WASHINGTON, DC, December 10, 2020 – In the six years since its launch, the North American Securities Administrators Association’s (NASAA) Electronic Filing Depository (EFD) System has processed nearly half a million notice filings with state securities regulators, providing greater efficiencies for filers and regulators.

“NASAA’s EFD system has modernized the process for notice filings with state securities regulators by transforming a paper-based filing system into an efficient system that strives to bring greater efficiencies through technology to meet the needs of the financial community and securities regulators,” said Lisa A. Hopkins, NASAA President and West Virginia’s Senior Deputy Securities Commissioner. “While we celebrate the accomplishments of the EFD system on its anniversary, we are focused on future enhancements to bring its benefits to an even greater range of filings.”

Launched in December 2014, the EFD system is a web-based system developed by NASAA that allows state securities regulators to receive notice filings and related fees for Form D, Regulation D, Rule 506 filings and Form NF – Unit Investment Trust (UIT) filings. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the system was expanded earlier this year to accept additional corporation finance materials. The new functionality, referred to as “Universal Filing Type (UFT),” is being used to submit registrations by coordination and qualification, Regulation A (Tier 1 and Tier 2), crowdfunding, franchise and mutual fund filings.

To date, the EFD system has been used to process nearly 500,000 notice filings (including initial filings, amendments, terminations and renewals) with state securities regulators, including 428,367 Form D filings and 57,568 Form NF-UIT filings. Prior to the launch of EFD most of these filings would have been made on paper.

Last week, New York became the latest jurisdiction to join EFD for Form D filings. Earlier this year Massachusetts and Connecticut joined the system. The addition of those jurisdictions brings to 50 the number of jurisdictions using the EFD system for Form D, 44 states for Form NF-UIT, and 37 are on board for UFT filings.

Looking ahead, Hopkins said NASAA’s EFD Steering Committee, chaired by Washington Securities Director William Beatty, is working to enhance the system with the addition of filing functionality to accept separate franchise and Form NF-Mutual Fund filings.

In addition to providing both filers and state regulators with tools to manage filings and create reports, the EFD system provides a website allowing members of the public to search and view notice filings made with participating jurisdictions for Form D and UIT filings. The system includes a secure file transfer protocol (FTP) site that integrates with many state-specific systems and allows for seamless direct download of state filing data. EFD is available at: www.efdnasaa.org.