South Carolina

Broker-dealer firm disciplinary records from FINRA BrokerCheck

Data updated July 2026

South Carolina at a glance

As of July 2026, South Carolina registers 15 broker-dealer firms on FINRA BrokerCheck - 10 carry a clean record and 295 disclosures are on file statewide.

15
registered firms: 10
with a clean record (Grade A): 295
total disclosures statewide: 19.7
disclosures per firm (avg)

Registered Firms

Clean Record (Grade A)

295

Total Disclosures

19.7

Avg Disclosures / Firm

How South Carolina ranks

A state's raw firm count and its disciplinary clean-record rate measure two different things, and they do not always move together. A jurisdiction can host a large number of broker-dealer firms simply because it is a major financial hub, while a smaller state with far fewer registered firms can post a cleaner disciplinary record in relative terms, or vice versa. Comparing both rankings side by side, rather than looking at either figure in isolation, gives a fuller picture of what is actually happening on the ground in a given state.

By firm count, South Carolina is #31 of 56 states and territories. By clean-record rate (Grade A share, among the 33 states with at least 10 registered firms, a floor that keeps a state with only a handful of firms from swinging to an extreme rate on a tiny sample), it ranks #10 of 33. These ranks diverge notably -- a smaller firm footprint here still carries a comparatively strong clean-record rate. Neither ranking implies wrongdoing on its own; always review an individual firm's own size-normalized grade before drawing a conclusion about it specifically.

Grade Distribution

How South Carolina's 15 graded broker-dealers split across the size-normalized A-F safety scale.

Grade breakdown of 15 graded firms headquartered in South Carolina

Firms by Disclosure Count

#	Firm	Disclosures	Offices	Grade
1	LPL Financial LLC Fort Mill	289	32,976	B
2	LPL Enterprise, LLC Fort Mill	3	1,487	B
3	Global OAK Capital Markets LLC Charleston	1	2	B
4	Partnercap Securities, LLC Bluffton	1	2	B
5	Sequence Financial Specialists LLC Florence	1	4	B
6	Ballast Rock Capital LLC Charleston	0	2	A
7	Charles Towne Securities, LLC Charleston	0	2	A
8	Dragonfly Capital Partners, LLC Mt Pleasant	0	3	A
9	Global Alliance Securities LLC Charleston (Mt. Pleasant)	0	2	A
10	Hollister Associates, LLC Mount Pleasant	0	19	A
11	Palmetto Advisory Group, LLC Charleston	0	2	A
12	Poinsett Securities, LLC Greenville	0	2	A
13	Polaris Private Placements, LLC Mt. Pleasant	0	2	A
14	Tower Principal Markets LLC Mount Pleasant	0	5	A
15	TRC Markets LLC Mount Pleasant	0	3	A

Inside South Carolina's Broker-Dealer Landscape

South Carolina has 15 actively registered broker-dealer firms in FINRA's public register, of which 10 (66.7%) carry a clean Grade-A record with no reportable BrokerCheck disclosures.

The state's aggregate disciplinary footprint totals 295 disclosures on BrokerCheck, averaging 19.7 per firm. Grade distribution across South Carolina's broker-dealers: 10 graded A, 5 graded B, 0 graded C, 0 graded D, and 0 graded F. That means 66.7% of graded firms hold an A and 0.0% fall into the D or F bands.

Grades reflect our internal model weighing disclosure volume against firm size and scope; they are editorial signals, not FINRA ratings. Disclosure totals on BrokerCheck represent reported events, not proven violations, large multistate firms headquartered in South Carolina will naturally carry more disclosures than small single-office firms. This page is informational only and is not financial, legal, or investment advice. Before hiring any South Carolina advisor, confirm the firm's current record at FINRA BrokerCheck and review the specific representative's individual CRD report.

Frequently asked questions

How many broker-dealer firms are registered in South Carolina?

South Carolina has 15 actively registered broker-dealer firms on FINRA BrokerCheck, of which 10 (66.7%) hold a clean Grade-A record with no reportable disclosures.

Which South Carolina broker-dealer has the most FINRA disclosures?

Among firms registered in South Carolina, LPL Financial LLC carries the most reported BrokerCheck disclosures (289 across 32,976 branch offices). Disclosure totals reflect reported events, not proven violations, larger firms naturally carry more. Always review the specific records on FINRA BrokerCheck.

How are PlainAdvisorCheck safety grades calculated?

Grades are size-normalized: a firm's weighted disclosure load is divided by its branch-office footprint, then ranked within its size class. Firms with zero disclosures earn an A regardless of size. Grades are editorial signals, not FINRA ratings. See our methodology for the exact formula.

Is this official South Carolina broker data?

Yes. All firm records come from FINRA BrokerCheck and the SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) - the official public registries for U.S. broker-dealers. PlainAdvisorCheck aggregates and size-normalizes them; the underlying records are public domain.

All South Carolina Firms → All States →

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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Data sourced from official FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC EDGAR enforcement records. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainAdvisorCheck Editorial

Compiled by PlainAdvisorCheck Editorial, Financial Advisor Discipline Editorial Team

Every figure on PlainAdvisorCheck is rendered directly from FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC IAPD disciplinary records, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on SEC/FINRA regulatory filing data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.