When used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
(1) COMMISSION or SECURITIES COMMISSION. The securities commission.
(2) AGENT. Any individual other than a dealer who represents a dealer or issuer in effecting or attempting to effect sales of securities, but such term does not include an individual who represents an issuer in:
a. Effecting a transaction in a security exempted by subdivisions (1), (2), (3), (4), (9) or (10) of Section 8-6-10;
b. Effecting transactions exempted by Section 8-6-11; or
c. Effecting transactions with existing employees, partners, or directors of the issuer if no commission or other remuneration is paid or given directly or indirectly for soliciting any person in this state.
A partner, officer, or director of a dealer or issuer is an agent if he otherwise comes within this definition.
(3) DEALER. Any person engaged in the business of effecting transactions in securities for the account of others or for his own account. Such term does not include:
a. An agent, issuer, bank, savings institution, savings and loan association, credit union, or trust company, or
b. A person who has no place of business in this state if he effects transactions in this state exclusively with or through the issuers of the securities involved in the transactions and other dealers.
(4) GUARANTEED. Guaranteed as to payment of principal, interest, or dividends.
(5) ISSUER. Every person who proposes to issue, has issued, or shall hereafter issue any security. Any person who acts for a compensation or a consideration as a promoter for or on behalf of a corporation, trust, unincorporated association, or partnership of any kind to be formed shall be deemed to be an issuer.
(6) NONISSUER. Not directly or indirectly for the benefit of the issuer.
(7) PERSON. Such term shall include a natural person, a corporation created under the laws of this or any other state, country, sovereignty, or political subdivision thereof, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, a trust, and any unincorporated organization. As used herein the term “trust” shall not include a trust created or appointed under or by virtue of a last will and testament, by instrument of declaration or appointment by any person for the benefit of himself, relatives, friends, servants, or employees, by a court or any public charitable trust.
(8) SALE, SELL, OFFER and OFFER TO SELL. “Sale” and “sell” includes every contract of sale of, contract to sell, or disposition of a security or interest in a security for value. “Offer” or “offer to sell” includes every attempt to offer or dispose of, or solicitation of an offer to buy, a security or interest in a security for value. Any security given or delivered with, or as a bonus on account of, any purchase of securities or any other thing is considered to constitute part of the subject of the purchase and to have been offered and sold for value. A purported gift of assessable stock is considered to involve an offer and sale. Every sale or offer of a warrant or right to purchase or subscribe to another security of the same or another issuer, as well as every sale or offer of a security which gives the holder a present or future right or privilege to convert into another security of the same or another issuer, is considered to include an offer of the other security.
(9) SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANY ACT OF 1935, INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940, and INVESTMENT ADVISERS ACT OF 1940. The federal statutes of those names as amended at any time.
(10) SECURITY. Any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, certificate of interest or participation in an oil, gas, or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under such a title or lease, annuity contract unless issued by an insurance company, bankers’ shares, trustees’ shares, investment participating bonds, investment trust debentures, units, shares, bonds and certificates in, for, respecting, or based upon any form of securities or collateral, subscriptions and contracts covering or pertaining to the sale or purchase on the installment plan of any security as herein defined, or subscription or contracts covering or pertaining to the sale or purchase of beneficial interest in title to property, profits or earnings, or any right to subscribe to any of the foregoing, or any instrument of any kind commonly known as a security.
(11) STATE. Any state, territory, or possession of the United States, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
(12) UNDERWRITER. A person who agrees to take or contracts to dispose of a stipulated amount of securities, or a portion thereof, at a fixed price.
(13) BROKER. A dealer, as hereinabove defined.
(14) SUSPEND. When used in relation to the registration of either a security, a dealer, an investment adviser, an agent, or an investment adviser representative, such term shall mean the temporary cessation or inoperativeness of such registration, whether by reason of operation of law or by reason of an order of the securities commission.
