Use this syllabus as your coverage checklist for CCO. Topic weightings and exam structure are from CSI’s official Exam & Credits page; chapter mapping follows the official Curriculum page.
What’s covered
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Chapter 1 - The Role of Compliance
- Define compliance and explain its purpose within an investment dealer environment.
- Describe core compliance program functions: prevention, detection, and remediation of misconduct.
- Identify common drivers of compliance risk (products, clients, channels, incentives) at a high level.
- Explain how culture and “tone from the top” influence day-to-day compliance outcomes.
- Recognize behaviours and control breakdowns that indicate a weak culture of compliance.
- Identify roles of key internal players that influence compliance outcomes (business, compliance, risk, legal, audit).
- Differentiate business supervision responsibilities from independent compliance oversight (conceptual).
- Describe how to balance revenue interests with compliance risks when evaluating business proposals.
- Identify situations where compensation or sales pressure can increase compliance risk (conceptual).
- Explain why documentation and escalation are essential parts of defensible compliance decision-making.
- Recognize how ongoing training and communication support a sustainable culture of compliance.
- Identify high-level metrics used to monitor the health of a compliance program (coverage, timeliness, exceptions).
- Describe elements of a formal compliance structure and why formality matters for accountability.
- Identify key roles and responsibilities within a compliance function, including the CCO’s core mandate.
- Explain how senior-level compliance structures support independence, authority, and effective escalation.
- Identify key skills of a Chief Compliance Officer (judgement, communication, risk thinking, regulatory awareness).
- Describe the purpose of maintaining effective relationships with regulators and self-regulatory organizations (SROs).
- Identify how compliance interacts with line management, executive management, and the board of directors.
- Explain how compliance relationships with external parties can create or mitigate risk (vendors, counterparties, clients).
- Describe how compliance department organization may vary with firm size, products, and complexity (conceptual).
- Recognize independence and segregation of duties as core principles in compliance governance.
- Identify typical components of a compliance governance document (mandate, reporting lines, escalation, responsibilities).
- Describe reporting and escalation paths for breaches, incidents, and emerging risks.
- Recognize the importance of resourcing, training, and competency management in sustaining the compliance structure.
Canada’s Regulatory Environment and Basic Securities Law (13%)
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Chapter 3 - Canada's Regulatory Environment and Basic Securities Law
- Describe the Canadian securities regulatory environment at a high level and why it matters for compliance.
- Identify key categories of regulatory participants (securities regulators, SROs, exchanges) and their roles.
- Explain principle-based regulation and how it differs from purely prescriptive rule sets.
- Recognize how rules, policies, guidance, and enforcement actions shape compliance expectations (conceptual).
- Identify broad categories of securities law obligations that firms must operationalize (registration, disclosure, conduct).
- Describe how compliance obligations can arise from legislation, regulation, and firm policy (conceptual).
- Recognize behaviours that may trigger Criminal Code concerns (fraud, manipulation) at a conceptual level.
- Differentiate regulatory enforcement from civil liability and internal discipline (conceptual).
- Recognize common civil/common-law duties relevant to client interactions (duty of care, confidentiality) conceptually.
- Identify how conflicts of interest are treated under regulatory expectations at a high level.
- Explain why robust supervision and recordkeeping improve legal defensibility and regulatory outcomes.
- Recognize the need to follow current official requirements and firm procedures as they evolve over time.
Chapter 4 - Risks Faced by Investment Dealers
- Define risk management and explain how it supports compliance objectives.
- Identify major types of risk faced by investment dealers (operational, legal, reputational, market-related) at a high level.
- Describe how compliance risk fits within enterprise risk management (ERM) and governance (conceptual).
- Explain a risk-based approach to compliance: identify, assess, prioritize, mitigate, and monitor.
- Identify typical inputs to risk assessment (products, clients, processes, history, control maturity) conceptually.
- Describe risk-based models and methodologies used to score and prioritize risk areas (conceptual).
- Identify examples of preventative, detective, and corrective controls used to manage compliance risk.
- Differentiate policies/procedures, training, surveillance, and audits as control mechanisms (conceptual).
- Recognize the role of testing and monitoring in validating control effectiveness.
- Identify common control failures that increase residual risk (gaps, weak enforcement, inconsistent application).
- Describe how to document risk assessments, control decisions, and rationale in an audit-ready way.
