Can an Investment Advisory Agreement Be Signed Electronically?

Last updated June 2026.

Yes. An investment advisory agreement can be signed electronically, and the electronic signature is legally binding under the federal ESIGN Act and state UETA laws, the same as ink on paper. An advisory agreement is an ordinary business contract, so signing it online is valid as long as both parties agree to sign electronically and the platform records an audit trail. For an RIA or a financial planner, e-signing the agreement is the fast way to turn a verbal yes into a billable relationship the same day.

That is the short answer. The longer answer matters, because an advisory practice runs on two rules a generic explanation skips: how long you have to keep the signed agreement, and the fact that your own paperwork signs in your own tool while account forms go through the custodian. Here are the questions advisors actually ask.

Can an investment advisory agreement be signed electronically?

Yes. An investment advisory agreement is a contract like any other, so it can be signed electronically and is enforceable under the ESIGN Act and UETA in all 50 states. There is no requirement that it be signed in ink or notarized. The client and the advisory firm can both sign the same electronic copy, and the signed file carries a timestamped audit trail showing who agreed to what and when.

Is an electronically signed advisory agreement legally binding?

Yes. An electronically signed advisory agreement is binding and enforceable to the same degree as a paper one, provided both parties consented to sign electronically and an audit trail records the signing. ESIGN and UETA say a contract cannot be denied legal effect just because it was signed electronically. The audit trail showing the signer, the time, and the device is often stronger evidence of agreement than a mailed paper copy would be.

Do financial advisors use electronic signatures?

Routinely, yes. Financial advisors e-sign the documents their firm owns: the advisory agreement, the financial planning engagement letter, the fee schedule, the investment policy statement, and the acknowledgment that the client received the firm's Form ADV brochure and Form CRS. These all sign electronically and are binding under ESIGN and UETA. E-signing shortens onboarding from a week of mail to a same-day signature, which is why most growing RIAs and planning practices have moved to it.

Does an advisory agreement need to be notarized?

No. An investment advisory agreement does not need to be notarized to be valid or enforceable. It is a private contract between the client and the advisory firm, and notarization is not part of what makes it binding. What it needs is the agreement of both parties, signatures from each, and a record that the client received the firm's required disclosures. An electronic signature with an audit trail satisfies all of that.

Can you open a brokerage account with an electronic signature?

Usually, but not with a generic e-signature tool. Account-opening applications, transfers, beneficiary designations, and money-movement forms go through the custodian's own electronic signature process. Schwab, Fidelity Institutional, and Pershing each run their own e-sign flow for their forms, often with knowledge-based authentication, and many custodial forms are not eligible for an outside tool. So sign your advisory agreement in your own tool and use the custodian's process for the account forms.

How long does a financial advisor have to keep a signed advisory agreement?

A registered investment adviser generally must keep advisory contracts and client-relationship records for five years under Investment Advisers Act Rule 204-2, with the first two years in an easily accessible place. Broker-dealers and dually registered hybrid advisors follow SEC Rule 17a-4 and its own retention periods. Electronic copies are allowed if they are safeguarded from loss or alteration, access-limited, and kept complete and legible.

Where do you store a signed advisory agreement for compliance?

In your firm's books-and-records system, not just in the signing tool. The signing platform gets the agreement executed and gives you a signed copy with a certificate, but the retention obligation under Rule 204-2 or Rule 17a-4 is yours. Download the completed agreement with its audit trail and file it in the compliance recordkeeping system your firm uses for examinations, keeping it safeguarded, access-controlled, and legible for the full retention period.

Can a client sign an advisory agreement from their phone?

Yes. A client opens a secure link and signs the advisory agreement, engagement letter, or fee schedule from a phone, tablet, or laptop, with no account to create and no app to install. They can review the terms and sign between meetings. That mobile signing is what gets an agreement executed the day the prospect commits, instead of waiting for a printed copy to travel back and forth in the mail.

What documents do you sign when hiring a financial advisor?

Typically a small set: the investment advisory agreement that sets the scope and the fee, a fee schedule if it is separate, an acknowledgment that you received the firm's Form ADV Part 2 brochure and Form CRS relationship summary, and sometimes an investment policy statement and intake forms. Those are the advisor's own documents and they e-sign together. Separately, the custodian's account-opening and transfer forms are signed through the custodian's process to fund the account.

If you run an advisory practice and want the practical version of all of this, our guide to electronic signature for financial advisors and RIAs covers how to send the advisory agreement, fee schedule, and ADV and CRS acknowledgment as one packet and get it signed the same day, and where the custodian takes over. For the broader rules on why an e-signed contract holds up, see are electronic signatures legally binding, and for features and pricing, the electronic signature software page.

A few adjacent tasks tend to land on the same desk. Once a stack of signed advisory agreements and onboarding forms builds up, turning those scanned documents into searchable, structured data for your compliance file is its own job, which is what document data extraction software is for. During data gathering, pulling a prospect's bank and brokerage statements into a spreadsheet to map cash flow and holdings is far faster with a bank statement to Excel converter than keying it by hand. And filling the pipeline of prospects to sign those agreements in the first place is what targeted cold email outreach is built for.