So, agents and investment adviser representatives are individuals, whi...

Securities agents and investment adviser representatives are individuals—natural persons—who receive compensation while representing a broker-dealer or an investment adviser. A broker-dealer or investment adviser could be owned as a corporation, a partnership, or an LLC. Or the firm could be owned as a sole proprietorship. If owned as a sole proprietorship, the broker-dealer or investment adviser would be indistinguishable from the individual who owned it. In that case, the broker-dealer or investment adviser would be a natural person, rather than a legal person such as a C-corporation.