(15) REVOKE. To vacate the registration of either a security, a dealer, an investment adviser, an agent, or an investment adviser representative for cause by order of the securities commission.
(16) CANCEL. To terminate the registration of either a security, a dealer, an investment adviser, an agent, or an investment adviser representative upon application filed therefor as follows:
a. In the case of a security, upon application therefor filed by the issuer thereof or the person who secured the registration of said security;
b. In the case of a dealer, upon the application therefor filed by such dealer;
c. In the case of an investment adviser, upon the application therefor filed by such investment adviser;
d. In the case of an agent, upon the application therefor filed by either the issuer or dealer employing such agent; and
e. In the case of an investment adviser representative, upon application therefor filed by the investment adviser employing such investment adviser representative.
(17) FRAUD, DECEIT and DEFRAUD. These terms are not limited to common-law deceit.
(18) INVESTMENT ADVISER. Any person, who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities, or who, for compensation and as a part of a regular business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning securities. “Investment adviser” also includes financial planners and other persons who, as an integral component of other financially related services, provide the foregoing investment advisory services to others for compensation and as part of a business or who hold themselves out as providing the foregoing investment advisory services to others for compensation. “Investment adviser” does not include:
a. An investment adviser representative;
b. A depository institution, which term includes a person organized, chartered, or holding an authorization certificate under the laws of this state or the United States which authorizes the person to receive deposits including a savings, share, certificate, or deposit account, and which is supervised and examined for the protection of depositors by an official or agency of this state or the United States; and a trust company or other institution authorized by federal or Alabama law to exercise fiduciary powers of the type a national bank is permitted to exercise under the authority of the Comptroller of the Currency and is supervised and examined by an official or agency of this state or the United States; but which does not include an insurance company or other organization primarily engaged in the insurance business, or a Morris Plan bank, industrial loan company, or a similar bank or company unless its deposits are insured by a federal agency;
c. A lawyer, accountant, engineer, or teacher whose performance of investment advisory services is solely incidental to the practice of that person’s profession;
d. A broker-dealer or its agent whose performance of investment advisory services is solely incidental to the conduct of its business as a broker-dealer and who receives no special compensation for the investment advisory services;
e. A publisher, employee, or columnist of a newspaper, news magazine, or business or financial publication, or an owner, operator, producer, or employee of a cable, radio or television network, station, or production facility if the financial or business news published or disseminated is made available to the general public and the content does not consist of rendering advice on the basis of the specific investment situation of each client;
f. An insurance company, its employees, or agents who are engaged exclusively in the sale or distribution of life, health, or casualty insurance or insurance related products.
(19) INVESTMENT ADVISER REPRESENTATIVE. Any partner, officer, director of (or a person occupying a similar status or performing similar functions) or other individual employed by or associated with an investment adviser, except clerical or ministerial personnel, who:
a. Makes any recommendation or otherwise renders advice regarding securities,
b. Manages accounts or portfolios of clients,
c. Determines which recommendation or advice regarding securities should be given,
d. Solicits, offers, or negotiates for the sale of or sells investment advisory services, unless the solicitation, offering, or selling activities are solely incidental to his or her profession and such person is a dealer or salesman registered under Section 8-6-3 and the person would not be an investment adviser representative except for the performance of activities described in subdivision (18)d. of this section, or
e. Supervises employees who perform any of the foregoing.
(20) OFFICER. A president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, comptroller, or any other person performing similar functions with respect to any organization whether incorporated or unincorporated.
(21) APPLICANT. A person, natural or otherwise, executing or submitting an application for registration.
(22) REGISTRANT. An applicant for whom a registration has been declared effective by the commission.
(23) AFFILIATE. A person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, or is controlled by, or is under common control with, an applicant or registrant.
(24) CONTROLLING PERSON, CONTROL, CONTROLLING, CONTROLLED BY, UNDER COMMON CONTROL WITH. The possession, directly, or indirectly, or the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract or otherwise.
(25) SALESMAN. An agent, as hereinabove defined.