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 VisionCompliance.

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

Test takers can choose from different versions of the FINSA Client Advisor Test. All test versions cover the FINSA code of conduct. Some versions cover professional knowledge related to specific financial services according to FINSA, in addition to the FINSA code of conduct knowledge. The available test versions are:

Fund Distribution
Code of Conduct only
Asset Management / Investment Advice
Executing / Forwarding of Client Orders and Credit Activities
All Financial Services according to FINSA

Each version of the Client Advisor Test is available as Practice Exam and Certification Exam.

Practice Exams are identical to Certification Exams in length and type of questions asked and are therefore well suited to prepare for a Certification Exam. Test-takers do not receive a certificate upon successful completion of a Practice Exam, but can retake a Practice Exam as many times as they wish during one month. Practice Exams are not proctored.
After successfully completing a Certification Exam, the test-taker receives a certificate that is accepted by the client advisor registries as proof of sufficient knowledge in the tested subject. The Certification Exams are proctored digitally.