IRS”), state, or other tax authorities, or noncompliant
conduct of a bond issuer. Changes or proposed changes in
federal or state income tax or other laws may also cause the
prices of tax-exempt securities to fall. Finally, income from
certain municipal bonds may be subject to the alternative
minimum tax (“AMT”) and/or state and local taxes, based on
the investor’s state of residence. In addition, as discussed in
more detail under the section “Cash Sweep Options” below,
idle cash in Advisory accounts held at Stifel (including
accounts invested in “tax-exempt” Portfolios) is typically
swept into one of our insured bank cash sweep programs. Any
interest earned by the Client in respect of such cash balances
will not be exempt from taxes.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: Stifel, its affiliates, agents, and
employees are not in the business of providing tax, regulatory,
accounting, or legal advice. This brochure and any tax-related
statements provided by Stifel are not intended or written to be
used, and cannot be used or relied upon, by any such taxpayer
for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties. Any such taxpayer
should seek advice based on the taxpayer’s particular
circumstances from an independent tax adviser.
Alternative Investments Risks: A number of Portfolios and/or
Financial Advisors may invest in a variety of alternative
investments. Alternative investments, including (but not
limited to) private investment funds (such as hedge funds or
private equity funds), alternative mutual funds, non-traditional
ETFs, managed futures products, and/or real estate (related)
investments may also present unique risks, such as decreased
liquidity and transparency and increased complexity.
Alternative investments typically use derivative instruments
(such as options, futures, or index-based instruments) and/or
leveraging strategies. The use of derivative instruments
involves multiple risks, as discussed in more detail above. In
addition, to the extent that the alternative investment uses
commodities (or commodity-based derivatives) as part of its
investment strategy, the investment return may also vary as a
result of fluctuations in the supply and demand of the
underlying commodities. Real estate-related investments will
be subject to risks generally related to real estate, including
risks specific to geographic areas in which the underlying
investments were made. Certain alternative investments may
be less tax efficient than others. Each alternative investment is
typically subject to internal fees (including, but not limited to,
management and/or performance fees), which affect the
product’s net asset value and reduce the return that a Client
will realize with respect to the investment.
Additional risks may include style-specific risk, speculative
investment risk, concentration risk, correlation risk, credit risk
and lower-quality debt securities risk, equity securities risk,
financial services companies’ risk, interest rate risk, non-
diversification risk, small- and mid-cap company risk, and
special risks of mutual funds and/or ETFs, among others.
Foreign Securities Risks: Advisory accounts may invest in
foreign securities, directly or through Funds that hold a
portfolio of foreign securities. Foreign securities can be more
volatile than domestic (U.S.) securities. Securities markets of
Page 29 of 49
SF1600-3/26
corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates, or
adverse investor sentiment generally. Equity securities
generally rank junior in a company’s capital structure to debt
securities and consequently have greater price volatility and
entail greater risk of loss than debt securities.
other countries are generally smaller than U.S. securities
markets. Many foreign securities may also be less liquid than
U.S. securities, and are typically subject to currency risk.
Some foreign securities also may be subject to taxes and other
charges imposed by the issuer’s country of residence or
citizenship. Certain foreign securities may be subject to
additional costs and risks. As set forth elsewhere in this
brochure and/or in the Advisory Agreement, such taxes and
charges are in addition to (i.e., are not included in) a Client’s
account fees. All these factors could affect a client’s realized
return on the investment.
Frequent Trading and High Portfolio Turnover Rate Risks:
The turnover rate within certain discretionary Advisory
accounts may be significant. In connection with Portfolios run
by Investment Managers that engage in trades away from
Stifel, frequent trades may result in high transactions costs,
including substantial brokerage commissions, fees, and other
transaction costs. In addition, frequent trading (whether or not
through trades away from Stifel) is likely to result in short-
term capital gains tax treatment. As a result, high turnover and
frequent trading in an Advisory account could have an adverse
effect on the cost and therefore the return on the Advisory
account.
Emerging Markets Securities Risks: Numerous emerging
market countries have a history of, and continue to experience
serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political
problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries
are relatively small, expensive to trade in, and generally have
higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in
emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in
developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their
ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets.
Additional restrictions may be imposed under other
conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller
economies or less developed capital markets, and as a result,
the risks of investing in emerging market countries are
magnified in frontier market countries. It is important to note
that emerging markets securities are foreign securities and also
carry all of the foreign securities risks identified above.
Infrequent Trading/Low Portfolio Turnover Rate Risk:
Certain Portfolios (such as fixed income Portfolios) and/or
accounts in the Programs covered in this brochure may trade
infrequently and experience low (in some cases extremely
low) turnover. As set forth elsewhere in this brochure, wrap
fees charged are intended to cover various services, including
trade execution. We generally assume regular trading when
setting the levels of wrap fees that may be charged with
respect to the Programs covered in this brochure. If a specific
Client experiences low turnover in the Client’s wrap account,
the Client likely will not realize the full benefit of the wrap fee
paid with respect to such wrap account. Clients are
encouraged to discuss the expected and/or historical level of
trading with their Financial Advisor when evaluating the cost
of a proposed or existing wrap account.
Diversification Risk: Certain Portfolios within our Advisory
Programs may have concentration in specific asset classes,
sectors, or individual securities, which could result in
increased exposure to the risks that can be attributed to those
specific investments. Additionally, certain Portfolios may
invest in a specific investment style. As a result, clients in
these Portfolios may not have access to as wide a variety of
management styles as clients in other Portfolios. Certain
Portfolios also invest in funds of specific sponsors or fund
companies, which means that clients in these Portfolios only
have access to the management style of that fund company or
sponsor. Clients in these Portfolios will be subject to more risk
than Clients in more diversified Portfolios and, therefore, are
intended to complement other investments.
American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) Risks: Certain
Program assets may also be invested in ADRs stocks listed on
a U.S. exchange. An ADR is typically created by a U.S. bank
and allows U.S. investors to have a position in the foreign
company in the form of an ADR. Each ADR represents one or
more shares of a foreign stock or a fraction of a share (often
referred to as the “ratio”). The certificate, transfer, and
settlement practices for ADRs are identical to those for U.S.
securities. Generally, the price of the ADR corresponds to the
price of the foreign stock in its home market, adjusted for the
ratio of ADRs to foreign company shares. There are
investment risks associated with ADRs including, but not
limited to, currency exchange-rate, inflationary, and liquidity
risks as well as the risk of adverse political, economic, and
social developments taking place within the underlying
issuer’s home country. In addition, the underlying issuers of
certain ADRs are under no obligation to distribute shareholder
communications to ADR holders, or to pass through to them
any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. It is
important to note that since ADRs are created to allow U.S.
investors to have a position in a foreign company, they also
carry all of the foreign securities risks identified above.
Mid Cap and Small Cap Company Risks: The securities of
mid or small cap companies may be subject to more abrupt or
erratic market movements and may have lower trading
volumes or more erratic trading than securities of larger-sized
companies or the market averages in general.
Municipal Securities Risks: Municipal issuers may be
adversely affected by rising health care costs, increasing
unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal
programs providing financial support. Unfavorable conditions
and developments relating to projects financed with municipal
Equity Risks: Equity securities represent an ownership
interest, or the right to acquire an ownership interest, in an
issuer. Equity securities also include, among other things,
common stocks, preferred securities, convertible stocks, and
warrants. The values of equity securities, such as common
stocks and preferred securities, may decline due to general
market conditions that are not specifically related to a
particular company, such as real or perceived adverse
economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for
Page 30 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Stifel may benefit from (or lose money as a result of)
implementing fractional share liquidation in Advisory Client
accounts. In general, Clients should note that Stifel does not
encourage dividend reinvestment in its Advisory accounts.
securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal
securities. Issuers often depend on revenues from these
projects to make principal and interest payments. The value of
municipal securities can also be adversely affected by changes
in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal
issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and
political developments, tax law changes or other legislative
actions (as discussed under Tax-Exempt Securities Risk
above), and by uncertainties and public perceptions
concerning these and other factors. In recent periods, an
increasing number of municipal issuers in the United States
have defaulted on obligations and commenced insolvency
proceedings. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may
continue or get worse.
Indirect Investments in Digital Assets: Our Financial
Advisors may recommend, and portfolios on our platform may
invest in, funds or exchange traded products with direct or
indirect exposure to digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Investments in digital assets are highly speculative and
involve substantial risks, including extreme price volatility,
limited operating histories, significant concentration risk,
evolving and uncertain regulatory and tax treatment, and fewer
investor protections than traditional investment products.
Many digital asset products, including certain spot
cryptocurrency ETPs, are not registered under the Investment
Company Act of 1940 and, therefore, do not provide the same
regulatory safeguards as mutual funds or traditional ETFs.
Dependence on Key Personnel: Some of the Portfolios
covered in this brochure may rely heavily on certain key
personnel of our firm, our affiliates, and/or the personnel of
certain Managers available on our platform. The departure of
any such key personnel or their inability to fulfill their duties
may adversely affect the ability of the relevant Portfolio to
effectively implement its investment program and, as a result,
adversely impact the performance of the Advisory accounts
enrolled in such Portfolio.
Cryptocurrency markets and exchanges may experience fraud,
security breaches, operational failures, business disruptions, or
limited regulatory oversight, increasing the risk of market
manipulation, pricing inefficiencies, or loss. Digital assets
may be permanently lost, stolen, destroyed, or rendered
inaccessible due to cybersecurity events or the loss of private
keys, are not legal tender, and are not FDIC insured. Market
prices of digital asset products may differ materially from net
asset value due to fees, liquidity constraints, trading
limitations, or market conditions. ETFs generally trade only
during standard U.S. market hours, while the underlying
cryptocurrency markets operate continuously, including
nights, weekends, and holidays. As a result, price movements
in cryptocurrency markets that occur outside of market hours
may materially affect the opening price of related ETFs when
the market next opens, and such products may not be able to
reflect real time cryptocurrency pricing. Products held in
brokerage accounts generally trade only during standard
market hours despite continuous cryptocurrency markets. In
addition, digital assets have been associated with illegal
activity, which could result in regulatory restrictions or
enforcement actions that limit or eliminate the ability to trade
or use such products. Investors may lose some or all of their
investment and should review applicable offering documents
before investing.
Issuer Concentration Risks: From time to time, a Financial
Advisor (or a Portfolio) may take a significant position in a
particular issuer; for example, a particular Financial Advisor’s
Clients may, in the aggregate, own more than 5% of an
issuer’s outstanding stock. Even where such a position is
spread among a number of Client accounts, the affected
Clients will be more exposed to the issuer’s specific risk than
when the firm’s aggregate position in the issuer is insignificant
or immaterial. Such large positions may also affect the
liquidity of the investment because we may not be able to
completely liquidate the position within a desired timeline or
at a desired price if we own more than the typical daily trading
volume. We are required by applicable regulations to disclose
ownership of more than 5% of the total outstanding shares of
certain equity securities held in our discretionary accounts.
There are no similar disclosure requirements to the extent the
positions are held in non-discretionary Client accounts. Clients
are therefore encouraged to discuss these risks with their
Financial Advisor when considering the Financial Advisor’s
investment recommendations.
Financial Institution Risk: Actual events involving reduced
or limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance, or other
adverse developments that affect financial institutions or other
companies in the financial services industry, including banks
and other custodians of an investor’s funds and securities, or
impact the financial services industry generally, as well as
concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds, have in
the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity
problems, defaults on financial obligations, non-performance
of contractual obligations, and other adverse impacts on these
financial institutions, investors that deposit funds and
securities at these institutions, lenders and borrowers of these
institutions, and other companies in the financial services
industry.
Dividend Reinvestment Risks: Clients that direct dividend
reinvestment for their Advisory accounts should note that
dividend reinvestment typically leads to the receipt of
fractional shares. Stifel is not able to execute fractional share
liquidations on an agency basis. Clients should therefore
understand that where Stifel liquidates fractional shares, Stifel
will purchase the fractional shares into its inventory. The price
allocated to the fractional component will depend on whether
the fractional shares portion can be processed on the same day
as any whole shares that are part of the same liquidation
transaction (in which case, the price will be the same as the
market price received from the whole shares), or whether the
fractional shares are processed on a different day (in which
case, the price allocated to the fractional shares will be the
previous business day’s closing market price for the security).
Page 31 of 49
SF1600-3/26
mitigated. Stifel will not be able to control the manner in
which third-party products are developed, maintained, or the
manner in which they are used to provide services, even where
the firm has sought contractual protections.
