FINRA Rule 9134

The rule establishes three traditional service methods — personal service, service by mail through the U.S. Postal Service, and service by courier — with specific procedural requirements for natural persons and entities, and in a separate paragraph establishes OHO Portal service as the required method for all papers in proceedings before the Office of Hearing Officers with two exceptions for complaints and default service. The October 2025 amendment restructured paragraph (c) to make Portal service the mandatory default for OHO proceedings, reflecting the full transition to electronic administration of OHO disciplinary cases.

FINRA Rule 9134 sits within the 9130 Service; Filing of Papers subsection of the 9100 Application and Purpose section of the 9000 Code of Procedure series. It was originally adopted by SR-NASD-97-28 effective August 7, 1997, amended by SR-NASD-99-76 effective September 11, 2000, amended by SR-FINRA-2008-021 effective December 15, 2008 as part of the consolidated FINRA rulebook transition announced in Regulatory Notice 08-57, and most recently amended by SR-FINRA-2025-013 effective October 7, 2025 as announced in Regulatory Notice 25-10. Seven selected notices are associated with the rule including notices reaching back to 1985 — reflecting the rule's foundational role in FINRA's disciplinary procedures across four decades. Notably, SR-FINRA-2022-009 which drove the electronic service changes to FINRA Rules 9132 and 9133 did not amend FINRA Rule 9134 — those amendments added OHO Portal and email service requirements to the rules that invoke FINRA Rule 9134 while SR-FINRA-2025-013 added paragraph (c) directly to FINRA Rule 9134 to formally codify OHO Portal service as a distinct required method.

FINRA Rule 9134(a): The Three Traditional Service Methods

FINRA Rule 9134(a) establishes the three traditional service methods that apply to all Code proceedings except where paragraph (c)'s OHO Portal requirement applies. The opening clause — except as provided in paragraph (c) in proceedings before the Office of Hearing Officers — is the critical jurisdictional qualifier: for OHO proceedings, paragraph (c) is the governing provision and paragraph (a)'s traditional methods apply only in the two exception circumstances identified in paragraph (c)(1)(A) and (B). For all other Code proceedings — NAC appeals, eligibility proceedings, expedited proceedings outside OHO, and cease and desist proceedings — paragraph (a) provides the governing service methods.

Personal service under FINRA Rule 9134(a)(1) may be accomplished through three alternative physical delivery mechanisms: handing a copy directly to the person required to be served; leaving a copy at the person's office with an employee or other person in charge thereof; or leaving a copy at the person's dwelling or usual place of abode with a person of suitable age and discretion then residing there. The three alternatives reflect standard civil process service concepts familiar from federal and state court practice — each provides sufficient indicia of actual delivery to constitute legal service without requiring that the paper be placed personally in the hands of the served party. Office delivery to an employee in charge is appropriate service because an office employee receives documents on behalf of the occupant as a matter of normal business practice. Dwelling delivery to a suitable person acknowledges that the served party may not always be personally present at their home address.

Service by mail under FINRA Rule 9134(a)(2) may be accomplished through four U.S. Postal Service mail classes: first class mail, first class certified mail, first class registered mail, or Express Mail. The choice among these four options is generally at the serving party's discretion — but a critical exception applies to complaints: a complaint shall be served on a respondent specifically by U.S. Postal Service first class certified mail or Express Mail, excluding ordinary first class mail and registered mail. This heightened mail service requirement for complaints — requiring either certified mail with its delivery tracking and signature capability or Express Mail with its guaranteed delivery — reflects the same policy judgment that drove the counsel acceptance requirement under FINRA Rule 9131: the complaint is the most consequential document in the proceeding and its service demands the most reliable verification of delivery.

Service by courier under FINRA Rule 9134(a)(3) may be accomplished by sending papers through a courier service that generates a written confirmation of receipt or of attempts at delivery. The written confirmation requirement distinguishes permissible courier service from informal delivery arrangements — a courier service that does not produce tracking or delivery confirmation records does not satisfy FINRA Rule 9134(a)(3). The written confirmation serves as the evidentiary record of service completion for purposes of computing response deadlines and documenting the certificate of service.

FINRA Rule 9134(b): Procedures — Addresses and Completion

FINRA Rule 9134(b) addresses two critical operational questions: at what addresses must service be directed for natural persons and entities, and when does service become legally complete.

For natural persons under FINRA Rule 9134(b)(1), the primary service address is the natural person's residential address as reflected in the Central Registration Depository. The CRD residential address is the legally designated service address — a document properly addressed to the CRD residential address and deposited in the mail is legally served regardless of whether the person actually receives it, because the obligation to maintain a current CRD address rests on the person under FINRA Rule 4517. This CRD address standard creates a predictable and verifiable service mechanism that prevents respondents from evading service by failing to maintain a current address — their regulatory registration obligation to keep the CRD current is simultaneously their obligation to ensure that service documents will reach them.

When the serving party or FINRA has actual knowledge that the natural person's CRD residential address is out of date, the rule imposes a dual service obligation: copies must be served both at the last known residential address and at the business address in the CRD of the entity with which the natural person is employed or affiliated. This dual service requirement for known-stale CRD addresses ensures that every reasonable effort is made to achieve actual notice when the primary address is known to be invalid, while preserving the legal sufficiency of service at the registered address.

Additional permissible service addresses for natural persons include the business address of the entity with which the natural person is employed or affiliated as reflected in the CRD, or at any branch office at which the natural person is employed or physically present during a normal business day. These additional address options give the serving party flexibility to achieve delivery at a location where the served person is known to be regularly present, without requiring that service be attempted first and fail at the CRD residential address. The Hearing Officer retains discretion to waive the CRD address requirement for non-complaint documents when evidence shows those addresses are no longer valid and a more current address is available — preserving common-sense flexibility without allowing the waiver to be used for complaints where the CRD address standard is most critical.

For entities under FINRA Rule 9134(b)(2), service must be made on a qualifying representative of the entity: an officer, a partner of a partnership, a managing or general agent, a contact employee as designated on Form BD, or any other agent authorized by appointment or by law to accept service. Service at an entity's business address as reflected in the CRD is the standard delivery location — with the same dual service requirement applying when the serving party has actual knowledge that the CRD entity address is out of date.

FINRA Rule 9134(b)(3) establishes the completion standards for the traditional service methods. Personal service and service by courier or express delivery are complete upon delivery — the moment the document is physically received at the designated address by a qualifying person, service is legally complete. Service by mail is complete upon mailing — the moment the document is deposited in the U.S. Postal Service with proper postage and addressing, service is legally complete regardless of when the recipient actually receives it. This upon mailing completion standard for mail service means that response deadlines begin running from the date of mailing, not the date of receipt — which is why FINRA Rule 9138's computation of time rules add three days to response periods when service has been made by mail, compensating for the transit time between mailing and actual delivery.

FINRA Rule 9134(c): OHO Portal Service — The Required Method for OHO Proceedings

FINRA Rule 9134(c) — added in its current form by SR-FINRA-2025-013 effective October 7, 2025 — establishes OHO Portal service as the required default method for all papers served in proceedings before the Office of Hearing Officers, with three sub-provisions addressing how Portal service operates, when it is complete, and where it may and may not be used.

FINRA Rule 9134(c)(1) provides that service through the OHO Portal is the required method of service for papers served in OHO proceedings unless otherwise ordered by the Hearing Officer, Hearing Panel, or Extended Hearing Panel. Two exceptions are carved out: first, the complaint itself must be served pursuant to FINRA Rule 9131's provisions — meaning personal service or certified mail, not Portal — preserving the heightened service reliability requirement for the initiating document; second, service of papers in cases of default under FINRA Rules 9215(f) and 9269(a) must be served pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of FINRA Rule 9134 — traditional personal service or mail — ensuring that non-participating respondents receive the most reliable methods for default notices and decisions.

FINRA Rule 9134(c)(2) defines how OHO Portal service is accomplished and when it is complete: accomplished by submitting the papers to the OHO Portal, complete upon submission to the OHO Portal. The completion upon submission standard means that the legal moment of service occurs at the instant the document is uploaded to the Portal — not when any other party downloads or reviews it. This precise electronic timestamp standard eliminates any ambiguity about when service occurred and when response deadlines begin running.

