Financial Industry Employer

Problem Overview

Your account verification requires additional review because your employer is a bank, brokerage, insurance company, investment firm, or other financial institution. Working at a financial institution does not automatically make you a professional data user — but it does require us to look more closely at your actual job responsibilities before we can classify your account.

Why Financial Industry Employees Get Additional Review

Exchange regulations require Market Data to classify every subscriber as either a professional or non-professional data user. For most subscribers, a job title and employer are enough to make this determination. But at financial institutions, the same company can employ both professional and non-professional users depending on the role:

Role	Classification	Reason
Portfolio Manager	Professional	Makes investment decisions
Investment Adviser	Professional	Provides tailored investment advice to clients
Trader	Professional	Executes securities or derivatives trades
Research Analyst	Professional	Produces investment research that influences trading decisions
Software Developer (fin-tech)	Professional	Develops software that supports investment activities
Administrative Assistant	Non-Professional	Provides administrative support without engaging in investment activities
Customer Service Rep	Non-Professional	Handles inquiries without providing investment advice
Compliance Officer	Non-Professional	Ensures regulatory compliance but does not engage in investment decisions
HR Manager	Non-Professional	Manages human resources, not involved in investment activities
Accountant	Non-Professional	Handles financial records and reporting, not directly involved in investments

Because we cannot determine your classification from your employer name alone, we need to understand what you actually do day-to-day.

How to Fix

Contact our support helpdesk and provide a brief description of your actual daily job responsibilities. Specifically, we need to know whether your role involves any of the following:

• Trading, executing, or managing securities, commodities, or derivatives
• Providing investment advice or recommendations to clients
• Managing investment portfolios or making investment decisions
• Producing research that influences trading or advisory decisions
• Developing software or systems that directly support investment activities

If your role does not involve any of the above — for example, if you work in IT, operations, HR, compliance, accounting, marketing, or administrative support — you will typically be classified as non-professional, even though your employer is a financial institution.

Supporting Documentation

To speed up the review, you can also provide any of the following:

• A link to your LinkedIn profile showing your current role and responsibilities
• A resume or CV that describes your job function
• A company directory listing or job description that outlines your responsibilities

What Determines Your Classification

Your classification is based on your job function, not your employer. The key question is whether your day-to-day work involves securities-related activities — not whether the company you work for is in financial services.

For example, a software developer at a social media company is non-professional, but a software developer at a fin-tech startup building trading tools is professional. The same logic applies within a bank: an HR manager is non-professional, but a relationship manager advising clients on investments is professional.

See Professional Status Policy for the full classification criteria, or read Professional Status Explained for a detailed guide with additional examples.

Still Need Help?

If you are unsure how your role would be classified, contact our support helpdesk and describe your day-to-day responsibilities. Our support team will let you know what classification applies.

We typically respond within a few hours during market hours or within 1 business day outside of market hours.