FSCA RE5 Cheat Sheet

Use the tables for a quick pre-exam check.

Actor map

Service and role distinctions

Advice and conduct sequence

    flowchart LR
	  A[Identify client and service] --> B[Collect relevant information]
	  B --> C[Analyse need and suitability]
	  C --> D[Disclose material facts and conflicts]
	  D --> E[Explain recommendation and limitations]
	  E --> F[Record the advice and decision]

The exact sequence depends on the facts, but an answer that skips authority, client information, disclosure, or a required record should be treated carefully.

Record checklist

Before selecting a retention or retrieval answer, identify:

• the governing source;
• the record type;
• the event that starts the clock;
• who holds the record;
• who must be able to access it;
• whether an electronic record remains legible and reproducible.

General Code and FIC Act records can have different trigger events even when both use a five-year period under the current enacted framework.

Supervision checklist

Debarment and recourse map

    flowchart LR
	  A[Possible statutory ground] --> B[Notice, reasons, policy, and opportunity to respond]
	  B --> C[Reasoned decision]
	  C --> D[Withdraw authority, update register, protect clients]
	  D --> E[Notify person and FSCA]
	  E --> F[Possible Tribunal reconsideration]

Keep debarment separate from dismissal, licence action, criminal punishment, complaint compensation, and ordinary performance management.

Periods, forms, thresholds, and institutional rules can change. Use the date and authority supplied in the question, and verify current details through the official resources .

Read every scenario through three questions

1. Who is acting? Representative, FSP, key individual, compliance officer, FSCA, FAIS Ombud, or Financial Services Tribunal?
2. What stage has been reached? Advice, disclosure, record creation, complaint handling, supervision, debarment, or recourse?
3. Which fact controls? Licence scope, client information, written authority, record evidence, deadline, procedural safeguard, or status?

Tasks 1-3: framework, licence, and oversight

• Separate advice, intermediary service, and excluded support work.
• The FSP holds the licence; the representative acts for or on behalf of the authorised FSP within the applicable scope.
• A key individual manages or oversees the rendering of financial services. That role is not interchangeable with the representative or compliance officer.
• Read licence questions for category, condition, restriction, display, documentation, proof, and escalation facts.
• Do not turn every operational problem into immediate licence cancellation or regulatory enforcement.

Common trap: assigning the correct duty to the wrong actor.

Task 4: Codes of Conduct

• Start with honest and fair treatment, due skill, care and diligence, and the client’s interests.
• Separate provider, product supplier, service, cost, commission, conflict, and material-product disclosures.
• Advice scenarios need enough information about the client’s needs, circumstances, objectives, and ability to bear risk.
• Distinguish the formal advice-record requirement for a resulting product transaction from other recordkeeping duties. A record does not repair an unsuitable recommendation.
• Keep internal complaint handling distinct from Ombud jurisdiction and regulatory enforcement.

Common trap: choosing a generic disclosure when the scenario requires a client-specific advice or suitability step.

Tasks 5-7: records, FIC controls, and the Ombud

• Identify the legal source and triggering event before choosing a retention period.
• Outsourced or electronic storage does not remove the institution’s responsibility for availability and legibility.
• In FIC Act scenarios, identify the institution’s controls and the person’s applicable reporting duties. Follow the authorised process and preserve confidentiality; internal escalation does not universally discharge an individual statutory reporting obligation.
• The FAIS Ombud handles qualifying complaints about financial services within its jurisdiction. Keep unauthorised-business referral, internal complaints, Ombud process, and FSCA enforcement separate.

Common trap: treating all records as though the same clock and access rule applies.

Task 8: representative status and recourse

• Apply the relevant fit and proper dimensions: honesty and integrity, competence, qualifications, experience, regulatory examinations, training, and CPD.
• Services under supervision require an allowed appointment, defined scope, written supervision arrangement, active completion of outstanding requirements, and client disclosure.
• Debarment is a regulatory protection mechanism, not a synonym for dismissal or discipline.
• A defensible debarment needs a statutory ground and a lawful, reasonable, procedurally fair process.
• Reconsideration by the Financial Services Tribunal does not automatically suspend the decision.

Common trap: assuming employment misconduct alone proves a statutory debarment ground.

Compare the source of a requirement

See the September rebuild for current practice coverage and a way to report unclear questions.

Final review sequence

1. Complete one unseen mixed set under time.
2. Classify every miss by task and actor.
3. Review the controlling distinction, not only the correct letter.
4. Drill the two weakest task areas with new questions.
5. Verify current periods, forms, thresholds, and terminology in official sources.
6. Return to a mixed set and confirm that the same error no longer repeats.

Put the review into practice