Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Regulation, Ethics, and Consumer Duty
Practice 10 free CISI Chartered Wealth Manager Applied Wealth Management sample exam questions on Regulation, Ethics, and Consumer Duty, with answers, explanations, practice tests, topic drills, and the Finance Prep next step.
CISI means Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment. CWM means Chartered Wealth Manager, and this page is for the Applied Wealth Management paper. Use this focused CISI CWM Applied Wealth page as a short practice test for Regulation, Ethics, and Consumer Duty. The items are original Finance Prep sample exam questions built for scenario-based practice, not trivia, puzzle questions, official CISI questions, copied live-exam content, or exam dumps.
Topic snapshot
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam route | CISI CWM Applied Wealth |
| Issuer | CISI |
| Credential identity | CISI is the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment; CWM means Chartered Wealth Manager. |
| Topic area | Regulation, Ethics, and Consumer Duty |
| Blueprint weight | 10% |
| Page purpose | Focused sample questions before returning to mixed practice |
How to use this topic drill
Use this page to isolate Regulation, Ethics, and Consumer Duty for CISI CWM Applied Wealth. Work through the 10 questions first, then review the explanations and return to mixed practice in Finance Prep.
| Pass | What to do | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| First attempt | Answer without checking the explanation first. | The fact, rule, calculation, or judgment point that controlled your answer. |
| Review | Read the explanation even when you were correct. | Why the best answer is stronger than the closest distractor. |
| Repair | Repeat only missed or uncertain items after a short break. | The pattern behind misses, not the answer letter. |
| Transfer | Return to mixed practice once the topic feels stable. | Whether the same skill holds up when the topic is no longer obvious. |
Blueprint context: 10% of the practice outline. A focused topic score can overstate readiness if you recognize the pattern too quickly, so use it as repair work before timed mixed sets.
Sample questions
These are original Finance Prep practice questions aligned to this topic area. They are not official CISI questions, copied live-exam content, or exam dumps. Use them to preview question style and explanation depth before continuing with topic drills, mixed sets, and timed mock exams in Finance Prep.
Question 1
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
A wealth manager is preparing an annual suitability review for a long-standing private client.
Client extract:
- Priya, age 58, was widowed three months ago and has stopped working after selling her consultancy.
- The last full fact-find was completed 18 months ago, when Priya and her husband had joint earnings of £260,000 and a balanced-growth objective.
- The file still records attitude to risk as
7/10and capacity for loss asmedium-high. - Priya now holds £1.4 million in sale proceeds in cash, has a £450,000 mortgage, and expects to need regular income within 12 months.
- The file has no updated expenditure, pension-income, tax, protection, estate-planning, or capacity-for-loss assessment since the bereavement and business sale.
Priya emails:
Please invest the cash into the same high-growth portfolio this week. I do not want to go through another fact-find.
Which action should the wealth manager document as the next step?
- A. Treat Priya as an insistent client and proceed after issuing a written risk warning about market volatility.
- B. Invest only through tax-efficient wrappers first, then complete the updated suitability review at the next annual meeting.
- C. Invest the cash into the existing high-growth portfolio because Priya has given a clear written instruction.
- D. Pause the new recommendation, explain that the existing evidence is insufficient, obtain and document updated client information, and reassess suitability before proceeding.
Best answer: D
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: A firm must have enough up-to-date information to assess suitability before giving a personal recommendation or making an investment decision under a managed arrangement. Priya’s circumstances have changed materially: bereavement, loss of employment income, business-sale proceeds, mortgage liability, near-term income need, and unresolved pension, tax, protection, estate, and capacity-for-loss issues. The previous risk profile cannot safely be treated as current evidence. The appropriate documented action is to explain why the advice cannot proceed on the existing file, gather and record updated KYC information, reassess objectives, risk tolerance and capacity for loss, and only then decide whether any portfolio action is suitable. If Priya refuses to provide essential information, the firm should record the limitation and may need to decline to advise or implement the proposed transaction.
- A written client instruction does not remove the duty to assess suitability where advice or portfolio management is involved.
- Tax-efficient wrappers may be useful later, but they do not cure missing evidence about objectives, risk, income needs, and capacity for loss.
- Insistent-client treatment is not a shortcut where the adviser has not first obtained sufficient information and given a suitable recommendation.
