Kentucky investment adviser bonds.
From $100.
Kentucky registers state investment advisers through the Department of Financial Institutions under KRS 292.330, and its net-worth rules let an adviser substitute a surety bond for required net worth. The bond amount tracks your custody and discretion profile. Ours is 1.5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum.
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How much does a Kentucky investment adviser bond cost?
1.5% of the bond amount, from $100. Enter your amount in the calculator for the exact price.
Three steps. One sitting.
Investment adviser bonds are among the simplest filings in surety. Here's the entire process:
Apply online
Business details, your bond amount, an effective date, and a term. That is the application. No credit check up to $25,000 for individuals and partnerships (above that, a soft pull at most); for corporations and LLCs, one soft pull at every amount, never a hard inquiry.
Pay & e-sign
The premium is 1.5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, priced at checkout — the bond issues the moment you pay, and your executed bond and power of attorney generate on the spot.
File with the DFI
Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to file with the Securities Division of the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions alongside your adviser registration. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond actually guarantees
Kentucky registers investment advisers through the Department of Financial Institutions under KRS 292.330, the registration section of the Securities Act of Kentucky. The DFI's financial-responsibility rules set minimum net worth for state-registered advisers — higher when the adviser has custody of client funds or securities, lower when it holds only discretionary authority — and allow a surety bond to substitute for most of that required net worth.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky (the obligee). The bond stands behind your compliance with the Securities Act — the fiduciary, disclosure, and conduct rules that protect advisory clients — and gives a harmed client a source of recovery the net worth would otherwise provide.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. The bond must stay on file for as long as you rely on it in place of net worth, so it has to remain continuously in force; we track the term and send renewal notices 60 and 30 days out.
You need this bond if you're
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The premium covers a one-year term from the effective date you choose.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
File with the DFI. Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to file with the Securities Division of the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions alongside your adviser registration. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is 1.5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum: the amount the obligee sets moves the price, not your business profile.
No credit check up to $25,000 for individuals and partnerships (above that, a soft pull at most); for corporations and LLCs, one soft pull at every amount, never a hard inquiry.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields — business details, your bond amount, an effective date, and a term. That is the application.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Kentucky bonds.
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Finish your adviser registration today.
1.5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, issued the moment you pay, no credit check up to $25,000 except for corporations and LLCs. Free until issued.