- Recognize escalation and remediation steps when risk exceeds risk appetite or regulatory expectations.
CCO Skill Requirements (21%)
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Chapter 5 - Leadership
- Describe leadership in a compliance context and why influence is critical to effective oversight.
- Differentiate leadership from management in terms of purpose and behaviours (conceptual).
- Summarize leadership theory concepts at a high level and relate them to practical supervision challenges.
- Identify how leadership style influences culture, risk behaviour, and compliance outcomes.
- Describe soft skills that matter for compliance leaders (communication, persuasion, conflict resolution, coaching).
- Recognize active listening techniques that help uncover issues and clarify expectations.
- Identify approaches to influence stakeholders without direct authority (credibility, data, framing, relationship-building).
- Describe strategies for handling resistance and pushback when enforcing controls or escalation.
- Recognize ethical leadership behaviours and how they build trust and consistency across the firm.
- Identify how to demonstrate leadership during incidents (structured response, transparency, calm execution).
- Explain how to set expectations, delegate responsibilities, and follow up to ensure control execution.
- Recognize feedback loops that reinforce desired behaviours (metrics, coaching, recognition, corrective action).
Chapter 6 - Making Ethical Decisions
- Define ethics and explain why it is foundational for compliance and market integrity.
- Describe how ethical behaviour supports public trust in the financial services industry.
- Differentiate ethics, professionalism, and legal/regulatory compliance (conceptual).
- Identify how industry regulations embed ethical expectations (conflicts, fairness, transparency) at a high level.
- Describe how organizational ethics (tone, incentives, policies) influences individual decision-making.
- Recognize common sources of ethical dilemmas (conflicts, pressure, confidentiality, fairness) in a firm setting.
- Identify stakeholders affected by ethical decisions (clients, firm, market, regulators) and potential impacts.
- Apply a structured approach to resolving ethical dilemmas (facts, options, consequences, rules, decision).
- Recognize red flags indicating potential misconduct or unethical culture that requires escalation.
- Identify what to document when making or escalating an ethical decision (facts, rationale, actions, approvals).
- Describe how to communicate ethical decisions to stakeholders while maintaining professionalism.
- Recognize how to prevent recurrence after an ethical failure (controls, training, monitoring, accountability).
Chapter 7 - Development of Policies and Procedures
- Define policies versus procedures and explain their role in an effective compliance program.
- Describe characteristics of effective policies and procedures (clear scope, ownership, enforceable, current).
- Identify triggers for developing or amending policies (regulatory change, incidents, new products, process changes).
- Outline the lifecycle of policy development: draft, review, approve, implement, and periodic review.
- Describe how to write policies and procedures with clear responsibilities, steps, and escalation paths.
- Recognize formatting techniques that improve usability (definitions, checklists, flowcharts, examples).
- Identify governance expectations for approving and owning policies (senior management oversight) conceptually.
- Describe how to disseminate policies and confirm awareness (training, attestations, accessible repositories).
- Explain implementation steps that turn documentation into behaviour (controls, monitoring, accountability).
- Recognize common failure modes (outdated documents, unclear ownership, inconsistent application) and their risks.
- Identify documentation expectations for policy management (version control, audit trail, effective dates).
- Describe how to test policy effectiveness and iterate based on monitoring results and incidents.
Chapter 8 - Monitoring
- Define monitoring and surveillance and distinguish them from audits and investigations (conceptual).
- Describe the objectives of monitoring: early detection, deterrence, evidence, and trend identification.
- Identify how to design monitoring and surveillance systems based on a risk assessment.
- Recognize common data sources used in surveillance (trades, communications, account activity) at a high level.
- Describe formal monitoring techniques (sampling, exception reports, thematic reviews) and when to use each.
- Identify how to set thresholds and alerts that balance false positives and missed risk (conceptual).
- Explain how to document monitoring plans, methodologies, findings, and remediation actions.
- Describe approaches to evaluate a system’s effectiveness (coverage, quality, timeliness, outcomes).
- Recognize key control points where monitoring is critical in end-to-end processes (onboarding, trading, reporting).
- Identify escalation steps when monitoring reveals potential breaches or misconduct.
- Describe remediation actions following monitoring results (root cause analysis, control changes, training).
- Recognize governance reporting expectations for monitoring results and control effectiveness.
Implementation of Skills (39%)
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Chapter 9 - Opening and Maintaining Accounts
- Identify key documentation required to open and maintain client accounts (KYC, agreements, approvals) conceptually.
- Describe control objectives for account documentation: completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and auditability.
- Differentiate advertising, sales literature, and correspondence and identify review/approval expectations.
- Recognize recordkeeping expectations that support account opening and ongoing maintenance (audit trail).
- Describe the client relationship model conceptually and its implications for disclosures and communications.
- Identify considerations when dealing with seniors and other vulnerable clients (capacity, undue influence, escalation).
- Describe compliance risks in equity and mutual fund trading and settlement at a high level (errors, suitability, conduct).
- Identify controls for funds and securities movements (authorization, segregation of duties, reconciliation).
- Recognize how capital requirements relate to firm stability and risk management at a high level.
- Differentiate prospectus distributions and prospectus-exempt distributions conceptually and why classification matters.
- Identify supervision steps that reduce account-related risk (reviews, approvals, exception handling) conceptually.
- Recognize red flags in account activity and determine when escalation or enhanced review is appropriate (conceptual).
Chapter 10 - Recordkeeping Requirements
- Describe why recordkeeping is foundational for supervision, audits, investigations, and regulatory inquiries.
- Identify general procedures required for recordkeeping (capture, store, index, retrieve) at a high level.
- Recognize requirements for record accuracy, completeness, and integrity (tamper resistance) conceptually.
- Describe regulatory recordkeeping requirements at a high level (what must be retained and why).
- Identify how to maintain an audit trail for key activities (accounts, trades, communications) conceptually.
- Explain record retention and accessibility concepts (retention periods, format, retrievability) without relying on memorized numbers.
- Recognize risks created by weak recordkeeping (inability to evidence compliance, enforcement exposure).
- Identify controls that support recordkeeping (policies, access permissions, backups, reconciliations).
- Describe how to manage electronic records (security, backups, data integrity, access control) conceptually.
- Recognize when records must be produced and the importance of timely, complete responses to requests.
- Identify ownership and governance responsibilities for recordkeeping and escalation of gaps.
- Describe steps to remediate recordkeeping deficiencies (gap analysis, process change, training, testing).
Chapter 11 - Client Complaints
- Define a client complaint and explain why complaint handling is a core compliance function.
- Identify common types of complaints (service, suitability, disclosure, unauthorized activity) at a high level.
- Recognize early warning indicators that may precede complaints (patterns, behaviours, repeated issues) conceptually.
- Describe practices that prevent complaints (clear disclosures, documentation, supervision, communication).
- Outline a complaint-handling workflow: intake, acknowledgement, investigation, response, remediation.
- Identify documentation expectations throughout complaint handling (records, communications, findings).
- Explain how to triage complaints by severity, client vulnerability, and potential regulatory impact.
- Recognize when and how to escalate complaint matters to senior management, legal, or regulators (conceptual).
- Describe alternative dispute resolution mechanisms at a high level and when they may be appropriate.
- Differentiate complaint resolution processes from civil litigation (conceptual).
- Recognize conflict-of-interest risks during complaint investigations and how to manage them.
- Identify how complaint trends inform monitoring priorities, risk assessments, and policy updates.
Chapter 12 - Registration
- Describe the purpose of registration and approval in the securities industry and why it protects the public interest.
- Identify key steps in individual registration and approval processes (conceptual).
- Recognize how proficiency requirements link to registration categories and permitted activities (conceptual).
- Describe the role of the National Registration Database (NRD) at a high level.
- Identify information typically captured and maintained in registration systems (employment, history, disclosures) conceptually.
- Recognize responsibilities of the firm and individual for keeping registration information current and accurate.
- Describe CIRO registration hearing procedures conceptually and why they matter for compliance outcomes.
- Identify common jurisdictional registration issues (multi-province activity, mobility) at a high level.
- Differentiate firm registration obligations from individual registration/approval obligations (conceptual).
- Recognize red flags in registration disclosures that require enhanced review or escalation (conceptual).
- Describe documentation and recordkeeping expectations for registration filings and approvals (conceptual).
- Identify how registration obligations interact with supervision, role changes, and ongoing compliance monitoring.
Chapter 13 - Trading Desk Supervision
- Describe the objectives of trading desk supervision and the key risks it addresses.
- Identify elements of a basic trading supervision framework (policies, controls, monitoring, escalation).
- Recognize how securities legislation influences trading supervision requirements at a high level.
- Describe supervisory responsibilities across the trade lifecycle (pre-trade, trade-time, post-trade) conceptually.
- Identify key components of equity sales and trading compliance and supervision programs (conflicts, conduct, surveillance).
- Identify key components of fixed income sales and trading compliance and supervision programs (pricing, conduct, surveillance).
- Describe order entry and trading controls (authorizations, limits, surveillance) conceptually.
- Recognize common trading supervision issues (front-running, manipulation, misuse of information) at a high level.
- Identify specific considerations in trading supervision during unusual market conditions or new product launches (conceptual).
- Recognize potential criminal trading offences at a high level and why immediate escalation may be required.
- Describe documentation expectations for supervision reviews, exceptions, investigations, and remediation.
- Identify remediation steps when supervision detects trading breaches (investigate, restrict, report, train, update controls).
Chapter 14 - Investment Banking
- Describe institutional businesses in an investment dealer context and why they create distinct compliance risks.
- Explain the role of investment banking and common activities (advisory, underwriting) at a high level.
- Identify key compliance considerations in investment banking engagements (conflicts, confidentiality, disclosures) conceptually.
- Describe the purpose of underwriting due diligence and the compliance role in supporting an effective process.
- Identify documentation expectations for due diligence (checklists, sign-offs, evidence of review) conceptually.
- Recognize information-flow risks and conflict management needs between investment banking and other functions.
- Describe the role of the research department and common conflicts of interest at a high level.
- Identify controls used to support research independence (policies, disclosures, supervision) conceptually.
- Describe financial engineering conceptually and recognize model, complexity, and conduct risks.
- Recognize suitability and disclosure risks associated with complex or engineered solutions (conceptual).
- Identify monitoring considerations around misuse of confidential information and conflict management (conceptual).
- Describe escalation steps when conflicts, information misuse, or due diligence gaps are suspected (conceptual).
Regulatory Investigations and Reporting (12%)
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Chapter 15 - Regulatory Investigations
- Describe the purpose of regulatory investigations and common triggers for investigations (conceptual).
- Differentiate internal investigations from external regulatory investigations in terms of scope and stakeholders.
- Outline steps in an internal investigation (intake, preservation, fact-finding, analysis, conclusion) conceptually.
- Identify roles and responsibilities during investigations (compliance, legal, business, HR) conceptually.
- Describe how to respond to and handle external investigations (requests, communications, production) at a high level.
- Recognize the importance of preserving evidence and maintaining an audit-ready record of actions taken.
- Identify how investigations by other legal and regulatory authorities can differ in scope and requirements (conceptual).
- Describe confidentiality and privilege considerations at a high level (avoid legal advice; follow firm counsel guidance).
- Recognize common investigation pitfalls (incomplete facts, inconsistent statements, poor documentation) and mitigations.
- Identify escalation and governance expectations for significant investigations (senior management/board involvement) conceptually.
- Describe remediation steps after findings (control improvements, training, discipline) and how to document them.
- Recognize the need for follow-up monitoring to confirm remediation effectiveness over time.
Chapter 16 - Reporting Requirements
- Describe why reporting requirements are essential to compliance governance and accountability.
- Identify key categories of compliance reports (risk assessments, monitoring results, incidents, remediation status) conceptually.
- Explain what effective reporting looks like: clear, timely, actionable, and risk-based.
- Describe reporting to management and the board of directors and why escalation matters.
- Identify information boards typically need to oversee compliance (top risks, breaches, remediation progress) conceptually.
- Recognize reporting cadence concepts and triggers for ad-hoc reporting on material events (conceptual).
- Identify other reporting obligations beyond board reporting (regulators, SROs, external stakeholders) at a high level.
- Describe documentation expectations for reports and the supporting evidence used to produce them.
- Recognize common reporting failures (noise, lack of root cause, delayed reporting) and how to improve.
- Identify how reporting feeds continuous improvement (policy changes, resourcing, monitoring priorities) conceptually.
- Describe how to track and report remediation actions through to closure (ownership, dates, validation) conceptually.
- Recognize confidentiality and distribution controls for sensitive compliance reports.
Tip: This exam rewards defensibility. When answers look close, prefer options that mention documentation, escalation, monitoring, and evidence.
Sources: https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/cco/curriculum and https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/cco/exam-credits