Material changes and missing KYC evidence mean suitability must be reassessed before making or implementing a new recommendation.
Question 2
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
A UK wealth management firm is reviewing an incident involving client data sent to an external mortgage broker.
Incident extract:
- Spreadsheet sent: records for 12 clients, including names, addresses, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers, account references, holdings and portfolio values.
- Documented permission in the CRM: 5 clients consented to sending contact details and latest portfolio value to that broker.
- No consent or other lawful basis is documented for the remaining clients.
- The firm confirmed the disclosure on Tuesday 4 March at 15:00.
- The data protection policy states that a notifiable personal data breach must be reported to the ICO within 72 hours of the firm becoming aware, affected individuals must be told without undue delay where the breach is high risk, and shared data must be limited to what is necessary.
The DPO concludes the incident is likely to create a high risk because it included financial identifiers.
Which immediate response best reflects the data protection position, including the figure-based interpretation?
- A. Treat all 12 records as over-disclosed, with 7 lacking a documented lawful basis; preserve the breach record, notify the ICO by Friday 7 March at 15:00, tell affected clients without undue delay, and restrict future broker sharing to necessary fields supported by a lawful basis.
- B. Treat the incident as not reportable if the broker confirms deletion before Friday 7 March at 15:00, and amend the client records only after that confirmation is received.
- C. Treat the incident as a client-consent administration issue only; notify the ICO within 72 working hours and continue broker sharing unless a client objects.
- D. Treat only 7 records as affected; do not contact the 5 consented clients because consent to share a portfolio value permits all related client-record fields to be sent.
Best answer: A
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: Data protection rules affect both the content of client records and how information is communicated or shared with third parties. A lawful basis is needed for sharing personal data, but that is not enough on its own: the firm must also apply purpose limitation and data minimisation. Here, all 12 client records were over-disclosed because the spreadsheet included identifiers and account details beyond the stated broker purpose. For 7 clients, there was also no documented lawful basis at all. Once the firm became aware at Tuesday 4 March 15:00 and the DPO concluded the incident was high risk, the 72-hour reporting clock runs to Friday 7 March 15:00. The firm should keep an audit trail, escalate through its breach process, notify the ICO within the deadline, and inform affected clients without undue delay.
- Relying on consent for 5 clients fails because their permission covered limited data, not National Insurance numbers, account references and detailed holdings.
- Broker deletion may reduce harm, but it does not remove the need to assess and record a high-risk notifiable breach.
- Using 72 working hours is wrong for the stated policy, and continuing sharing unless a client objects ignores lawful basis and data minimisation requirements.
All 12 clients received excessive disclosure, 7 also lacked a lawful basis, and the 72-hour ICO deadline runs to Friday 7 March at 15:00.
Question 3
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
At a UK wealth manager, a supervisor reviews a recently activated discretionary portfolio file.
Client profile:
- Dr Ellis, 67, recently sold her dental practice and holds £2.4 million in cash.
- She wants £1.2 million invested for retirement income and future school-fee gifts to grandchildren.
- Existing arrangements include a defined benefit pension of £35,000 a year, a SIPP worth £420,000, and a whole-of-life policy written in trust.
- Her recorded risk profile is medium-low, with limited capacity for a major permanent loss.
File extract:
- Passport and address verification were completed by central onboarding.
- The sale contract, completion statement, and solicitor details are held to support source of wealth.
- The adviser recorded that a high-risk digital asset scheme suggested by Dr Ellis’s son was not recommended because it conflicted with her capacity for loss.
- The AML approval note is held only in the adviser’s personal email folder; operations activated the portfolio after the adviser verbally confirmed approval.
Which observation is the clearest control weakness?
- A. The firm considered capacity for loss alongside the client’s risk profile before giving investment advice.
- B. The firm used sale documentation and solicitor completion statements to evidence source of wealth.
- C. The adviser documented the rejected digital asset idea instead of omitting it from the suitability file.
- D. The portfolio was activated on verbal confirmation of AML approval when the approval evidence was not held in central records.
Best answer: D
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: A control is effective only if it is completed, evidenced, and accessible to the firm. AML approval held solely in a personal email folder, followed by verbal confirmation to operations, creates both financial-crime and recordkeeping risk. It weakens independent review, makes supervision and audit harder, and may prevent the firm from demonstrating that customer due diligence and source-of-wealth checks were properly approved before investment activity began. The other observations show appropriate controls: verifying identity, retaining source-of-wealth evidence, documenting an unsuitable client idea, and considering capacity for loss are all consistent with sound conduct and suitability practice.
- Recording the rejected digital asset idea strengthens the suitability record because it shows why no recommendation was made.
- Sale documents and solicitor completion statements are normal evidence to support source-of-wealth assessment.
- Considering capacity for loss alongside risk profile helps prevent unsuitable advice.
- Verbal confirmation of AML approval is not a substitute for a firm-held, retrievable approval record.
Activating the portfolio without a retrievable AML approval record bypasses a key control and leaves an inadequate audit trail.
Question 4
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
A long-standing client asks his wealth manager to help transfer a £620,000 defined benefit pension into a SIPP so he can enter flexi-access drawdown before the tax year end.
Decisive facts:
- The client is 59, self-employed, and wants flexible withdrawals to cover irregular income.
- His spouse is financially dependent on him.
- The firm’s FCA permissions cover investment advice and discretionary management, but not pension transfer advice on safeguarded benefits.
- The relevant requirement is that safeguarded benefit transfers above £30,000 need appropriate advice from an authorised pension transfer specialist.
- The client says he will sign any waiver because he does not want to miss the deadline.
What is the best regulatory response?
- A. Proceed on an execution-only basis because the client has clearly requested the transfer and is willing to sign a waiver.
- B. Advise only on the SIPP investment portfolio and state in the report that no pension transfer advice is being given.
- C. Ask compliance to approve a one-off exception and record the case as an insistent-client transaction.
- D. Decline to advise on or arrange the transfer, explain the permission boundary, and refer the client to an appropriately authorised pension transfer specialist before considering any investment advice on proceeds.
Best answer: D
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: A firm and its staff must act within their FCA permissions, competence, and the authority given by the client. A transfer from a defined benefit scheme involves safeguarded benefits, and the stated facts require appropriate advice from an authorised pension transfer specialist. The client’s urgency and willingness to sign a waiver do not create regulatory permission or remove the need for specialist transfer advice. The wealth manager should stop before giving or arranging transfer advice, explain the boundary clearly, document the position, and refer the client to a suitably authorised specialist. If a valid transfer decision is later made, the firm may then consider investment advice on the proceeds, but only within its own permissions and after assessing suitability, including income needs and the dependent spouse.
- Execution-only treatment is not appropriate where the firm is being asked to help decide or arrange a regulated transfer outside its permissions.
- A disclaimer about not giving transfer advice does not cure conduct that in substance supports or facilitates the transfer recommendation.
- An insistent-client file or compliance exception cannot override the firm’s lack of permission for the regulated activity.
- The tax-year deadline is a planning pressure, not a reason to bypass specialist advice requirements.
The firm must stay within its FCA permissions and competence, so it cannot use urgency or a waiver to provide or arrange safeguarded-benefit transfer advice.
Question 5
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
A UK retail client has a discretionary portfolio management agreement. The agreement allows the portfolio manager to rebalance only within the documented mandate.
Mandate limit: AIM-quoted shares must not exceed 10% of the portfolio by market value unless the client gives prior written consent to a mandate variation.
Current portfolio values:
| Holding | Value |
|---|---|
| Cash | £80,000 |
| AIM-quoted shares | £50,000 |
| Other investments | £670,000 |
| Total | £800,000 |
The manager proposes buying £40,000 of additional AIM-quoted shares from cash before market close. Assume no transaction costs and no price movement before execution.
What regulatory response should compliance recommend?
- A. Execute no more than £30,000 under the current mandate; any larger purchase requires prior written client consent to a mandate variation.
- B. Execute the full £40,000 and disclose the temporary mandate breach in the next periodic valuation report.
- C. Treat the £10,000 excess as an advisory transaction unless the client objects after execution.
- D. Execute the full £40,000 because the client has given discretionary authority over the portfolio.
Best answer: A
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: Discretionary authority is limited by the agreed client mandate. The portfolio is £800,000, so the 10% AIM limit is £80,000. Existing AIM exposure is £50,000, leaving only £30,000 of available capacity under the current mandate. A £40,000 purchase would increase AIM exposure to £90,000, or 11.25%, which is outside the authority granted. The firm should either restrict the trade to the amount permitted by the mandate or obtain and document the client’s prior written consent to vary the mandate before executing the larger transaction. Verbal preferences, after-the-event reporting, or re-labelling part of the transaction do not cure an unauthorised discretionary trade.
- Discretionary authority permits trading within the agreed mandate, not overriding stated concentration limits.
- A post-trade valuation report does not provide authority that was missing at the point of execution.
- Treating the excess as advisory after execution still lacks prior client instruction or documented mandate variation.
- The 10% cap is £80,000, so only £30,000 of additional AIM exposure is available without consent.
A £30,000 purchase takes AIM exposure to £80,000, exactly 10% of the £800,000 portfolio, while the proposed £40,000 purchase would exceed the mandate.
Question 6
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
A wealth manager at a UK authorised firm is reviewing a long-standing entrepreneur client.
Decisive facts:
- The client’s recorded risk profile is medium, and £750,000 is earmarked for a tax payment and property completion within 12 months.
- The client wants to subscribe £1.5 million today to an offshore private credit fund promoted by a business associate.
- The fund memorandum and liquidity terms have not been provided.
- The firm’s permissions and procedures do not allow advisers to arrange or recommend investments of this type without prior compliance approval and product due diligence.
- The client says, “Treat it as execution-only or I will move my account.”
Which action best meets the adviser’s conduct and ethical obligations?
- A. Decline to arrange or recommend the fund through the firm, explain the permissions and evidence constraints, document and escalate the pressure, and offer to assess permitted alternatives.
- B. Record the client as an elective professional client for this transaction and complete product due diligence after the subscription settles.
- C. Introduce the client privately to the fund promoter and avoid recording advice, because the firm would not be making a recommendation.
- D. Process the subscription as execution-only after obtaining a signed client instruction and a written warning that the investment may be unsuitable.
Best answer: A
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: Client pressure does not override regulatory permissions, firm procedures, or the need for an evidential basis for advice or arranging activity. Acting with integrity and due skill requires the adviser to stay within the firm’s authorised activities, follow product governance and compliance processes, and avoid facilitating a transaction where suitability and liquidity cannot be assessed. A client’s willingness to accept responsibility is relevant to communication, but it does not cure a lack of permission, due diligence, or evidence. The appropriate response is to refuse to arrange or recommend the transaction through the firm, explain the reason clearly, keep a proper record, escalate the conduct issue under firm procedures, and explore compliant alternatives that can be assessed against the client’s objectives and constraints.
- A signed execution-only instruction and risk warning cannot cure a lack of firm permission, product approval, or evidence about liquidity and suitability.
- A private introduction to the promoter would be an attempt to bypass firm controls and would undermine the audit trail and ethical standards.
- Reclassifying the client or completing due diligence after the trade would be retrospective and would not address the current permissions and evidence failures.
The adviser must not act outside firm permissions or without adequate evidence, even if the client is experienced and pressing for immediate action.
Question 7
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
During an annual review, a client who owns a small engineering company asks which UK oversight body is most relevant to a payroll compliance issue.
Workplace pension extract for the quarter:
- Employees auto-enrolled into the company pension scheme: 18
- Total qualifying earnings for those employees: £52,000
- Minimum employer contribution rate that applies: 3%
- Employer contributions actually paid to the scheme: £980
The contribution test is: required employer contribution = total qualifying earnings × minimum employer rate.
Which body is primarily responsible for oversight of the issue indicated by these figures?
- A. The Payment Systems Regulator, because the figures involve contributions that should have been paid electronically.
- B. The Pensions Regulator, because the figures indicate a shortfall in the employer’s workplace pension contribution duties.
- C. The Information Commissioner’s Office, because the figures involve employee payroll information.
- D. The Competition and Markets Authority, because the figures show a pricing concern affecting employees as consumers.
Best answer: B
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: The required employer contribution is £52,000 × 3% = £1,560. Only £980 was paid, leaving a £580 shortfall. A shortfall in employer workplace pension contributions points to compliance with auto-enrolment and pension scheme duties, which is overseen by The Pensions Regulator. The CMA focuses on competition and market issues, the ICO oversees data protection and privacy, and the Payment Systems Regulator focuses on payment systems such as card payment systems, Bacs, CHAPS and Faster Payments. Although payroll data and electronic payments may be involved operationally, the core issue shown by the calculation is pension contribution compliance.
- A pension contribution shortfall is a workplace pension compliance issue, not a general competition issue.
- Payroll information may be personal data, but the calculated problem is underpayment of pension contributions rather than a data protection breach.
- The use of electronic payment rails does not make the payment system itself the regulatory issue.
- The Pensions Regulator is the relevant body for auto-enrolment and employer workplace pension duties.
The required employer contribution is £1,560, so the £580 shortfall falls within The Pensions Regulator’s auto-enrolment and workplace pension oversight role.
Question 8
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
A wealth manager is deciding whether a client’s bank deposits can be moved into a model portfolio.
Firm cash-reserve standard: For a client dependent on portfolio withdrawals, cash must cover six months of essential spending plus known liabilities due within 12 months before any balance is treated as investable.
Client facts:
- Cash deposits available: £60,000
- Essential spending: £7,500 per month
- Confirmed HMRC payment due in four months: £18,000
- Model portfolio minimum subscription: £40,000
A colleague sends the following message:
If we record her reserve as three months and assume the tax bill can be met from future returns, we can place £40,000 today and meet this quarter’s target.
The client adds, “I am happy if you need to make the numbers fit.”
Which response best applies integrity, professional values, and Consumer Duty?
- A. Refuse to treat the cash as investable, explain that there is a £3,000 liquidity shortfall before any investment, document the advice, and escalate the colleague’s pressure if it continues.
- B. Invest the £40,000 minimum and set a review reminder before the HMRC payment is due.
- C. Ask the client to sign a waiver confirming that she wants to ignore the firm’s cash-reserve standard, then process the investment.
- D. Use a three-month reserve, invest £19,500, and record that the client accepted the lower liquidity buffer verbally.
Best answer: A
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: The cash requirement is six months of essential spending plus the known tax liability: \(6 \times £7,500 = £45,000\), and \(£45,000 + £18,000 = £63,000\). With only £60,000 in cash, the client has a £3,000 shortfall before considering any model portfolio subscription. Investing £40,000 would leave only £20,000 in cash, far below the required reserve. Integrity requires accurate recording of facts and assumptions, not adjusting the fact-find to meet a sales target. Consumer Duty also points to avoiding foreseeable harm and supporting a suitable outcome. Client consent or colleague pressure does not make an unsuitable recommendation acceptable.
- Using a three-month reserve changes the standard without a client-specific justification and masks the liquidity problem.
- A review reminder does not solve the immediate shortfall or the upcoming HMRC liability.
- A waiver cannot cure an adviser’s obligation to act honestly and recommend only suitable action.
The required cash reserve is £63,000, so the client’s £60,000 cash does not support any investment without compromising liquidity and honest suitability assessment.
Question 9
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Case extract: You manage a discretionary portfolio for Mrs Harris, age 78, who was recently widowed. She receives £34,000 a year from a DB pension and state pension, and draws £18,000 a year from her portfolio to meet living costs.
Relevant facts:
- Investable assets: £1.6 million low-to-medium risk portfolio and £380,000 in ISAs.
- Existing planning: whole-of-life policy written in trust for IHT planning.
- Estate planning: will leaves the main residence equally to two adult children.
- No lasting power of attorney or third-party authority is held on file.
At review, her son asks you to sell £500,000 of liquid holdings to invest in an unquoted overseas property scheme introduced by another adviser in your firm. Due diligence on the scheme is incomplete, but it would generate significant fees. Mrs Harris says:
“I do not really understand it, but my son says it will help the family and I do not want to disappoint him.”
The branch director tells you to record the transaction as execution-only because the client has signed an application and the quarter-end target is under pressure.
Which response best reflects integrity, professional standards and Consumer Duty expectations?
- A. Proceed as execution-only because Mrs Harris has signed the application and her son has clarified the family’s intended investment purpose.
- B. Recommend a smaller investment so Mrs Harris’s risk profile and the firm’s revenue target are both partly accommodated.
- C. Do not proceed as instructed; document the concerns, reassess Mrs Harris’s understanding, vulnerability and suitability, and escalate the conduct pressure to compliance.
- D. Proceed only after the branch director confirms the instruction in writing, since senior approval resolves the conflict.
Best answer: C
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: A wealth manager must act with integrity even when commercial or family pressure exists. A signed form does not make a transaction genuinely execution-only where the firm is involved, the client expresses lack of understanding, the product is high risk or illiquid, and suitability has not been established. The son’s wishes do not override Mrs Harris’s interests, especially where no authority is on file and possible vulnerability is apparent. Consumer Duty and professional standards point to pausing the transaction, documenting the pressure and concerns, reassessing understanding and suitability, and escalating through the firm’s compliance process. Proceeding for revenue reasons would create an unmanaged conflict and risk poor client outcomes.
- Relying on the signed application and the son’s explanation ignores the lack of authority and Mrs Harris’s expressed lack of understanding.
- Senior approval cannot transfer responsibility for a dishonest classification or override conduct obligations.
- Reducing the amount treats the issue as a portfolio-sizing compromise rather than an integrity, suitability and vulnerability concern.
Integrity requires resisting pressure to misclassify the transaction and escalating before proceeding because suitability, vulnerability and client understanding are unresolved.
Question 10
Topic: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
A private-client investment manager is reviewing a new client’s requests.
Firm permissions and individual approval:
- The firm is FCA-authorised to advise on and manage investments and to arrange deals in investments.
- The firm has no permission for regulated mortgage advice or insurance distribution.
- The firm has no permission to advise on transfers, conversions, or opt-outs involving safeguarded pension benefits.
- The investment manager is approved internally for investment advice and discretionary management, but is not a pension transfer specialist.
Client requests:
| Request | Amount |
|---|---|
| Rebalance an existing GIA and ISA portfolio | £480,000 |
| Switch funds within an existing DC SIPP with no safeguarded benefits | £320,000 |
| Advise whether to transfer a DB pension | £410,000 CETV |
| Arrange level term assurance | £250,000 sum assured |
| Recommend a regulated remortgage | £200,000 loan |
Which action is within the firm’s permitted scope, and what value may the investment manager advise on or manage without referral?
- A. Proceed with the GIA/ISA rebalancing and DC SIPP fund switching only, totalling £800,000; refer or decline the DB transfer, term assurance, and remortgage requests.
- B. Proceed with the GIA/ISA, DC SIPP, and term assurance work, totalling £1,050,000; refer only the DB transfer and remortgage requests.
- C. Proceed with the GIA/ISA, DC SIPP, and remortgage advice, totalling £1,000,000; refer only the DB transfer and term assurance requests.
- D. Proceed with the GIA/ISA, DC SIPP, and DB pension transfer advice, totalling £1,210,000; refer only the term assurance and remortgage requests.
Best answer: A
What this tests: UK Regulation, Conduct, Ethics, Financial Crime, and Consumer Duty
Explanation: An investment manager must stay within the regulated activities and investment types covered by the firm’s permissions and the individual’s competence or approval. Here, the authorised investment activities allow advice and management for the GIA/ISA portfolio and fund switching within a DC SIPP with no safeguarded benefits. The value within scope is £480,000 + £320,000 = £800,000. Advising on a DB pension transfer involves safeguarded benefits and requires specific permissions and specialist input. Arranging term assurance is insurance distribution, and recommending a regulated remortgage is mortgage advice. Those requests should be referred to appropriately authorised specialists or declined, rather than treated as incidental to investment management.
- Treating the DB transfer as ordinary investment advice ignores the safeguarded-benefits restriction.
- Including term assurance confuses protection planning needs with permission to carry on insurance distribution.
- Including the remortgage confuses broader wealth planning discussion with regulated mortgage advice permission.
The permitted investment business covers £480,000 plus £320,000, while the DB transfer, insurance, and mortgage requests fall outside the stated permissions or individual approval.
Continue in the web app
Use Finance Prep for interactive CISI CWM Applied Wealth practice with mixed sets, timed mock exams, topic drills, explanations, and progress tracking.
Related focused pages
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Exam: Applied Wealth
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Client Discovery and Recommendations
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Client Review and Suitability
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Liquidity and Cash-Flow Management
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Financial Protection
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Pensions Context and Tax
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Retirement Income Strategy
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Social Investment and Philanthropy
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Private-Client Taxation
- Free CISI CWM AWM Practice Questions: Trusts and Estate Planning
Practice next step
Use the Finance Prep web app above when you want interactive practice beyond this static page.