CLIENT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO PORTFOLIO
MANAGERS
For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, was
closed by the California Department of Financial Protection
and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation as receiver. Investor concerns regarding
the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less
favorable commercial financing terms, including higher
interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating
covenants, or systemic limitations on access to credit and
liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult to acquire
financing on acceptable terms or at all.
We typically provide information about a Client’s financial
condition, investment needs, and/or investment restrictions to
Managers serving as Investment Managers on Client accounts.
We may also provide annual updates (if any) to the
information, or more often as available from the Client. We
and/or the Financial Advisor (not the Investment Manager) are
responsible for collecting data about Client investment goals
and objectives and determining whether a particular Program
and/or Portfolio is appropriate for the Client based on the
stated goals and objectives.
Any decline in available funding or access to cash and
liquidity resources could, among other risks, adversely impact
the ability to meet operating expenses, satisfy financial
obligations, liquidate portfolio holdings, withdraw capital, or
fulfill other obligations, or result in breaches of financial
and/or contractual obligations. Any of these impacts, or any
other impacts resulting from the factors described above or
other related or similar factors not described above, could
have material adverse impacts on portfolio holdings, fund
performance, or business operations.
We generally do not provide particularized Client information
to Managers providing model Portfolios to our firm under
MBT arrangements. In MBT arrangements, our firm (not the
Manager) is responsible for the various aspects of the client
relationship.
CLIENT CONTACT WITH PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Artificial Intelligence (“AI”): The increasing adoption of AI
and machine learning technologies (collectively, “AI
Technologies”) creates opportunities for Stifel that we believe
can benefit our clients. The firm expects to expand our use of
AI Technologies in investment activities, and middle and
back-office operations. Actual AI Technologies usage will
vary across functions, and Stifel will adjust protocols
governing the use of AI Technologies by its associates on an
ongoing basis. The use of AI Technologies by Stifel is subject
to the firm’s enterprise governance, information security, and
risk management frameworks, including risk-based review and
oversight prior to deployment. However, the failure of such AI
Technologies to be available or to perform, or data leakage on
account of use of such AI Technologies, could cause material
harm to Stifel and/or our clients.
We strongly encourage Clients to communicate with their
Financial Advisor, rather than the Manager of the Portfolio in
which the Client is invested. However, Financial Advisors
generally review with the Client the available Portfolios, as
well as other information relating to the Manager for such
Portfolio, and typically obtain Client consent prior to enrolling
a Client in a Program or Portfolio. The information provided
to each Client may include, where applicable, an Investment
Manager’s Form ADV Part 2A, which includes its name and
contact information. In such cases, therefore, Clients have the
option of contacting an Investment Manager directly.
However, the foregoing does not apply to MBT Portfolios,
because Clients in MBT Portfolios currently do not receive the
Manager’s Form ADV 2A; we may change this policy at any
time. Clients in the Connect Program are direct clients of such
Connect Adviser and, therefore, are encouraged to have direct
contact with the Connect Adviser.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AI Technologies, the current and potential future applications,
and the legal and regulatory frameworks within which they
operate, continue to rapidly evolve, and it is not possible to
predict the full extent of current or future risks related thereto.
Regulations related to AI Technologies may impose certain
obligations on organizations and costs for monitoring and
responding to such regulations, and may limit or constrain the
manner in which AI Technologies are developed, deployed, or
used.
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION
1. On September 24, 2024, in connection with the industry-
wide sweep into off-channel communications, the SEC
entered an administrative order against Stifel, Nicolaus &
Company, Incorporated (“Stifel” or the “Firm”). The SEC
found that the Firm willfully violated Section 17(a) of the
Exchange Act and Rule 17a-4(b)(4) thereunder, as well as
Section 204 of the Advisers Act and Rule 204-2(a)(7)
thereunder, due to recordkeeping failures related to
electronic communications. The Firm also failed to
reasonably supervise its personnel to prevent or detect
aiding and abetting violations of these sections. The SEC
ordered Stifel to cease and desist from committing or
Further, AI Technologies are highly reliant on the collection
and analysis of large amounts of data and complex algorithms.
Data in such models may contain a degree of inaccuracy and
error, which could have adverse impacts to the extent Stifel or
the firm’s service providers rely on the work product of such
AI Technologies. Stifel expects to be involved in the
collection of such data only in the context of limited custom
development of tools supporting bespoke AI product
developments, but these tools are likely to contain and
produce inaccurate information from time to time that may be
difficult to immediately identify and mitigate. There can be no
assurance that the use of AI Technologies will achieve
intended outcomes or that associated risks can be fully
Page 32 of 49
SF1600-3/26
causing any violations, censured the Firm, and imposed
undertakings including retaining an independent
compliance consultant. Additionally, a civil money
penalty of $35,000,000 was imposed.
2. On September 1, 2020, Stifel entered into a Letter of
of FINRA Rules 2010, 3110, 7440(b)(19), and NASD
Rule 3010. While not admitting or denying the
allegations, the firm consented to a censure, monetary fine
of $37,500, plus interest of $318.25, restitution payments
to affected investors, and an undertaking to revise its
written supervisory procedures relating to Rule 5320 and
Supplementary Material .02 of FINRA to settle these
allegations.
5. On January 26, 2018, Stifel entered into an AWC with
FINRA to settle allegations that the firm failed to report to
the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (“TRACE”)
transactions in TRACE-eligible securitized products
within the time required by FINRA Rule 6730. While not
admitting or denying these allegations, the firm agreed to
a censure and a fine of $17,500.
6. On November 3, 2017, Stifel entered into a consent
Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA
to settle allegations that, during the period of October 31,
2017 through February 27, 2020, the firm lacked a
supervisory system, including written supervisory
procedures (WSPs), reasonably designed to detect and
prevent Stifel and its registered representatives from
executing pre-arranged transactions in violation of
Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Rule G-
27. While not admitting or denying the allegations, the
firm consented to a censure and monetary fine of $40,000
to settle the allegations. As indicated in the AWC, Stifel
updated its supervisory system and WSPs regarding the
cited supervisory deficiencies prior to the entry of the
AWC.
3. In March 2019, Stifel, along with 78 other investment
agreement with the State of North Carolina, as part of a
multi-state task force agreement, regarding the sale of
securities commonly known as Auction Rate Securities
(“ARS”). The state regulatory authority claimed that
Stifel failed to reasonably supervise the sales of ARS by
failing to provide sufficient information and training to its
registered representatives and sales and marketing staff
regarding ARS and the mechanics of the auction process
applicable to ARS. As part of the consent agreement,
Stifel agreed to pay the state $18,088.80, to cease and
desist from violating securities laws and regulations, to
retain at Stifel’s expense a consultant to review the firm’s
supervisory and compliance policies and procedures
relating to product review of nonconventional
investments, and to repurchase certain auction rate
securities from the firm’s clients.
7. In June 2017, Stifel entered into an AWC with FINRA to
advisers who voluntarily participated in the SEC’s Share
Class Selection Disclosure Initiative, consented to the
entry of an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease-
and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Sections 203(e) and
203(k) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Making
Findings, and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-
and-Desist Order (the “Order”) by the SEC instituted
pursuant to Sections 203(e) and 203(k) of the Advisers
Act without admitting or denying the findings therein
except those related to jurisdiction and the subject matter
of the proceedings. The Order entered against Stifel
alleged that Stifel willfully violated Sections 206(2) and
207 of the Advisers Act as a result of its inadequate
disclosure of conflicts of interest related to (a) the
selection of mutual fund share classes that charged 12b-1
fees, which are recurring fees deducted from fund’s
assets, when an alternative share class was available that
did not charge a 12b-1 fee, and (b) the receipt of 12b-1
fees in connection with these investments. The SEC did
not impose a civil penalty against Stifel in recognition of
the fact that Stifel self-reported the issue to the SEC.
However, Stifel was censured and ordered to cease-and-
desist from committing or causing any violations and
future violations of Sections 206(2) and 207 of the
Advisers Act, pay disgorgement and pre-judgment
interest in the amount of $6,037,175.98 to affected
investors, and comply with several undertakings related to
notifying affected investors of the terms of the Order.
4. On January 26, 2018, Stifel entered into a Letter of
settle allegations that Stifel did not provide timely
disclosures to a municipal issuer in connection with its
role as placement agent in a placement of bonds issued by
the municipal issuer in accordance with interpretive
guidance issued by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking
Board (“MSRB”) regarding MSRB Rule G-23. In May
2012, Stifel recommended that the issuer do a placement,
in lieu of a public offering, in order to save on debt
service costs. The issuer accepted Stifel’s
recommendation and agreed that Stifel would serve as
placement agent. However, Stifel did not provide the
disclosures regarding its role in a timely manner. As a
result, the firm was alleged to have violated MSRB Rule
G-23 by serving as both financial advisor and placement
agent on the same issue. While not admitting or denying
the allegations, Stifel agreed to a regulatory censure and a
monetary fine of $125,000.
8. In March 2017, Stifel consented to the entry of a Cease
and Desist Order (“Order”) by the SEC in which Stifel
was found to have violated Section 206(4) of the Advisers
Act and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder by failing to adopt or
implement adequate policies and procedures to track and
disclose the trading away practices of certain Investment
Managers in several of Stifel’s discretionary wrap fee
programs, including information about additional costs
Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) with FINRA
to settle allegations that the firm (i) traded ahead of
certain customer orders at prices that would have satisfied
the customer orders; (ii) did not maintain adequate
supervisory controls that were reasonably designed to
achieve compliance with FINRA Rule 5320 and
Supplementary Material .02 of FINRA Rule 5320; and
failed to report an information barrier identifier with its
order audit trail system (OATS) submission for certain
orders. These allegations were considered to be violations
Page 33 of 49
SF1600-3/26
While not admitting or denying the allegations, the firm
consented to a censure and fine of $750,000.
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES
AND AFFILIATIONS
incurred by clients as a result of the Investment
Manager’s use of another broker to execute transactions
away from Stifel. Stifel neither admitted nor denied the
findings contained in the Order, except those related to
jurisdiction and the subject matter of the proceeding.
Stifel made several undertakings enumerated in the Order
related to the trading away practices of third-party
managers, including a review and update of its policies
and procedures, providing information to financial
advisors and clients, and training financial advisors. Stifel
was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $300,000 and
ordered to cease and desist from violating Section 206(4)
and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder.
As set forth above, our firm is dual registered as an investment
adviser and a broker-dealer, and is also a licensed insurance
agency with various states. We also have a number of
affiliates that are registered as investment advisers or broker-
dealers (or both). In addition to being registered
representatives of Stifel, some of our management persons
may be registered representatives of these affiliated broker-
dealers. Similarly, some of our management persons may be
management persons of our affiliates, including Affiliated
Managers. Finally, some of our management persons may be
licensed to practice law and/or may be certified accountants in
various states. These individuals do not provide legal or tax
advisory services to Clients. Our parent company, Stifel
Financial Corp., is a publicly traded company (ticker: SF). We
generally prohibit our Financial Advisors from recommending
the purchase of our parent company securities in Clients’
Advisory accounts.
9. On January 4, 2017, an Administrative Consent Order
(“Order”) was entered against Stifel and a former
registered representative associated with Stifel by the
Securities Division of the Mississippi Secretary of State
(“Division”) resolving an investigation into certain
activities occurring in two branch offices during the
period of September 2000 through November 2013.
Without admitting or denying the findings in the Order,
Stifel agreed to the entry of the Order directing Stifel to
cease and desist from violating Rule 5.15 of the
Mississippi Securities Act of 2010, a books and records
rule, and to pay the Division $49,500 on its behalf as well
as $500 on behalf of the former registered representative.
The following affiliates may be involved, directly or
indirectly, in the Advisory services provided to Clients in the
Programs covered in this brochure:
10. On December 6, 2016, a final judgment (“Judgment”) was
entered against Stifel by the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Civil Action No.
2:11-cv-00755) resolving a civil lawsuit filed by the SEC
in 2011 involving violations of several antifraud
provisions of the federal securities laws in connection
with the sale of synthetic collateralized debt obligations
(“CDOs”) to five Wisconsin school districts in 2006. As a
result of the Order, Stifel is required to cease and desist
from committing or causing any violations and any future
violations of Section 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the
Securities Act, and Stifel and a former employee are
jointly liable to pay disgorgement and prejudgment
interest of $2.5 million. Stifel was also required to pay a
civil penalty of $22 million. The Judgment also required
Stifel to distribute $12.5 million of the ordered
disgorgement and civil penalty to the school districts
involved in this matter.
