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Navigation Path: Home > Wealth Management > Personal Wealth > Investments & Brokerage > Accessing Your Brokerage Account > Guidance on Margin Larger Type|Smaller Type|Print

Guidance on Margin

First Citizens Investor Services (the "Firm") is furnishing this document to you to provide some basic facts about purchasing securities on margin, and to alert you to the risks involved with trading securities in a margin account. Before trading stocks in a margin account, you should carefully review the margin agreement provided by your Firm. Consult your Firm regarding any questions or concerns you may have with your margin accounts. Margin accounts are carried by Pershing , LLC as clearing broker to First Citizens Investor Services .

When you purchase securities, you may pay for the securities in full or you may borrow part of the purchase price from your brokerage Firm. If you choose to borrow funds from your Firm, you will open a margin account with the Firm. The securities purchased are the Firm's collateral for the loan to you. If the securities in your account decline in value, so does the value of the collateral supporting your loan, and, as a result, the Firm can take action, such as issue a margin call and/or sell securities or other assets in any of your accounts held with the firm, in order to maintain the required equity in the account.

  • You can lose more funds than you deposit in the margin account. A decline in the value of securities that are purchased on margin may require you to provide additional funds to the Firm or its Clearing Broker that has made the loan to avoid the forced sale of those securities or other securities or assets in your account(s);
  • The Firm or its Clearing Broker can force the sale of securities or other assets in your account(s), and if the equity in your account falls below the maintenance margin requirements or the higher "house" requirements, the Firm or its Clearing Broker can sell the securities or other assets in any of your accounts held at the Firm or its Clearing Broker to cover the margin deficiency. You will be responsible for any shortfall in the account after such a sale;
  • The Firm or its Clearing Broker can sell your securities or other assets without contacting you. Some investors mistakenly believe that a firm must contact them for a margin call to be valid, and that the firm cannot liquidate securities or other assets in their accounts to meet the call unless the firm has contacted them first. This is not the case. Most firms will attempt to notify their customers of margin calls, but they are not required to do so. However, even if a firm has contacted a customer and provided a specific date by which the customer can meet a margin call, the firm can still take necessary steps to protect its financial interests, including immediately selling the securities without notice to the customer;
  • The Firm or its Clearing Broker can increase its "house" maintenance margin requirements at any time and is not required to provide you advance written notice. These changes in Firm or Clearing Broker policy often take effect immediately and may result in the issuance of a maintenance margin call. Your failure to satisfy the call may cause the Firm or its Clearing Broker to liquidate or sell securities in your account(s), and;
  • You are not entitled to an extension of time on a margin call. While an extension of time to meet margin requirements may be available to customers under certain conditions, a customer does not have a right to the extension.

 

INVESTMENTS IN SECURITIES, ANNUITIES AND INSURANCE

Not Insured by FDIC or any Federal Government Agency

May lose value

Not a Deposit of or Guaranteed by a Bank or any Bank Affiliate

Brokerage services are offered through First Citizens Investor Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC