Quarterly Broker Statement
Automating SEC Rule 17a-13 quarterly securities counts for broker-dealers. QBS manages the full counterparty verification cycle for borrows, loans, repos, and aged fails — replacing spreadsheets and manual mailings with a single auditable workflow.
Part of Loffa's broker-dealer compliance automation platform and settlement workflow automation solutions.
The Problem
Quarterly Securities Counts Should Not Be This Hard
SEC Rule 17a-13 requires every custodial broker-dealer to examine and count all securities quarterly, then verify positions open 30+ days (borrows, loans, repos, and fails). For most firms, this means thousands of confirmation letters, manual spreadsheet reconciliation, and a 7-business-day deadline to record every unresolved difference.
- ✗ Hundreds of 17a-13 confirmation letters sent manually each quarter
- ✗ Counterparty non-response triggers costly alternative verification procedures
- ✗ Spreadsheet-based reconciliation of borrows, loans, repos, and fails across counterparties
- ✗ 7-business-day deadline to record unresolved count differences
- ✗ Multi-year Rule 17a-4 retention with no centralized archive
The Solution
Automated 17a-13 Compliance, End to End
QBS automates the entire quarterly securities count lifecycle — from aggregating positions across your stock record to generating counterparty confirmations under Rule 17a-13(b)(3). It also tracks responses, manages exceptions, and archives everything for 17a-4 retention.
- ✓ Automated position aggregation for borrows, loans, repos, and fails
- ✓ 17a-13(b)(3) counterparty confirmation generation and tracking
- ✓ Automated escalation for non-responses with alternative verification support
- ✓ Difference recording and resolution within the 7-business-day window
- ✓ WORM archival with full audit trail and instant retrieval
Capabilities
Key Features
Purpose-built for SEC Rule 17a-13 quarterly securities counts, with WORM retention supporting your 17a-4 obligations.
Position Aggregation
Automatically aggregates borrows, loans, repos, reverse repos, fails to deliver, and fails to receive across your stock record, so the positions are ready for the quarterly count.
Counterparty Verification
Generates and tracks 17a-13(b)(3) confirmation letters for all positions open 30+ days. Monitors counterparty responses and flags non-responses for alternative verification procedures.
Difference Resolution
Surfaces count discrepancies and tracks resolution within the 7-business-day recording deadline. Unresolved differences are automatically posted to the security count difference account.
WORM Record Retention
Every confirmation, counterparty response, count record, and difference resolution is archived with a time-stamped audit trail — retained for 8 years, longer than Rule 17a-4 requires, and retrievable in seconds for examinations. Firms that keep their own copies can ask for a shorter period.
Scheduling & Controls
Enforces the 17a-13 timing requirement — no two counts less than 2 months or more than 4 months apart. Separation-of-duties controls ensure counts are supervised by independent personnel.
Multi-Entity Support
Handles the full complexity of your stock record — a single security across multiple position types and counterparties. Supports multiple clearing entities and depository reconciliation within one platform.
Outcomes
Reclaim Your Quarter-End
QBS transforms the 17a-13 securities count from a weeks-long scramble into an automated process.
80%
Reduction in Manual Effort
Automated position aggregation, confirmation generation, and response tracking eliminate the spreadsheet-driven work that consumes your operations team every quarter.
Days
Not Weeks to Complete
What previously required weeks of manual counting, mailing confirmations, and chasing counterparty responses now completes in days with automated workflows.
100%
Audit-Ready Records
Complete audit trail for every count, confirmation, and difference resolution. WORM retention means the evidence for your 17a-4 obligations is always examination-ready — no scrambling when regulators call.
Watch
Your First Quarter-End After Self-Clearing
Part 4 of our series Moving to Self-Clearing. Once a firm clears its own trades, the quarterly securities count is its own. The episode covers what Rule 17a-13 asks for, the two clocks a fail runs on, what an unresolved difference costs in net capital, and how QBS handles both sides of the count. Narrated and captioned, 6:36.
Moving to Self-Clearing, Part 4: Your First Quarter-End. 6:36, captioned.
Watch
QBS-S Reporting, Start to Finish
A walkthrough of QBS-S, the sending side of the quarterly count: how positions in loans, borrows, repos, and fails that have been open more than 30 days go from your books to packaged confirmations, by account or by DTC number, and what the reporting shows while the responses come back. Narrated and captioned, 6:44.
Quarterly Broker Statement, QBS-S reporting walkthrough.
See QBS in Action
Schedule a personalized demo and see how QBS can automate your 17a-13 quarterly securities counts and counterparty verification workflow.