FINRA Rule 9134(c)(3) establishes the jurisdictional limitation on OHO Portal service: it is only permissible in proceedings before the Office of Hearing Officers and may not be used in any other proceeding. This limitation prevents parties from attempting to use Portal service for NAC appeals, eligibility proceedings, or other non-OHO Code proceedings — where email under FINRA Rule 9133(b) or traditional methods under FINRA Rule 9134(a) and (b) are the applicable service mechanisms.

The Counsel Service Overlay

Running across all of FINRA Rule 9134(b)'s address provisions is the counsel representation principle: papers served on a natural person or entity, excluding a complaint or document initiating a proceeding, shall be served on that person's counsel or representative if the person is represented and counsel has filed a notice of appearance under FINRA Rule 9141. This counsel service overlay — stated in both FINRA Rule 9134(b)(1) for natural persons and FINRA Rule 9134(b)(2) for entities — aligns with the same principle in FINRA Rule 9133(c) and ensures that the detailed address requirements of FINRA Rule 9134(b) operate in the correct context: those requirements govern service directly on parties, but once a notice of appearance is filed, service on counsel becomes the operative standard for all documents except the complaint.

The complaint exception to the counsel service overlay — maintained in both natural person and entity service provisions — preserves the requirement established in FINRA Rule 9131 that complaints be served on the respondent directly or on counsel only when counsel has agreed to accept service. A notice of appearance filed by counsel representing a respondent in an ongoing investigation does not automatically constitute consent to accept service of a subsequently issued complaint — that consent must be separately established under FINRA Rule 9131(a).

The October 2025 Amendment and the Full Transition to Portal Service

The October 7, 2025 amendment through SR-FINRA-2025-013 — announced in Regulatory Notice 25-10 — formally added paragraph (c) to FINRA Rule 9134 as a distinct service method with its own sub-provisions, consolidating in one place the complete OHO Portal service framework that had previously been referenced across FINRA Rules 9132 and 9133. The 2025 amendment reflects the completion of FINRA's multi-year transition from paper-based to electronic OHO proceedings — a transition that began with temporary COVID-19 emergency measures in May 2020, was permanently codified for inter-party documents and Adjudicator documents in August 2022 through SR-FINRA-2022-009, and was completed at the FINRA Rule 9134 level by the 2025 amendment which anchored Portal service as the required OHO method in the master service methods rule itself.

Examination Relevance and Key Takeaways

FINRA Rule 9134 is tested on the Series 24 General Securities Principal examination as the foundational service methods rule of the Code of Procedure — the rule that defines precisely how every service act in a disciplinary proceeding is accomplished and when it becomes legally complete. Examination questions may address the specific service requirements for complaints versus other documents, the CRD address standard, when mail service is complete, and the OHO Portal service framework.

The key points to retain are these: FINRA Rule 9134 establishes three traditional service methods — personal service complete upon delivery, service by U.S. Postal Service mail complete upon mailing, and service by courier complete upon delivery — applicable to all Code proceedings except where OHO Portal service applies under paragraph (c); complaints must be served by first class certified mail or Express Mail specifically — ordinary first class mail and registered mail are not permissible for complaint service; personal service may be accomplished by direct hand delivery, office delivery to a person in charge, or dwelling delivery to a person of suitable age and discretion; service on natural persons is directed to the CRD residential address as the primary address with dual service required at the last known residential address and the CRD entity business address when the serving party has actual knowledge the CRD residential address is out of date; service on entities is directed to the CRD business address and must be made on a qualifying representative — officer, partner, managing or general agent, Form BD contact employee, or authorized agent; service by mail is complete upon mailing triggering FINRA Rule 9138's three-day addition to response periods; paragraph (c) — added by SR-FINRA-2025-013 effective October 7, 2025 — makes OHO Portal service the required method for all papers in OHO proceedings except complaints and default service which must use traditional methods; OHO Portal service is accomplished by submitting papers to the Portal and is complete upon submission; OHO Portal service is only permissible in OHO proceedings and may not be used in any other Code proceeding; and for represented parties, service of all documents except complaints must be made on counsel or representative once a notice of appearance has been filed under FINRA Rule 9141, regardless of whether the traditional or Portal service method is used.