11. On April 8, 2016, Stifel entered into an AWC with
Affiliated Managers – We have a number of arrangements
with our Affiliated Managers applicable to Clients enrolled in
our Programs. As of the date of this brochure, our Affiliated
Managers included 1919 Investment Counsel, EquityCompass
Investment Management, LLC, Washington Crossing
Advisors, LLC, Stifel Capital Management, LLC, North
Atlantic Capital Management, LLC, 501 North, LLC, and
InTyce, LLC (aka Stifel Wealth Tracker). Our affiliations with
any of the entities set forth above may change and/or we may
acquire new affiliates at any time, without prior notice to you.
Our Affiliated Managers provide Model Portfolios and/or
manage Portfolios on a discretionary basis in a number of our
Programs. We have a conflict of interest when our Financial
Advisors recommend Affiliated Managers rather than
Independent Managers, since any Product Fee received by an
Affiliated Manager remains within the Stifel umbrella and
may have a positive impact on the performance of our parent
company stock (of which the Financial Advisor is likely a
shareholder). Moreover, our Financial Advisors sometimes
develop close personal relationships with employees and
associated persons of our Affiliated Managers and, as a result,
could have an incentive to recommend such Affiliated
Managers over Independent Managers. To mitigate this risk,
we do not pay our Financial Advisors on the basis of
recommendations of Affiliated Managers or other affiliated
products. In addition, we pay our Affiliated Managers in the
same range as Independent Managers (i.e., Product Fees to
utilize the services and/or Portfolios of Affiliated Managers is
comparable to Product Fees associated with Independent
Managers).
FINRA to settle allegations that the firm used permissible
customer-owned securities as collateral for bank loans
procured by the firm. However, on several occasions over
a period of years, prior to performing its customer reserve
calculation, Stifel substituted those loans with loans
secured with firm-owned collateral. The substitution
thereby reduced the amount that Stifel was required to
deposit into the Customer Reserve Account. FINRA
found the practice to be a violation of applicable rules,
including Section 15I of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 and Rule 15c3-3(e)(2) thereunder. Throughout the
relevant period, the firm had sufficient resources to fund
the Customer Reserve Account even if the substitutions
had not occurred.
We may make our Advisory Programs available to investment
advisory Clients of other firms. We also provide portfolio
Page 34 of 49
SF1600-3/26
In connection with the insured bank deposit programs offered
as cash sweep options for our Client accounts, our affiliates,
Stifel Bank, Stifel Bank & Trust, STC, and STCD (each, an
“Affiliated Bank” and collectively, “Affiliated Banks”), are
either the sole participating deposit institutions, or the top
participating deposit institutions into which idle cash swept
from eligible Client accounts may be swept. From time to
time, Clients may also have a direct relationship with an
Affiliated Bank and hold other personal deposit and/or bank
accounts at such affiliates, in which case, such Clients are
solely responsible for any customary fees that are charged
with respect to such deposit or other bank accounts.
management services to some of these clients if the clients
enroll in any Program or Portfolio where we maintain
discretion. We receive a share of the fees and/or charges paid
by these clients in connection with the services that we
provide. In our capacity as a registered broker-dealer, we may
also serve as clearing broker and custodian to the accounts and
make a wide range of Advisory services and support resources
available to those clients. We also provide portfolio
management services to some of these clients to the extent
they are enrolled in a Program or Portfolio where we maintain
discretion. We receive a share of the fees and/or charges paid
by these clients in connection with the services that we
provide.
Furthermore, as set forth under the section “Credit Line
Loans” below, our Affiliated Banks may compensate us in
connection with Credit Line Loans (based on the outstanding
balance) that Clients hold at the bank. Clients should therefore
note that the Financial Advisor has an incentive to recommend
such Credit Line Loans and, as such, should carefully review
the terms of any proposed Credit Line Loan prior to taking out
any such Loan.
Finally, our Affiliated Banks may, from time to time, issue
brokered certificates of deposit which we may determine to
make available for purchase by our clients. With respect to
IRAs and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, Stifel Bank
serves as IRA custodian. When acting as IRA custodian, Stifel
Bank does not provide and is not responsible for brokerage or
advisory services for your account(s).
Affiliated Broker-Dealers – We have a number of affiliates
that are registered broker-dealers. As a full-service broker-
dealer, we self-execute client transactions and, as such,
generally do not use the execution services of our affiliated
broker-dealers in providing services to our Advisory clients.
However, a number of our affiliated broker-dealers may serve
as underwriters or otherwise participate in the distribution of
securities that end up in our advisory accounts through
purchases in the secondary market (NOTE that our wrap
accounts do not participate in initial public offerings). Some of
our affiliated broker-dealers (for example, Keefe, Bruyette &
Woods (“KBW”)) also provide research used by our Financial
Advisors in making investment decisions for Clients. As set
forth above, we do not use these affiliates (including KBW) to
execute Client trades or otherwise provide services directly to
Advisory Client accounts. Your Financial Advisor can provide
or direct you to a full list of our affiliated broker-dealer, upon
request.
Affiliated Funds and Other Products – As discussed above in
“Additional Information on Fees and Other Compensation,”
Stifel and its affiliates receive compensation from Funds and
other products.
Affiliated Trust Companies and Banks – Our affiliated trust
companies, Stifel Trust Company, National Association
(“STC”) and Stifel Trust Company Delaware, National
Association (“STCD”), each provide personal trust services
(including serving as trustee or co-trustee, or custodian) for
individuals and organizations. The fees charged by our trust
affiliates are structured in a manner that is consistent with
fiduciary principles to which such entities are subject. STC’s
and STCD’s published fee schedules provide a listing of the
services for which each receives payment. A copy of the fee
schedule is delivered to each trust client.
From time to time, as trustee or co-trustee, these trust affiliates
may open an Advisory account in the Programs covered by
this brochure, and/or access other advisory services that we
offer. In such cases, we generally view our client to be the
affiliated trust companies (i.e., STC or STCD), not their
underlying trust clients on whose behalf our affiliates are
acting (even where, for example, our Financial Advisor may
have referred the underlying trust client to the affiliate trust
company and, as a result, indirectly shares in the trust fees
received).
Limited Partnerships and Other Private Funds – Our firm
may, directly or through an affiliate, act as general partner,
manager, or managing member of various investment
partnerships, limited liability companies, and similar entities
(collectively referred to as “Affiliated Private Funds”). These
Affiliated Private Funds are offered to eligible investors, some
of whom may have Advisory accounts with us. Solicitation
activities for these securities are typically made via an offering
memorandum, circular, or prospectus and may only be made
to clients for whom such investments are deemed suitable.
Regardless of whether such funds are Affiliated Private Funds
or not affiliated with us, investors will indirectly incur various
fees and expenses as described in the offering documents for
the applicable fund. With limited exceptions, Clients that
invest in Affiliated Private Funds at Stifel are required to hold
such securities in brokerage accounts. To the extent that
Affiliated Funds are held in brokerage accounts, these clients
are not charged Advisory Account Fees with respect to the
holdings. If an exception is granted for a Client to purchase
and/or hold such Affiliated Private Funds in an Advisory
account, depending on the particular Affiliated Private Fund
and/or the specific class, series, or type of interest held, Stifel
may charge an Advisory Account Fee with respect to such
securities held in the Advisory account, which Advisory
Account Fee will generally be in lieu of fees charged by the
Affiliated Private Funds (but in addition to any fees charged
by any underlying investments in which the Affiliated Private
Funds invests), or the management fee or placement fee may
be waived or reduced. Alternatively, the value of such
securities held in the Advisory account will be excluded from
the Advisory Account Fee billing.
Page 35 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Stifel Nicolaus Insurance Agency, Incorporated – As set
forth above, our firm is licensed as an insurance agency in a
number of states and, as such, is able to sell insurance
products to clients directly. However, in a few states,
insurance products are sold through our affiliate, Stifel
Nicolaus Insurance Agency, Incorporated. In such cases, the
affiliate, and not our firm, will receive customary
commissions paid by the insurance companies issuing Client
policies. Financial Advisors who sell insurance products in
such states typically are licensed as agents of the affiliate and
will receive a portion of the insurance commissions paid. Any
insurance is separate from our advisory services and not
covered by your advisory fee.
*
*
*
*
a Client if we purchase from or sell to our inventory of
securities, we generally are not able to engage in such
transactions with Advisory accounts due to regulatory
requirements, which require written disclosure and consent on
a trade-by-trade basis. Except as set forth below, we do not
permit Advisory accounts to purchase securities in syndicated
offerings from our firm or our affiliates, unless neither Stifel
nor our other affiliates are underwriters for the offering and
the transaction can be effected on an agency basis. In limited
circumstances, we will act in our capacity as a registered
broker-dealer to execute principal trades (including, but not
limited to, syndicate transactions) without having to obtain
Client consent if the transaction is directed by an Independent
Manager for the Client’s wrap account in accordance with
applicable law and/or regulatory guidance.
Our affiliations with these entities may change and/or we
may acquire new affiliates at any time, without prior
notice to you.
Each Client should note that each relationship set forth
above creates a conflict of interest for our firm and/or
Financial Advisors. Our firm acts as a fiduciary with
respect to all Advisory services. As a fiduciary, we take
reasonable steps to ensure that all material conflicts are
fully disclosed to our Clients.
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST
IN CLIENT TRANSACTIONS, AND PERSONAL
TRADING
When permitted by applicable law and firm policy, we may
cause Client accounts to engage in cross and agency cross
transactions. A cross transaction occurs when we cause a
Client account to buy securities from, or sell securities to,
another Client, and our firm does not receive a commission
from the transaction. We may (but are under no obligation to)
cause Client accounts to engage in cross transactions. An
agency cross transaction occurs when our firm acts as broker
for a Client account on one side of the transaction and a
brokerage account or another Client account on the other side
of the transaction in connection with the purchase or sale of
securities by the Client account, and our firm receives a
commission from the transaction. We will have a potentially
conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the
parties to cross and agency-cross transactions, including with
respect to a decision to enter into such transaction as well as
with respect to valuation, pricing, and other terms. We have
adopted policies and procedures in relation to such
transactions and conflicts. However, there can be no assurance
that such transactions will be effected in the manner that is
most favorable to a Client account that is a party to any such
transaction. Cross transactions may disproportionately benefit
some Client accounts as compared to other Client accounts
due to the relative amount of market savings obtained by the
Client accounts. If effected, cross or agency cross transactions
are effected in accordance with fiduciary requirements and
applicable law (which may include providing disclosure and
obtaining Client consent). To the extent such consent is
provided in advance of the cross or agency cross transactions,
Clients may revoke the consent at any time by written notice
to Stifel or their Financial Advisor, and any such revocation
will be effective once we have received and have had a
reasonable time to act on it.
Code of Ethics
In addition to Stifel Financial Corp.’s Code of Ethics Policy,
which is applicable to all Stifel personnel, our Advisory
personnel are also subject to our Investment Advisory Code of
Ethics (“IA Code of Ethics”). The IA Code of Ethics applies
to activities that our personnel conduct in our firm’s capacity
as a registered investment adviser, subject to applicable
fiduciary obligations. A copy of the IA Code of Ethics is
available upon request. Set forth in the IA Code of Ethics are
standards reasonably designed to promote honest and ethical
conduct, comply with federal securities laws and
governmental rules and regulations, maintain privacy of Client
information, protect nonpublic information, and encourage
associates to report any known violations. Such standards
include placing Client interests first, avoiding any material or
potential conflicts of interest, and ensuring that personal
securities transactions are conducted appropriately.
Compliance periodically reviews the IA Code of Ethics to
ensure adequacy and effectiveness in complying with
applicable regulations.
Participation or Interest in Client Transactions
To the extent we execute transactions for Client accounts,
Advisory transactions are generally executed on an agency
basis. However, our firm may trade with Clients and seek to
earn a profit for its own account (such trades generally are
referred to as “principal transactions”). Principal transactions
are executed at prices and commission rates that we believe
are competitive and in accordance with industry practice.
