FINSA Client Advisor Test

Client advisors of non-FINMA supervised financial service providers active in the Swiss market must have and show proof of adequate know-how of financial services and knowledge of behavioural obligations under FINSA.

Do your client advisors comply with the new requirements under the Swiss Financial Services Act (FINSA)?

FINSA increases the compliance requirements for client advisors of non-FINMA supervised domestic and foreign financial service providers with clients in Switzerland. They must generally be entered in the newly established client advisor register under FINSA and have adequate know-how of the financial services provided, as well as know-how of the applicable compliance rules.

The FINSA Client Advisor Test shows:

whether the client advisors and staff have the required knowledge for entry into the client advisor register
whether job applicants or employees up for promotion have the knowledge and know-how required for financial services
in which area of financial services additional training or studies are needed.

Access the test here

“The compliance requirements for client advisors are also becoming more and more complex in Switzerland during this “new age of increased compliance”.

Martin Liebi, PwC Legal Director, PwC Switzerland

Our services

PwC is a leading consulting company on all aspects of advisory services, implementation projects, and trainings related to the new obligations under the FINSA. Please contact us if you would like to know more.

With the FINSA Client Advisor Test, Kryterion, a leading global test provider, offers a comprehensive evaluation tool that:

checks the know-how required under FINSA, can be accessed online around the world, 24 hours a day, with the test taker’s equipment
uses the latest examination technique based on artificial intelligence and personal proctors, and guarantees the exclusion of any exam irregularities with 100% accuracy.

Each test taker will receive a certificate issued by the test provider Kryterion.

This knowledge and know-how need to be checked and evaluated in the following areas:

Entry into the client advisor register
Evaluation of candidates for job openings
Evaluation of staff up for promotion
Recurring evaluation of staff
Self-evaluation tool

The Client Advisor Test offers the test taker a modular approach with the completion of different modules, each of which refer to a financial service that falls within the scope of the Swiss Financial Services Act (FINSA). These are:

Execution and forwarding of orders
Investment advice and discretionary asset management
Distribution of financial instruments
Credit granted for the execution of transactions in financial instruments

All the modules and financial services can refer to each of the following financial instruments that fall individually or jointly within the scope of FINSA. The financial instruments covered by the FINSA Client Advisor Test are: