Context

The CRD System (Central Registration Depository) was the securities industry's central registration and disclosure system. It was operated by NASD and used by the SEC, self-regulatory organizations, and state securities regulators to maintain and process information on broker-dealer firms and their registered personnel. That included registration records, qualification and employment history, disclosure history, form filings, fingerprints, fees, exams, and related regulatory processing.

In late-1990s terms, it was basically the shared back-end system for licensing, registration, and disclosure across the broker-dealer world. The SEC described the older Legacy CRD as a "one-stop" filing system created in 1981, with the Internet-based Web CRD replacing it in 1999.