Although we may be able to provide a more favorable price to
Our Financial Advisors may also recommend securities issued
by entities that are also clients of our firm, in our firm’s
capacity as investment adviser and/or broker-dealer. For
example, our Financial Advisors may recommend securities of
issuers that our firm has otherwise sponsored or promoted
(including serving as underwriter or selling member in initial
public offerings and other syndicated offerings). To the extent
recommended, those securities will be purchased in the
secondary market, and not during the initial or secondary
offerings. We do not allow accounts over which we are
serving as investment adviser to participate in offerings in
Page 36 of 49
SF1600-3/26
which our firm is also a selling member (this limitation may
not apply to transactions that are directed by unaffiliated
Investment Managers on our platform, to the extent such
transactions are permitted by applicable law). Client
participation (if any) in such offerings must be effected in
brokerage accounts, and solely in the firm’s capacity as
broker-dealer. Clients with brokerage accounts that determine
to participate in such offerings should note, therefore, that
neither Stifel nor the Financial Advisor is, in any way, acting
as a fiduciary with respect to any such transactions. As
associated persons of a registered broker-dealer, our Financial
Advisors are generally prohibited from participating in these
offerings. However, some of our affiliates may, for their own
accounts or for accounts of their clients, take substantial
positions in such securities. In such cases, the affiliate may
indirectly benefit from our Financial Advisor’s investment
recommendations if (for example) the later purchase by our
Client accounts of the securities (i.e., in the secondary market)
cause the price of those securities to rise.
Personal Trading
Our employees and affiliates may invest in any Advisory
Programs that we offer. We have adopted various policies and
procedures designed to detect and prevent the misuse of
material, non-public information by employees. Our firm and
affiliates, directors, officers, stockholders, employees, and
members of their families may have positions in and, from
time to time, buy or sell securities that we recommend to
Advisory accounts. We prohibit transactions in our firm
account(s) and accounts of associated persons in any security
that is the subject of a recommendation of our Research
department until the recommendation has been disseminated
to Clients and a reasonable time has elapsed following the
dissemination. Our associated persons are prohibited from
buying or selling securities for their personal accounts if the
decision to do so is substantially derived, in whole or in part,
by reason of their employment, unless the information is also
available to the investing public or through reasonable inquiry.
We maintain and regularly review securities holdings in the
accounts of persons who may have access to Advisory
recommendations.
BROKERAGE PRACTICES
In general, our policies prohibit Stifel personnel from sharing
information relating to investments made for Client accounts
with affiliates or other parties, unless such parties need to
know such information in order to provide services to any
affected client accounts and such disclosure is permitted by
law. To the extent that associated persons obtain information
relating to investments by Stifel and/or an affiliate, such
associated persons are prohibited from (i) passing such
information to any other person who does not need to know
the information in order to perform required duties and (ii)
using such information to benefit a Financial Advisor or
Client.
About Our Broker-Dealer
Our firm’s principal business in terms of revenue and
personnel is that of a securities broker-dealer. As a broker-
dealer, we execute securities transactions per client
instructions. As an integral part of the services offered when
providing brokerage services, Financial Advisors may provide
services and provide advice about securities that are incidental
to Stifel’s brokerage services. However, when providing
brokerage services, Financial Advisors do not make
investment decisions on behalf of clients and do not charge
any fees for any incidental advice given. Absent special
circumstances, Financial Advisors are not held to fiduciary
standards when providing brokerage services. Legal
obligations to disclose detailed information about the nature
and scope of our business, personnel, commissions charged,
material or potential conflicts of interests, and other matters
are limited when acting as a broker-dealer.
Our Responsibilities as a Broker-Dealer
As a broker-dealer, Stifel is held to the legal standards of the
Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
FINRA rules, and state laws where applicable. Such standards
include fair dealings with clients, reasonable and fair
execution prices in light of prevailing market conditions,
reasonable commissions and other charges, and reasonable
basis for believing that securities recommendations are
suitable.
Our officers and/or employees (including our Financial
Advisors) may serve on the boards of companies in Clients’
portfolios. In addition, our firm or affiliates may provide
services to such portfolio companies. The portfolio companies
may compensate us (or our affiliates) for services with options
to purchase stock or other equity interests of the portfolio
companies. If an affiliate owns options or other securities
issued by portfolio companies, a conflict of interest may arise
between the timing of any exercise or sale of these options,
and our decisions about the same portfolio securities for Client
accounts. We do not solicit such information from any
affiliate.
Our firm, Financial Advisors, and affiliates frequently have
access to non-public information about publicly traded
companies. When this occurs, our Financial Advisors (and
therefore, their Client accounts) may be prohibited from
trading an existing position at a time that would be beneficial
to such Clients, resulting in investment losses or the failure to
achieve investment gains. In other cases, we may purchase or
sell the securities of an issuer at a time when an affiliate or its
employees have material non-public information about such
securities or their issuers if the affiliates have not otherwise
notified us of their possession of such information. Our
affiliates and their respective employees have no duty to make
any such information available to us, and we have no duty to
obtain such information from the affiliates and do not
otherwise solicit such information.
Brokerage clients pay commission charges on a per-
transaction basis for securities execution services in their
brokerage accounts. As set forth elsewhere in this brochure,
with limited exceptions, accounts enrolled in the Programs
above generally pay a wrap fee that covers Stifel’s advisory
custodial, execution, and administrative services, as well as
other applicable advisory and portfolio management services
by Managers. See “Fees and Compensation” for more details
about the wrap fee.
Page 37 of 49
SF1600-3/26
Types of Securities Traded. Investment Managers whose
strategies consist primarily (or substantially) of fixed income
securities, foreign securities (including American Depositary
Receipts or ordinary shares), ETFs, and/or small cap securities
are generally more likely to trade away from Stifel. This
means that Clients investing in such strategies are more likely
to incur execution costs in addition to the Advisory Account
Fee paid to Stifel. Clients should, therefore, take these costs
into consideration when selecting and/or deciding to remain
invested in the affected strategies.
Trade Aggregation. Investment Managers typically manage
wrap client accounts for multiple firms using the same
strategy, and may also manage other directly sourced accounts
side-by-side with Stifel Client accounts. In certain cases, an
Investment Manager may decide to aggregate all transactions
for clients in its Portfolio(s) into a block trade that is executed
through one broker-dealer, rather than separately through each
participating firm (such as Stifel). Aggregating transactions
into a single block may enable the Investment Manager to
obtain a better price or additional investment opportunities for
its clients, as well as allow the Investment Manager to exercise
more control over the execution, including (for example)
potentially avoiding an adverse effect on the price of a
security that could result from simultaneously placing a
number of separate, successive, and/or competing client
orders.
Execution of Transactions
As set forth above, as wrap sponsor, we expect to self-execute
trades for accounts in the Programs covered in this brochure to
the extent we have trading discretion and/or if Investment
Managers direct trades to our firm. However, we may
determine to effect transactions for discretionary Portfolios
through other broker-dealers if we determine, in light of all
applicable factors, that executing through the other broker-
dealer would provide better execution than would be the case
if we self-executed. Investment Managers in the Opportunity,
Connect, and IMC Programs, have discretion to effect trades
on behalf of Clients through broker-dealers other than Stifel.
An Investment Manager may trade away if it determines, in its
sole discretion, such trade-aways would be in the best interests
of its clients, such as to satisfy its best execution obligations.
As set forth above, Clients in our Programs pay fees to Stifel
and, as applicable, the Investment Manager for services, which
include costs related to transactions in Client accounts effected
through Stifel. However, for all transactions executed through
other broker-dealers, Clients will likely (but may not always)
incur additional costs, such as commissions or
markups/markdowns embedded in the price of the security,
that are in addition to, and not included in, the Advisory
Account Fee. As such, Clients are separately responsible for
any execution costs incurred in connection with such trades.
These additional costs are not reflected on Client account
statements; however, if the Investment Manager has provided
the appropriate information to us regarding such trades and the
related additional costs, the information will be indicated on
trade confirmations, or on quarterly transaction confirmation
reports provided to those Clients who have elected to suppress
immediate trade confirmations.1
1All other information shown does not reflect any additional execution costs
resulting from trades executed through other broker-dealers.
As Managers, Investment Managers have a fiduciary
obligation to act in the best interests of their advisory clients
and are therefore required to seek to obtain “best execution” in
effecting trades on behalf of such clients. Under the Advisers
Act, “best execution” generally means executing transactions
in a manner such that the client’s total cost or proceeds are the
most favorable under the circumstances. Although it is
important for Investment Managers to seek the best price for a
security in the marketplace and minimize unnecessary
brokerage costs in satisfying its obligations, these are not the
only factors used to determine whether the Investment
Manager has satisfied its obligations. It is not an obligation to
get the lowest possible commission cost, or to solicit
competitive bids for each transaction, but rather, the
Investment Manager determines whether the transaction
represents the best qualitative execution for its clients. In
selecting a broker-dealer, Investment Managers may consider
the full range and quality of services offered by the broker-
dealer, including the value of the research provided (if any),
execution capability, commission rate charged, the broker-
dealer’s financial responsibility, and its responsiveness.
Investment Managers’ Historical Trading Away Practices.
We maintain a list of Investment Managers with trading
discretion over Client accounts that have notified us that they
traded away from Stifel during the previous year – the list is
typically available no earlier than the second quarter of the
following year. The list includes the names of the applicable
Portfolios, information about the Investment Manager’s trade-
away practices for a particular Portfolio, and the average
associated costs (if any) during the applicable year. The
information is provided to existing investors in the affected
Portfolios, as well as to new Clients seeking to enroll into an
affected Portfolio after such information is available.
However, the information contained in the list is based solely
upon information provided to Stifel by each Investment
Manager and is not independently verified by Stifel. As a
result, Stifel does not make any representations as to the
accuracy of the information presented. The information on the
list regarding an Investment Manager’s prior trade-away
practices is not a guarantee that a particular Investment
Manager will exercise or repeat the same practices in the
future and/or with the same frequency. It is possible that an
Investment Manager could trade away more or less frequently,
or at a higher or lower commission rate, fee, or other
expenses, resulting in greater or lesser costs than those
indicated. Individual Clients enrolled in the Portfolios noted
may experience different results. Similarly, it is possible that
an Investment Manager that has not previously, or recently,
traded away from Stifel will do so in the future.
It is also important to note that Stifel does not monitor, review,
or otherwise evaluate whether an Investment Manager is
satisfying its best execution obligations to clients.
Additional information about an Investment Manager’s
brokerage practices, including the factors that the Investment
Manager considers in satisfying its best execution obligations,
which may vary according to the type(s) of securities traded,
Page 38 of 49
SF1600-3/26
is contained in each Investment Manager’s Form ADV Part
2A Brochure. Clients should review each Investment
Manager’s trading away practices before selecting, or while
reviewing, the Investment Manager’s Portfolios.
may (but are not required to) aggregate orders for the purchase
of a security for the Accounts of several discretionary Client
accounts for execution in a single transaction (“block trades”).
However, Clients in our Solutions Program should be aware
that we do not require Financial Advisors who manage
Solutions accounts to aggregate orders for Client accounts into
block trades. As a result, Clients with Solutions accounts
managed by the same Financial Advisor (including, for
example, in the same Solutions Portfolio) may receive
different execution prices even when trading in the same
security on the same day.
Orders for most Advisory Programs are routed for agency
execution. Our firm does not impose commissions (including
markups or markdowns) on transactions that we execute for
fee-based advisory accounts; however, as agency transactions,
the broker on the other side of the transaction may charge a
markup or markdown that may be equal to, or greater, than
any markup or markdown we would have charged if we
executed the trade in a principal capacity). Where permissible
by applicable law (for example, in our Opportunity Program
where an Independent Manager is directing a trade for non-
retirement accounts), we may act as broker for the transaction
and, at the same time, purchase and/or sell securities for a
Client transaction from our inventory. Consistent with
applicable regulations, such inventory trades are not
considered “principal transactions” to the extent that an
Investment Manager (not Stifel) determines that purchasing
the securities from Stifel inventory is in the underlying
Clients’ best interest. In addition, if an Advisory account holds
a position which includes fractional shares, Stifel will
accommodate any requests to liquidate for the fractional
component by processing the transaction through its principal
trading account, while the whole shares are liquidated on an
agency basis.
Additionally, we generally will not aggregate trades across
MBT Portfolios even where such MBT Portfolios are trading
in the same securities on the same day. Similarly, we generally
will not aggregate trades for different accounts where portfolio
management decisions for accounts are made separately (e.g.,
same-day trades for different Programs). Clients should,
therefore, understand that discretionary accounts in one or
more MBT Portfolios and/or Programs may get different
prices even if such accounts trade in the same security on the
same day. When used, block trading can allow us to execute
equity trades in a timely, equitable manner. The related
transaction costs are shared equally at an average price per
share and on a pro rata basis between all accounts included in
the block trade, and participating accounts receive the same
average price for the security. Orders that cannot be filled in
the same block trade or at the same average price are assigned
to accounts in a manner that seeks to treat Clients fairly and
equitably over time. This practice does not ordinarily affect or
otherwise reduce fees, commissions, or other costs charged to
Clients for these transactions, but may provide price
improvement. A partial fill of a block trade may be allocated
among Client accounts randomly, pro rata, or by some other
equitable procedure. In certain cases, Managers on our
Advisory platform may use computer systems that allocate
purchase and sale transactions either on a random or pro rata
basis. In any case, Clients may pay higher or lower prices for
securities than may otherwise have been obtained.
In connection with the handling of block orders, where
permitted by law, our firm may engage in hedging, offsetting,
liquidating, facilitating, or positioning transactions (“risk-
mitigating transactions”) that may occur at the same time or in
advance of a client order, and these activities may have impact
on market prices. Unless we are informed in writing (“opt
out”), we will conclude that all clients with accounts at Stifel
understand that we may engage in risk-mitigating transactions
in connection with client orders and will conclude that clients
have given us (including our affiliates) consent to handle
block transactions as described above. Clients can contact
their Financial Advisor for instructions on how to opt out.
On the execution end, Advisory account orders are generally
treated with the same priority and procedural flow as non-
advisory brokerage trades (except, such orders are not routed
to our market makers and may be done as a block order, which
may have different rules and priorities). We generally use
automated systems to route and execute orders for the
purchase and sale of securities for most Advisory accounts,
unless directed by Clients to do otherwise. We use a
reasonable diligence to ascertain the best markets for a
security and to buy and sell in such markets so that the
resultant price to the customer is as favorable as possible
under prevailing market conditions. Certain large orders that
require special handling may be routed to a market center for
execution via telephone or other electronic means. We
periodically monitor existing and potential execution venues
and may route orders in exchange-listed or over-the-counter
(“OTC”) securities to other venues if it is believed that such
routing is consistent with best execution principles. For equity
securities, we monitor the performance of competing market
centers and generally route orders to those that consistently
complete transactions timely and at a reasonable cost and
which normally execute at the national best bid or offer.
Whenever possible, orders are routed to market centers that
offer opportunities for price improvement through automated
systems. We execute mutual fund transactions for Advisory
accounts through traditional omnibus vendors, or through
clearing arrangements with other brokerage firms under so-
called super-omnibus arrangements.
Directed Brokerage
We generally do not allow Clients to direct brokerage to other
broker-dealers; in limited circumstances, some Managers may
allow Clients to direct brokerage to other broker-dealers.
When Clients direct brokerage away from Stifel, it generally
will result in higher costs.
Aggregation of Trades in Advisory Portfolios
To the extent possible and where permitted under applicable
law, and in order to seek a more advantageous trade price, we
Page 39 of 49
SF1600-3/26
loss associated with the correction, and retain any gains
realized as a result of correcting trade errors.
The Advisory Account Fee for Advisory services does not
cover, and Clients are separately responsible for, any
brokerage commissions, markups, markdowns, and/or other
costs associated with transactions effected through or with
other broker-dealer firms.
In instances where an error occurs such that a trade correction
is not available or practicable to implement (such as, for
example, where a Client’s account is enrolled into the wrong
Portfolio and the error is not identified and corrected
promptly), we will typically correct the error by reimbursing
the Client the negative performance differential, if any, for the
period from the start of the error to the time the correction is
made.
Clients investing in Investment Manager-traded Portfolios
should carefully review the error correction disclosures set
forth in each such Investment Manager’s Form ADV Part 2A
for an understanding of how that Investment Manager will
correct trade and other errors.
We offer many services and, from time to time, may have
other Clients in the same or other Programs trading in
opposition to other Clients’ Advisory accounts. To avoid
favoring one Client over another Client, we attempt to use
objective market data in the correction of any trading errors.
Order Routing and Payment for Order Flow
Stifel receives payment for order flow for directing orders to
certain exchanges and other trading venues. The source and
nature of any payment received in connection with your
particular transaction will be disclosed upon written request.
In addition, in order to access a wide variety of execution
venues, the firm does participate in the maker/taker model.
Certain exchanges and other trading centers to which the firm
routes equities and options orders have implemented fee
structures under which broker-dealer participants may receive
rebates on certain orders. Under these fee structures,
participants are charged a fee for orders that take liquidity
from the venue and provided a rebate for orders that add
liquidity to the venue. Rebates received by the firm from a
venue during any time period may or may not exceed the fees
paid by the firm to the venue during that time period. Fees
and/or rebates from all venues are subject to change. Stifel
will provide customers additional information regarding
average net fees/rebates paid/received upon written request.
For venues from which Stifel receives a rebate, Stifel is
considered to be receiving payment for order flow.
Additional information will be provided upon written request,
and certain order routing information is available online at
stifel.com/disclosures/best-execution. On request of a
customer and at no fee, Stifel will disclose to such customer
the identity of the venue to which such customer’s orders were
routed for execution in the six months prior to the request,
whether the orders were directed orders or non-directed
orders, and the time of the transactions, if any, that resulted
from such orders. Orders could be routed and executed
internally through Stifel’s trading desk. In such instances,
Stifel stands to share in 100% of any compensation received
(in the case of orders executed as agent) or profits or losses
generated (in the case of orders executed as principal) as a
result of internalizing such orders. Customers may mail their
inquiries to: Stifel – Attn: Equity Trading Compliance, 501
North Broadway, St. Louis, Missouri 63102.
Research and Other Benefits
Financial Advisors and Clients have access to research
published by our firm’s research analysts (“Stifel Research”),
the primary source of our research. Subject to certain
exceptions, we incorporate the insights and economic
perspectives of Stifel Research, where appropriate, into our
products and services. Clients should be aware that our firm
may have conflicts of interest in connection with research
reports published. Stifel and other affiliates may have long or
short positions, or deal as principal or agent, in relevant
securities, or may provide Advisory or other services to
issuers of relevant securities or to companies connected with
issuers covered in research reports issued by Stifel Research.
Our research analysts’ compensation is not based on
investment banking revenues; however, their compensation
may relate to revenues or profitability of Stifel business
groups as a whole, which may include investment banking,
sales, and trading services. Financial Advisors also have
access to proprietary models covering various securities,
including (but not limited to) equities, fixed income, mutual
funds, and municipal securities developed by our firm’s
various business areas, and may use these models in
connection with managing and/or otherwise providing
investment advice to Clients.
Trade Error Correction
In the event we make an error that has a financial impact on a
client’s account, we will seek to correct the error as soon as
possible and in such a manner that the affected client is not
disadvantaged and bears no loss. We will evaluate each
situation independently.
If there is a trade error for which we are responsible, trades
will be adjusted or reversed as needed and/or will take such
other steps as are necessary in order to put the Client’s account
in the position that it would have been in if the error had not
occurred. Errors relating to trades that have not yet settled are
corrected at no cost to Client accounts by moving the affected
securities to our error account and entering correcting trades in
the Client’s account such that the Client is made whole. We
net the correcting trades when assessing the overall gain or
Our firm may also use research obtained from other financial
institutions, including our affiliate, KBW, as well as from
other affiliated or unaffiliated broker-dealers and/or
investment advisers. In general, we seek third-party research
that is in-depth fundamental corporate research to assist in
providing advisory services to clients. We do not use
commission dollars from Program accounts to pay for
research; our Financial Advisors have access to research from
other financial institutions provided to our firm under
reciprocal arrangements with Stifel Research. Our firm (or
particular Financial Advisors) may also pay for independent
research using hard dollars. Finally, as set forth in the
Page 40 of 49
SF1600-3/26
investments when determining billable value. Therefore,
employing margin to buy securities or otherwise engaging in
short sales in Advisory accounts generally increases the
billable value of the account and, ultimately, our total
compensation on the account(s). Clients that use (or otherwise
enroll in strategies that use) margin or short selling may lose
more than their original investments. A positive or negative
performance, net of interest charges and fees, is magnified;
gains or losses are greater than would be the case in accounts
that do not employ margin strategies. A number of the risks
discussed above apply even in cases where the margin debit is
held or associated to a non-Advisory account, and Advisory
assets are being used to cross-collateralize the margin loan in
the brokerage account.
Training and Education Expenses From Fund Companies (or
Managers), our Financial Advisors may also obtain research
from firms that provide other products and services to us (for
example, a Manager may make its research reports available
to our Financial Advisors). Clients should be aware that our
receipt of these research services may present a conflict of
interest by creating an incentive for our firm and/or Financial
Advisors to recommend the investment products offered by
the research provider firms (or by their affiliates). In general,
our policies prohibit our Financial Advisors from basing their
recommendations of Managers and/or securities on the
research services received from the Manager or issuer, or any
of their related persons. Research services are generally used
to benefit all client accounts, whether or not such research was
generated by the applicable client account. However, not all
research services will be used for all client accounts; the type
of research used with respect to any one account will depend
on, among other things, the types of investments that are
deemed suitable for the account.
For Portfolios that use margin or engage in short selling, we
may, at our discretion, choose to cover all existing short
positions when you terminate from the applicable Portfolio.
To the extent that a maintenance call is triggered in
connection with a margined account and we are forced to
sell any assets used as collateral for the margin loan, or if
we determine to liquidate any or all of your short positions
in connection with a termination from a specialized
Portfolio, we will act solely in our capacity as a registered
broker-dealer (and not as an investment adviser or other
fiduciary). Moreover, if selling such assets, we will seek to
maximize our interest, and will not prioritize a Client’s
interest. Clients generally will not benefit from employing
margin or short-selling strategies if the performance of the
account does not exceed the total costs incurred (i.e., the
Advisory Account Fee plus all other applicable fees and
expenses).
REFERRAL PROGRAMS
We generally do not act as investment adviser when making
the referrals described in this section. You should consider the
referral compensation Stifel and/or your Stifel Financial
Advisor may be eligible to receive when evaluating your
relationship with us and the reasonability of any fees or other
charges you pay us.
Referrals for Trust Services
Our parent company, Stifel Financial Corp., along with the
Firm (together the “Service Providers”), have entered into
Referral, Operating and Service agreements with our affiliated
trust companies – Stifel Trust Company, National Association
(“STC”) and Stifel Trust Company Delaware, National
Association (“STCD”) (STC and STCD, individually and
collectively, sometimes referred to hereafter as the “trust
companies”).
Pursuant to these agreements, STC and STCD pay the Service
Providers for providing services, referral services and client
services. The Service Providers receive, on a quarterly basis,
20% of the net fiduciary fees received by STC and STCD.
Specifically, the Firm pays its Financial Advisors a portion of
net fees on a monthly basis for the life of the account. Fees
shall not be payable with respect to those accounts for which
the Service Providers do not provide the referral services or
Margin and Short Selling
We do not allow the use of margin in Advisory accounts
except in limited cases. For those Clients that are specifically
permitted, the use of margin strategies will be limited to
eligible non-retirement Advisory accounts at Stifel.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, we generally allow Clients to
use the assets held in their Advisory accounts as collateral for
margin debits held in non-Advisory accounts. We also allow
the use of margin in connection with approved Portfolios that
engage in short selling. The use of leverage, or investing with
borrowed funds, is generally not recommended in Advisory
Programs; however, it may be approved on an exception basis
when specifically requested by individual Clients, or for use in
specialized Portfolios in our Programs. Certain eligibility
requirements must be met, and documentation, in the form of
a separate margin agreement (and, in some cases, additional
certifications) that must be signed by the Client prior to using
leverage or enrolling in these specialized Portfolios. In making
the decision to set up margin privileges for an Advisory
account (or enrolling in a Portfolio that uses margin or
engages in short sales), it is important that Clients understand
the risks associated with employing margin and/or short-
selling strategies, the impact the use of borrowed funds may
have on Advisory accounts, and how investment objectives
may be negatively affected. Employing margin and/or
engaging in short sales in Advisory accounts is a more
aggressive, higher-risk approach to pursuing investment
objectives. Clients should carefully consider whether the
additional risks are appropriate prior to employing these
strategies due to the increased potential for significantly
greater losses associated with using these strategies. The use
of these strategies also involves higher costs: for example,
Clients pay short sale charges in connection with each short
sale transaction in the account. Moreover, if the account
carries an outstanding margin loan, the Client will also pay
interest to our firm on the outstanding loan balance. These fees
are in addition to the agreed-upon Advisory Account Fee.
Furthermore, Advisory Account Fees are calculated as a
percentage of the total “billable” value of assets in the
account; the amount/value of the margin loan or short
positions is not deducted from the total value of the
Page 41 of 49
SF1600-3/26
the client services. These payments create an incentive for
Financial Advisors to refer you to STC and STCD.
There may be an interim period between the time a referral is
made and the time the trust companies begin to provide
services.
reason. Because an Affiliated Bank assigns different release
rates to different asset types, in some cases, Clients may also
be able to satisfy such requirements by selling securities with
a low release rate and investing and/or holding the proceeds in
assets that have a higher release rate for the loan. In each case,
failure to promptly meet requests for additional collateral or
repayment, or other circumstances including a rapidly
declining market, may cause our banking affiliate to instruct
us to liquidate some or all of the collateral supporting any
Credit Line Loan in order to meet collateral maintenance
requirements without needing your prior approval. You will
not be entitled to choose the securities that will be sold.
Depending on market circumstances, the prices obtained for
the securities may be less than favorable. Any required
liquidations may interrupt the account’s investment strategy
and may result in adverse tax consequences or additional fees
being assessed.
Credit Line Loans
In some circumstances, Clients are able to use Advisory
account assets as collateral for variable or fixed rate credit
lines (“Credit Line Loans”) offered by an Affiliated Bank. An
example of a Credit Line Loan is the Stifel Pledged Asset
(“SPA”) Loan, which is offered by Stifel Bank & Trust. The
SPA loan account is subject to application and credit approval
by Stifel Bank & Trust. Please refer to the terms and
conditions outlined in the Stifel Pledged Asset Loan Account
Agreement, which is provided separately to applicants by
Stifel Bank & Trust.
The Affiliated Banks typically pay us a fee of up to 0.25% per
annum, on a quarterly basis, of the outstanding SPA Loan
balance, a portion of which is paid to your Financial Advisor.
In addition, the Affiliated Banks pay Stifel up to $50 for each
newly booked loan, which Stifel will then pay to the Financial
Advisor’s Client Service Associate (“CSA”) for the CSA’s
assistance to the borrower in completing the related
application. Neither we nor Stifel Financial Advisors currently
receive payment on other credit line loans, which is subject to
change.
Clients repay the principal balance and interest on outstanding
balances on Credit Line Loans to Stifel Bank & Trust and/or
other Affiliated Bank(s). For variable-rate loans, clients have
the option to repay the principal at any time without
prepayment fees. If interest rates rise, your borrowing cost will
also rise. For fixed-rate loans, clients may be subject to
prepayment fees (as described in the loan documents) if the
loan is repaid before the end of the fixed-rate contract. The
proceeds of certain loans may not be used for the purpose of
(a) purchasing, carrying, or trading in securities, (b) repaying
or retiring any indebtedness incurred to purchase, carry, or
trade in securities, or (c) repaying or retiring any debt, and/or
otherwise purchase any product or service, unless consent is
provided by the lending Affiliated Bank.
These payments are in addition to any Advisory Account Fees
charged with respect to the Advisory assets used to
collateralize the Credit Line Loan. As such, these payments
present a conflict of interest for us in that they create a
financial incentive for your Stifel Financial Advisor to make
recommendations based on the additional compensation to be
received rather than solely based on your financial needs. For
example, a Financial Advisor may recommend that you open a
Credit Line Loan rather than withdraw money from your
Advisory accounts in order to retain the Advisory Account Fee
that such assets are otherwise generating and to receive the
additional compensation from the banking affiliate with
respect to any outstanding Credit Line Loan balance that you
maintain.
If Advisory account assets are used to collateralize Credit Line
Loans, clients are not permitted to withdraw funds or other
assets unless sufficient amounts of collateral remain to
continue supporting the Credit Line Loans (as determined by
the applicable Affiliated Bank, in its sole discretion). Clients
may still terminate their Advisory relationship with Stifel at
any time, at which time these funds or assets will be
maintained in a brokerage account at Stifel. Clients pay
interest to the Affiliated Bank on Credit Line Loans at
customary interest rates. Certain eligibility requirements must
be met and loan documentation must be completed prior to
applying for Credit Line Loans.
Similarly, a Financial Advisor may recommend the continued
maintenance of such Credit Line Loan to retain such
payments. Finally, a Financial Advisor may recommend that
you invest or hold your Advisory account assets in positions
that have been assigned high release rates and/or lower release
rates by the applicable Affiliated Bank for the Credit Line
Loan (but which positions ultimately generate low investment
returns for your Advisory account) in order to avoid
maintenance calls on the Credit Line Loan which would
require loan repayment and/or the liquidation of Advisory
assets. Depending on your specific circumstances, including
the intended use of the proceeds from the Credit Line Loan
and the return on your Advisory account, over the long term, it
may cost you more to take out the Credit Line Loan than if
you had withdrawn the money from your Advisory account.
Clients are therefore encouraged to carefully consider the total
cost of taking out any Credit Line Loan, and any additional
Credit Line Loans extended by an Affiliated Bank are
typically demand loans, which allows an Affiliated Bank to
demand repayment at any time, and are subject to collateral
maintenance requirements. If the required collateral value is
not maintained, an Affiliated Bank may require additional
collateral, or partial or entire repayment of any Credit Line
Loans extended. Clients may need to deposit additional cash
or securities as collateral on short notice or repay a partial or
entire amount of the funds borrowed if the value of their
portfolio declines below the required loan-to-value ratio. An
Affiliated Bank may refuse to fund any advance request due to
insufficient collateral. An Affiliated Bank may increase your
collateral maintenance requirement at any time without notice,
and may call your Credit Line Loan at any time and for any
Page 42 of 49
SF1600-3/26
mortgage loans. Clients repay the principal amount borrowed
to Stifel Bank & Trust, plus interest. These loans may have
origination fees, application fees, and certain other fees and
costs, including closing costs, which are disclosed before the
loan is made.
compensation that the Financial Advisor will receive, when
determining to take out and/or maintain Credit Line Loans.
Finally, to the extent that a maintenance call is triggered in
connection with a Credit Line Loan and we are obligated to
liquidate assets in your Advisory account that have been used
as collateral for such Credit Line Loan, we will act solely in
our capacity as a broker-dealer (and not as an investment
adviser or other fiduciary), even where such collateral is held
in an Advisory account. Moreover, if selling such assets, we
will seek to maximize our interest (and/or those of our
Affiliated Banks), and will not prioritize a Client’s interest.
For more information, please refer to the applicable
Affiliated Bank credit line agreement.
Mortgage loans are originated by Stifel Bank & Trust, Equal
Housing Lender, NMLS #375103. Your Stifel Financial
Advisor, however, does not offer residential mortgage
products and is unable to accept any residential mortgage loan
applications or to offer or negotiate terms of any such loan.
Financial Advisors may refer current clients of Stifel to Stifel
Bank & Trust for a mortgage loan.
Where permissible by law, the Firm compensates Stifel
Financial Advisors in connection with the origination of any
mortgage loan. Compensation is paid by the firm after the loan
is fully closed and funded.
CASH SWEEP OPTIONS
Other Important Considerations Relating to the Use of
Margin or Credit Line Loans in Connection With
Advisory Accounts.
Margin and Credit Line Loans involve risk and may not be
appropriate for all borrowers. The return on your Advisory
accounts must be higher than your financing cost in order for
you to generate a positive return in your Advisory account.
The market value of your Advisory account may decline,
which may result in the value of that collateral no longer
covering an outstanding loan amount. None of the Stifel, our
Affiliated Banks, or our Financial Advisors provide legal or
tax advice. Clients should consult legal counsel and tax
advisors before using borrowed funds as collateral for loans.
Neither our firm nor our affiliates act as investment adviser
with respect to the liquidation of securities held in Advisory
accounts to meet margin calls or Credit Line Loan demands,
and as creditors, our firm and our affiliates may have interests
that are adverse to Clients. There are substantial risks
associated with the use of borrowed funds for investment
purposes and the use of securities as collateral for loans.
Additional limitations and availability may vary by state.
As custodian, we offer one or more cash sweep options,
depending on the type of account that you have or are
establishing (i.e., retirement versus non-retirement), for
available cash balances in your accounts to be swept into bank
accounts with participating banks (of which our Affiliated
Banks are top or sole participating banks, as discussed below)
insured by the FDIC. The interest rates on deposit accounts are
determined by the amount the participating banks are willing
to pay minus the fees and compensation paid to us or our
affiliates (discussed below). Participating banks do not have to
offer the highest rates available or rates comparable to money
market mutual fund yields. By comparison, money market
mutual funds generally seek to achieve the highest rate of
return consistent with their investment objectives, which can
be found in their prospectuses.
We act as your agent and custodian and engage Stifel Bank &
Trust as a sub-custodian in establishing and maintaining a
deposit account at each participating bank. Although the
deposit accounts are obligations of the participating banks and
not us, you will not have a direct relationship with the
participating banks. All deposits and withdrawals will be made
by us on your behalf. You may also establish direct
relationships with a participating bank, open separate deposit
and/or savings accounts, and obtain certificates of deposit to
which higher rates might apply, but will not be provided the
same level of services as those offered through our cash sweep
arrangements.
Investment Banking
Financial Advisors are able to introduce clients and others to
Stifel’s Investment Banking area. Investment Banking helps
corporations with raising capital, structuring mergers and
acquisitions and navigating other complex financial issues. If
Investment Banking receives any investment banking business
resulting from such introductions, on the first three
transactions with the client, Stifel’s Private Client Group
currently receives a portion of the net fees earned by
Investment Banking, a percentage of which will then be paid
to the Financial Advisor. It is a benefit to your Financial
Advisor, and a potential conflict, to make these introductions.
Where appropriate to meet the needs of a client who may not
meet the minimum threshold required, Stifel’s Investment
Banking department may make an introduction to an
unaffiliated partner firm. In these instances, the Financial
Advisor making the original introduction would be paid a
portion of the fees earned on each transaction.
You are responsible for monitoring the total amount of your
deposits at any one participating bank for purposes of ensuring
FDIC coverage for your funds, particularly since you may
have other deposits at a participating bank of which we are
unaware.
All participating banks, except Affiliated Banks, pay Stifel
Bank & Trust a fee equal to a percentage (which may be as
much as 7.00 percent annually) of the average daily deposit
balance in your deposit accounts. The amount of fee received
by Stifel Bank & Trust will decrease the interest rate that you
Mortgage Lending
Residential mortgage loans are loans that are used to purchase
a home, refinance an existing mortgage, or to take cash out for
other purposes. These loans are secured by residential real
estate and, in certain cases, brokerage or advisory account
assets are used to provide additional collateral support for the
Page 43 of 49
SF1600-3/26
will receive in connection with your deposit account balances.
Stifel Bank & Trust reserves the right to increase, decrease, or
waive all or part of its fees at any time.
Affiliated Banks benefit from the use of cash swept from your
account(s). The Affiliated Banks receive substantial deposits
at a price that may be less than other alternative funding
sources available to them. Deposits in deposit accounts
provide a stable source of funds for the Affiliated Banks.
The offering of the cash sweep arrangements poses conflicts
of interest because the fees and benefits received by Stifel and
our Affiliated Banks is an important source of our revenues.
Our affiliate determines how much of the interest it keeps as
its fee, Stifel and affiliates typically receive more fees when
your cash is swept into the cash sweep arrangements than
when you purchase a money market fund, and our Affiliated
Banks benefit from the use of cash swept from your
account(s). We seek to mitigate this conflict through
disclosure in this brochure and, at least as a matter of current
practice which is subject to possible change, by not sharing
these fees with our Financial Advisors.
Stifel Insured Bank Deposit Program
If your account participates in the Stifel Insured Bank Deposit
Program (the “SIBDP”) as your sweep option, then available
cash balances in your brokerage account will be deposited into
interest-bearing deposit accounts at one or more Affiliated
Banks or unaffiliated banks (each a “Bank”).
All banks participating in the SIBDP, except Affiliated Banks,
will pay Stifel Bank & Trust fees as discussed above.
Cash holdings in the applicable sweep option, including
maintenance cash, constitute an indirect cost of the Program
and result in additional compensation to Stifel and affiliates. If
we (and our affiliates) did not receive this additional
compensation, you should expect that we would charge higher
fees or other amounts to you for the services we provide.
Under certain market conditions, holding cash results in lower
overall account return, such as when riskier assets outperform
cash. Moreover, while maintaining Advisory account assets in
cash may protect those assets from the risk of loss in the event
of a market downturn, holding cash, particularly high cash
concentrations for long periods of time, through an Advisory
account may result in underperformance given the impact of
Advisory Account Fee(s) and the rates of return on
maintenance cash and other cash equivalents.
In its discretion, Stifel Bank & Trust may reduce its fee and
may vary the amount of the reductions between clients. The
fee may vary from bank to bank. The amount of the fee
received by Stifel Bank & Trust will reduce the interest rate
paid by a Bank on your deposit accounts.
An eligible Advisory account may earn an “Enhanced
Advisory Yield” on certain sweep program balances.
Available sweep program deposit account balances up to a
defined percentage, the “Maintenance Cash Percentage,” of
the total value of an eligible Advisory account, determined
account by account, that is used to calculate Stifel’s advisory
wrap fee is referred to as “Maintenance Cash” and will receive
interest at standard interest rates as discussed in detail in the
Stifel Account Agreement and Disclosure Booklet. Sweep
program deposit account balances in an eligible Advisory
account in excess of Maintenance Cash will earn the Enhanced
Advisory Yield. For more information about the Enhanced
Advisory Yield, please contact your Financial Advisor or visit
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/AgreementAndDisclosureBoo
klet.pdf.
Moreover, Stifel Bank & Trust also receives additional
financial benefits (i.e., additional deposits) and regulatory
benefits (i.e., diversification of depositors) under reciprocal
deposit arrangements with certain banks (including Affiliated
Banks). Under these arrangements, Stifel Bank & Trust is
entitled to receive and accept deposits from customers of such
other banks in amounts similar or equal to amounts added to
deposits accounts under the Program. Stifel receives an
aggregate, annual fee of up to $100 from the Affiliated Banks
on a per-account basis in connection with accounts that
participate in the SIBDP. For additional information on
benefits received by Stifel and its affiliates, refer to Stifel’s
website at stifel.com/disclosures/sweepchoices/insured-
deposit-account.
Stifel Insured Bank Deposit Program for Retirement
Accounts
If your account participates in the Stifel Insured Bank Deposit
Program for Retirement Accounts (the “SIBDPRA”) as your
sweep option, available cash balances in your brokerage
account will be deposited into interest-bearing deposit
accounts at one or more Affiliated Banks which include Stifel
Bank, Stifel Bank & Trust, Stifel Trust Company, National
Association, and Stifel Trust Company Delaware, National
Association (the “Banks”).
In all cases, Client has the option to hold cash in a brokerage
account at Stifel and/or in deposit accounts through the
Affiliated Bank or with other banks, in which case such cash
would not be subject to the Advisory Account Fee. Clients
also have the option of using (including directing their
Financial Advisors to use) other cash equivalents in their
accounts; while subject to the Advisory Account Fee, these
cash equivalents will likely earn higher interest rates than cash
held through our insured bank deposit sweep programs.
Clients should compare the terms, interest rates, required
minimum amounts, and other features of the automatic sweep
option with other cash equivalent investments. More
information about our automatic sweep option is available at
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/AgreementAndDisclosureBoo
klet.pdf. Information about current interest rates on our
insured bank deposit sweep programs are available by
contacting your Financial Advisor or through Stifel.com.
Page 44 of 49
Stifel receives an aggregate, annual fee of up to $100 from the
Banks on a per-Securities account basis in connection with
accounts that participate in the SIBDPRA. For both the SIBDP
and SIBDPRA programs, your Financial Advisor is currently
not receiving a fee. Stifel reserves the right to pay a fee to
your Financial Advisor in connection with the SIBDPRA
SF1600-3/26
Retirement Accounts at any time without prior notice. Upon
request, Stifel will provide you with information about Stifel’s
compensation arrangements with respect to its sweep
investments. Stifel and the Banks receive certain additional
benefits in connection with the Program. For additional
information, refer to Stifel’s website at
stifel.com/disclosures/sweep-choices/insured-deposit-account
Portfolio Review
Clients in the Programs covered in this brochure may request
periodic analyses of their portfolio, including performance
and/or other relevant characteristics and metrics (“Reports”)
from their Financial Advisor(s). The information included in
these Reports is verified by Stifel’s Operations staff who
perform daily transaction reconciliation and performance
return evaluations to identify and address the cause of any
material unusual variations or inaccuracies.
Risks Associated With the SIBDP and SIBDPRA
Deposits are insured up to applicable FDIC limits. Any
deposits (including deposit balances maintained through the
Stifel Insured Bank Deposit Program, Stifel Insured Bank
Deposit Program for Retirement Accounts, or certificates of
deposit) that you maintain in the same insurable capacity
directly with an Affiliated Bank or through an intermediary
(such as Stifel or another broker) will be aggregated with
funds in deposit accounts at the respective bank(s) for
purposes of the FDIC insurance limits. You are responsible for
monitoring the total amount of deposits that you have with
each bank in order to determine the extent of FDIC insurance
coverage available to you.
Neither Stifel nor its affiliates, including Affiliated Banks,
monitor the amount of your deposited funds to determine
whether those amounts exceed the FDIC insurance limits
applicable to your deposits at a bank, and they are not
responsible for any insured or uninsured portion of the deposit
accounts at any bank.
The SIBDPRA is offered by Stifel as a broker-dealer and not
Stifel Bank as your IRA Custodian or otherwise.
Performance Information
When displaying performance, our primary reporting systems
typically reflect a daily Time-Weighted Return (“TWR”)
calculation methodology, but where specifically identified,
may also present an Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”). TWR
measures the performance of investments, without distorting
daily values or growth rates based on the cash added or
removed from an investment. IRR, on the other hand,
considers the effect of all cash inflows and outflows in its
calculation and is often used to measure the absolute growth
of an investment over a certain period of time. In certain
limited cases, we may calculate performance returns using one
of our secondary reporting systems. Our secondary reporting
systems generally calculate performance returns using a
monthly Modified Dietz Method, which is a time-weighted
method that also identifies and accounts for the timing of cash
flows in the account over the period. If the date of a cash flow
is not known, the systems assume a mid-month date for cash
flows. Regardless of the system from which performance is
calculated, a sampling of the performance returns is reviewed
to confirm accuracy or compliance with presentation
standards.
Additional information about the SIBDP and SIBDPRA is
available on Stifel’s website at stifel.com/ disclosures/sweep-
choices/insured-deposit-account.
You should review the sections “The Stifel Automatic Cash
Investment Service” and “Disclosure Documents for
Automatic Cash Investment” of the Stifel Account Agreement
and Disclosure Booklet for the terms, conditions, and other
important information relating to the applicable sweep
options, including a discussion of the various conflicts that we
may have in connection with such options as well as how we
seek to mitigate such conflicts. You may access the Stifel
Account Agreement and Disclosure Booklet, as amended from
time to time, here:
stifel.com/docs/pdf/Disclosures/AgreementAndDisclosureBoo
klet.pdf, or you may request a copy from your Financial
Advisor.
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS
We rely on publicly recorded information, use various vendor
systems, and/or rely on valuations provided by third-party
custodians holding assets and/or accounts that are part of your
relationship with us in determining the values used in our
Reports. Depending on the primary reporting system, your
Reports may or may not include unsupervised assets. The
inclusion of unsupervised assets will distort the performance
of our Advisory services. As a result, the performance on
those Reports may differ from the performance shown for the
same account(s) in a report that is limited to Advisory
services. If you hold alternative investments where we receive
periodic valuations (actual or estimated) from the associated
management, administrators, and/or sponsors you should note
that we may receive delayed valuations monthly, quarterly, or
less frequently. As a result, those investments may show a
historic or, in certain cases, an estimated value. The actual
value, once determined, may differ from the value previously
reported to you and, as a result, you may not be able to realize
a previously shown value upon sale or redemption. We update
actual values upon receipt but will not amend previously issue
Reports due to such changes.
Account Review
Each new account enrolled in a Program is reviewed by the
applicable Financial Advisor’s supervisor prior to account
opening. Thereafter, Financial Advisors periodically perform
account reviews.
In certain circumstances, you may notice a difference in the
values displayed on custodial statements versus Reports for
the same account. For example, our Reports generally include
any income that is earned (accrued) but has not yet been paid
by the issuer and base the figure on trade date rather than
settlement date.
Page 45 of 49
SF1600-3/26
These arrangements create conflicts of interest because they
provide financial incentives to recommend our firm, or certain
affiliated or unaffiliated service providers, over others.
Regardless of the system where your Report was generated,
you should carefully review the accompanying disclosure for
definitions of relevant terms and calculations used, as well as
other important information you should consider in your
review. You should contact your Financial Advisors with any
questions regarding the information in any Report that you
receive.
Where our firm acts as an investment adviser in connection
with a referral to us, we require that all such arrangements
comply with applicable regulatory requirements, including the
delivery of written disclosures to Clients describing the
solicitation arrangement and any fees paid or received in
connection with the referral. These disclosures are provided at
the time of solicitation and/or at account opening, and, where
applicable, Clients are required to acknowledge receipt.
Our firm may also enter into referral arrangements with other
investment managers pursuant to which we act as solicitor for
those managers. Referrals made by our Financial Advisors
under these arrangements are made in our capacity as a
registered broker‑dealer, rather than as a registered investment
adviser.
Transaction Statements
Clients with discretionary accounts held at Stifel typically
receive monthly (but in no event less than quarterly)
statements that identify buys, sells, dividends, interest,
deposits, and disbursements in their accounts during the
previous month, as well as the overall market value of the
portfolio at month’s end. A summary of portfolio holdings as
of the end of each reported quarter is also listed. Clients may
not waive receipt of account statements. Clients whose
accounts are held away from Stifel, with a qualified custodian
(but who trade through Stifel), will receive a statement with
respect to each month in which a transaction is effected in
their Stifel account. All other Clients utilizing an unaffiliated,
third-party custodian will receive statements from their
applicable custodian based on the custodian’s own delivery
schedule.
Stifel Alliance Program
Under the Stifel Alliance Program (“Alliance”), we may
compensate individuals or entities, directly or indirectly, for
Client referrals by sharing a portion of the advisory fees
charged by our firm. Our policies prohibit Financial Advisors
from increasing Client fees to offset amounts paid in
connection with Alliance referrals. We and/or our associated
persons may also pay certain registration or licensing costs, if
applicable, to facilitate a solicitor’s state registration.
Realized Gain/Loss Summary
Custodial statements from Stifel include annual listings of all
closed transactions in their accounts during each calendar
year, as well as the offsetting cost of each transaction and,
thus, the realized gains/losses for each closing transaction.
These arrangements create an incentive for solicitors to refer
Clients to our firm rather than to other advisory firms.
Year-End Tax Report
With respect to those accounts for which our firm acts as
custodian, we provide such Clients 1099 statements for the
previous tax year. 1099 statements include both reportable and
non-reportable information, cost basis for securities that have
been sold, and additional information to assist with tax
preparation.
Compensation for Client Referrals
Our firm has entered into referral arrangements with certain
investment managers pursuant to which we, or our Financial
Advisors, receive compensation for referring Clients to those
managers. As of the date of this brochure, these arrangements
include Affiliated Managers for which we act as solicitor,
including 1919 Investment Counsel and Stifel Capital
Management, LLC.
Financial Advisors may have an incentive to refer Clients to
Affiliated Managers rather than to unaffiliated managers, as
the receipt of additional revenues by our affiliates may benefit
our affiliated group.
In addition, Financial Advisors may receive compensation for
referring Clients to other affiliates for services, including, but
not limited to, affiliated banks.
Transaction Confirmations
Clients with discretionary accounts may elect to receive trade
confirmations immediately upon execution in their accounts,
or defer confirmations until the end of each quarter. Clients
with eligible accounts who elect to defer confirmations receive
summary reports at the end of each quarter outlining the
transactions posted to their accounts during the most recent
calendar quarter. The election to receive confirmations
immediately or quarterly may be changed at any time upon the
Client’s request. In certain instances, an LOA may be
required. Clients are not eligible to defer confirmations for
non-discretionary Program accounts.
Clients that have signed up for online access to their Advisory
accounts may review their transaction confirmations through
the online portal.
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION
Other Compensation
As described under “Fees and Compensation,” we may receive
revenue sharing or similar payments from certain private fund
sponsors, investment managers, or mutual funds to which we
refer Clients for investment. These arrangements present
additional conflicts of interest, as they may create incentives
to recommend particular investment products or managers.
Our firm has entered into certain solicitation and referral
arrangements under which individuals or entities are
compensated for referring Clients to us, or under which we
receive compensation for referring Clients to third parties.
Page 46 of 49
SF1600-3/26
proxy voting guidelines at any time, including a record of the
proxies voted in respect of your account(s).
We seek to address these conflicts through disclosure and by
maintaining policies and procedures designed to identify and
manage conflicts of interest.
CUSTODY
Please note if you have a margin balance in your account, it
may reduce the number of shares in which you are eligible to
vote. For additional details, you should carefully review the
provisions concerning margin in the Stifel Account Agreement
and Disclosure Booklet located at stifel.com/disclosures.
Unless agreed upon otherwise, we maintain custody of our
Client assets. We have adopted policies and procedures that
are designed to mitigate risks involved in being a self-
custodial firm (with the exception of IRA assets) in an effort
to ensure that our clients’ assets are protected. Among other
things, we undergo a separate examination by an independent
auditor, the purpose of which is to obtain the auditor’s report
on our internal controls designed to safeguard clients’ assets
held at our firm. Our firm also undergoes an annual surprise
audit by an independent registered accounting firm that is
designed to verify the Clients’ assets. At the conclusion of the
annual surprise audit, the independent auditor files a report
with the SEC attesting to, among other things, our compliance
with regulatory requirements.
If your account is invested in a Manager-Traded Portfolio and
you choose to delegate proxy voting authority, the Manager
will typically vote proxies related to the securities in the
account or Portfolio. For this reason, you should carefully
review the proxy voting discussion in each such Manager’s
Form ADV 2A provided to you at the time you enroll into the
Manager’s Portfolio. You should understand the Manager’s
proxy voting process and guidelines, as well as the related
risks prior to granting proxy voting authority to a Manager. If
a Manager with trading authority over Clients’ account is
unwilling to accept proxy voting delegation, our firm will step
in and direct proxies in the affected Client accounts to the
Client for voting recommendations as well as actual voting.
Certain of our affiliates may also serve as qualified custodians
of our Client assets. In such cases, consistent with applicable
regulations, we receive a report issued by an independent
registered public accountant relating to the affiliate’s internal
controls in connection with its custody services.
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES
We generally do not vote proxies for Clients whose custodial
accounts are held by third-party custodians. In addition, if you
are enrolled in the Connect Program, you should note that the
Connect Adviser may or may not vote proxies for your
account. You should therefore carefully review your separate
agreement with the Connect Adviser to determine its proxy
voting policy. If a Connect Adviser does not vote proxies on
behalf of its clients, you will be responsible for voting proxies
in your Connect Program account.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
We do not have any adverse financial conditions to disclose
under this Item.
You can appoint Stifel or, if applicable, the Manager with
trading discretion over your account or Portfolio to vote
appropriate proxies on your behalf. You can change your
proxy voting election at any time. Requests to revoke proxy
voting delegation to Stifel or change any vote already cast
must be in writing. We request 30 days to allow the Firm
sufficient time to process the revocation and implement the
changes with respect to any pending votes with our
vendors. We will make reasonable attempts to implement your
request but cannot assure that it will occur in time for a
particular vote.
ERISA RULE 408(b)(2) DISCLOSURE INFORMATION
FOR QUALIFIED RETIREMENT PLANS
It is important to note that Stifel does NOT vote proxies for
foreign ordinary shares or ADRs. Voting of those proxies will
remain your responsibility.
This section generally describes the fiduciary status of
investment advisory services provided by and compensation
paid to Stifel with respect to ERISA qualified retirement plans
(each, a “Plan”).
General Description of Status and Services Provided by
Stifel to Plans
As set forth above in the section titled “Wrap Fee Programs
Offered by Stifel” of this brochure, we offer and provide a
variety of investment advisory Programs that are intended to
assist responsible Plan fiduciaries with their prudent
investment duties under ERISA. A thorough description of the
services provided to a specific Plan is set forth in the
applicable Advisory Agreement and may include investment
management, trading, and/or custody services, as well as
participant education and guidance.
In voting proxies, we have a fiduciary responsibility to make
investment decisions that are in the best interest of our Clients
and vote all Client securities accordingly. As required by
applicable regulations, we have adopted policies and
procedures to govern the proxy voting process for our Client
accounts. We have retained a third-party proxy voting service
(“Proxy Voting Agent”) to provide independent, objective
research and voting recommendations based on its standard
proxy voting guidelines, and to vote proxies in your account(s)
on our behalf (other than foreign ordinary shares and ADRs).
If the Proxy Voting Agent is unable to provide a voting
recommendation, Stifel will not vote your shares.
You may request a copy of our Proxy Voting Policies and
Procedures as well as the Proxy Voting Agent’s standard
Discretionary Investment Management Services – We offer
and provide discretionary ERISA fiduciary investment
advisory services through a variety of Programs covered in
Page 47 of 49
SF1600-3/26
compensation. We maintain a record of any losses and/or
gains resulting from trade error corrections in a Client account
and will provide such information upon request.
this brochure. These Programs are as follows: Fundamentals,
Solutions, Opportunity, Investment Management Consulting,
Connect, and Custom Advisory Portfolio. Depending on the
Program, discretionary portfolio management services may be
provided directly through a Stifel Financial Advisor, by our
home office personnel, or we may provide the Plan access to
an Independent or Affiliated Manager that provides such
discretionary investment management services.
ADR Pass-Through Fees. Plan accounts that invest in ADRs
may also incur pass-through fees, which are typically charged
by the sponsors of certain ADRs as custody-related expenses.
When applicable, Stifel collects ADR pass-through fees from
applicable Plan assets, then forwards all such ADR pass-
through fees to the Depository Trust Company (or other
applicable central securities depository).
Non-Discretionary Advisory Services – We also offer and
provide non-discretionary investment advisory and ERISA
fiduciary services through the Horizon Program, as detailed
above. Non-discretionary services are provided directly by
your Financial Advisor.
More detailed information about these services and Programs
is provided in, and each Plan Client should review, the section
above entitled “Wrap Fee Programs Offered by Stifel.”
Compensation From Funds and Other Products. For a
description of the credits you may be eligible for in connection
with investments in Funds and other products that pay 12b-1
fees and other types of compensation, please see the sections
titled “Compensation From Funds” and “Compensation From
Other Products” above.
Brokerage Practices. For a description of compensation we
receive in connection with our brokerage practices, please see
the section titled “Brokerage Practices” above.
Our Status
When providing discretionary and non-discretionary advisory
services through a Program, Stifel acts as a registered
investment adviser under the Advisers Act. For a description
of Stifel’s status as a “fiduciary” under ERISA, please refer to
the section titled “ERISA” in the applicable Advisory
Agreement.
Sweep. See the sections “The Stifel Automatic Cash
Investment Service” and “Disclosure Documents for
Automatic Cash Investment” of the Stifel Account Agreement
and Disclosure Booklet for information about sweep services.
Our cash sweep programs create a conflict of interest for us
because we have an incentive for you to maintain and direct
otherwise uninvested cash in your account to deposits of our
affiliated banks, which they can use to generate additional
revenue. We also receive revenue for sending your cash
deposits to third-party banks that participate in our sweep
programs. This creates an incentive for us to recommend or
direct investments that result in cash being invested through
our sweep programs. For additional information, please see
stifel.com/disclosures/sweep-choices/sweep-choices-
disclosure.
General Description of Compensation Paid to Stifel
Advisory Fees. Our firm accepts direct compensation in the
form of fees paid pursuant to the Advisory Agreement entered
into with the Plan at the time of account opening. Plan Clients
should refer to the applicable Advisory Agreement for the fee
calculation formula specific to the Plan account. For
information about the manner in which these fees are paid,
please see the sections “The Stifel Fee,” “Deduction of
Advisory Account Fees,” and “Other Excluded Fees and
Expenses” of this brochure and the section entitled “Fees and
Billing” in the applicable Advisory Agreement.
Deposits in one of our affiliated banks or trust companies
(each an “Affiliate Bank”) will bear a reasonable rate of
interest as required by 29 C.F.R. Section 2550.408b-4(b)(2).
By participating in a sweep service, you authorize deposits in
each Affiliate Bank and acknowledge the benefits that Stifel,
the Affiliate Bank, and your Financial Advisor derive from the
arrangement. Please contact your Financial Advisor for
additional information.
Private Fund Fees. In limited circumstances and in
connection with certain Plan investments in private funds
(including, but not limited to, hedge funds and private equity
funds), we may receive placement fees or other compensation
indirectly from a private fund and/or its related persons in lieu
of advisory fees paid directly by the Plan with respect to such
investment. Where applicable, such placement fees or other
compensation are disclosed in the subscription documents or
other documents that you execute in connection with the
Plan’s investment in the private fund, and are equal to the
Advisory fee otherwise applicable to your Account. See the
section of this brochure titled “Revenue Sharing and Other
Compensation Arrangements With Private Investment Funds
or Their Sponsors” for more information.
Float. In general, under ERISA, a service provider, such as a
custodian may retain the benefit of the use of any funds on
hand that are incidental to the normal operation of the plan and
that constitute earnings on funds that are (i) awaiting
investment or (ii) transferred to a disbursement account for
distribution from the plan. The DOL has issued guidance that
requires financial institutions to make specific disclosures to
employee benefit plans, such as the Plan, regarding the
circumstances under which the institution has use of, or may
derive benefit from, un-invested cash pending investment or
distribution (“float”).
Trade Errors. As set forth above under “Trade Error
Correction,” our policy is to put a Client’s account in the
position that it would have been in if an error had not
occurred. As a result, to the extent a trade error correction
results in a gain, Stifel will retain the resulting gain, to the
extent permitted under applicable law. Pursuant to applicable
guidelines, such gains may be deemed additional
Page 48 of 49
SF1600-3/26
As discussed in the section of this brochure titled “Additional
Information on Fees and Other Compensation,” if Stifel
serves as custodian of a Plan Client account, we will earn float
on cash/funds received after the close of the NYSE (or on a
day that the NYSE was closed) for the benefit of Client
account, until such cash/funds are swept into the Client’s
selected sweep option, typically the end of the second business
day. Similarly, to the extent we issue a check to a Client or the
Client withdraws funds through an ACH payment, we earn
float on the funds covered by the check until the Client cashes
the check or the ACH payment settles. In general, the amount
of float earned is equivalent to the effective Federal Funds rate
on the date earned.
For our Opportunity Program, the Manager’s direct
compensation is part of the total fee that the Client pays under
the applicable Advisory Agreement with Stifel; in our Connect
Program, the Connect Manager’s fee is separate from (and in
addition to) the Stifel fee. In addition to the management fee, a
Manager may also receive indirect compensation, often
referred to as “soft dollars” or other benefits, from other
brokerage firms with which the Manager executes trades for
its client accounts. These benefits may or may not relate to
trades effected for the Plan account. Plan Clients should refer
to the applicable Manager’s separate ERISA Section 408(b)(2)
disclosure statement or Form ADV Part 2A for information
about whether or not the Manager receives soft dollars or
similar benefits and, if so, the specific benefits received.
Training and Education Expense Contributions. For
information about payments we receive from investment
companies and/or their affiliates in connection with training
and achievement seminars offered to our Financial Advisors,
please see the section in this brochure titled “Training and
Education Expense Contributions.” Sponsorship amounts
generally vary by vendor and cannot be reasonably allocated
to any particular Plan Client. For additional information on
other compensation received by Stifel (as well as its affiliates)
from various product sponsors, please refer to the information
located at:
stifel.com/disclosures/mutual-funds/other-compensation-stifel
Non-Cash Compensation. Please see the section of this
brochure titled “Non-Cash Compensation” for information
about certain gifts and gratuities we may receive. Based on
historic trends, we do not expect to receive non-cash
compensation in excess of the de minimis threshold under
DOL regulations with respect to a Plan Client.
Termination fees. See the section above titled “Compensation
in Connection With the Termination of a Client’s Relationship
With Stifel” for information about fees that may apply if you
transfer assets in your Account upon termination of your
Advisory Agreement.
Plans are directed to the section “Fees and Compensation” in
the brochure for additional details about the various other
types of indirect compensation that we may receive in
connection with Plan assets and, to the extent applicable, the
steps that we take to mitigate the conflicts that may be raised
by the receipt of such indirect compensation.
Financial Advisor Compensation. For information about how
we compensate your Financial Advisor, please see the section
“Compensation to Financial Advisors” in this brochure.
Accounts Managed by Third-Party Managers
Plan accounts enrolled in our Opportunity, IMC, and/or
Connect Programs may utilize the services of a Manager
(which, for purposes of this section, will encompass
Investment Managers and Connect Managers, as defined
above) that is engaged to provide discretionary investment
management services to the Plan. As the Manager for the Plan,
such Manager is a fiduciary to the Plan for purposes of ERISA
and a registered investment adviser for purposes of the
Advisers Act.
Page 49 of 49
SF1600-3/26