CISI Technology in Investment Management study guide
CISI Technology in Investment Management · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Technology in Investment Management is a CISI certificate-level qualification that tests whether you understand the systems underpinning a modern asset manager, not whether you can code. It suits operations and technology staff at asset managers, custodians and vendors, business analysts moving into investment systems, and investment professionals who interface with platform teams and need to hold their own in requirements and incident discussions. The CISI Technology in Investment Management study guide has 10 sections and about 4,021 words.
01The Technology Landscape in Investment Management
The exam tests whether you can draw the front-to-back system map of an investment manager and explain why each layer exists, how data and orders move between layers, and what breaks when they do not connect. Front office covers research, portfolio construction, order management (OMS) and execution management (EMS).
437 words, about 2 min02Data Management, Data Quality and Governance
The exam tests whether you can define data domains, apply the standard data-quality dimensions, explain master data and lineage, and describe how governance assigns accountability. It also expects awareness of BCBS 239 for risk data aggregation and GDPR for personal data.
420 words, about 2 min03Trading and Order Management Systems
The exam tests the order lifecycle, the division of labour between OMS and EMS, FIX messaging, pre-trade risk controls, execution benchmarks and the record-keeping and clock-synchronisation rules that surround algorithmic trading. Lifecycle: origination → pre-trade compliance and risk → routing → execution → allocation → confirmation → booking.
419 words, about 2 min04Portfolio Management and Investment Book of Record Systems
The exam tests what a portfolio management system (PMS) does, what the investment book of record (IBOR) is, how it differs from the accounting book of record (ABOR), and why trade-date versus settlement-date accounting creates position and exposure differences that must be reconciled. PMS functions: position keeping, cash management, valuation, what-if modelling, mandate monitoring, performance and attribution, and order generation.
395 words, about 2 min05Post-Trade Processing, Settlement and Asset Servicing Technology
The exam tests the post-trade chain - confirmation, clearing, settlement, custody and asset servicing - and the messaging, cut-offs and regulatory disciplines that surround it, including CSDR settlement discipline and the move to shorter settlement cycles. Confirmation and affirmation: trade details matched with the counterparty, often via platforms such as CTM or MarkitWire; faster affirmation reduces fails.
421 words, about 2 min06Risk, Compliance and Regulatory Technology
The exam tests how investment restrictions are coded and monitored, how pre-trade and post-trade compliance differ, what regulatory reports must be produced, and how surveillance, AML and sanctions tools are configured and tuned. Pre-trade versus post-trade: pre-trade blocks or warns before an order is sent; post-trade detects breaches after booking.
384 words, about 2 min07Client Servicing, Reporting and Digital Channels
The exam tests how firms deliver statements, performance, costs and ESG information to clients through portals, APIs and mobile channels, and the regulatory standards that govern those disclosures - MiFID II costs and charges, PRIIPs, SFDR, GIPS and the UK Consumer Duty. Reporting content: holdings, transactions, valuation, performance, attribution, costs and charges, risk indicators, ESG characteristics and regulatory disclosures.
396 words, about 2 min08Emerging Technologies: AI, Machine Learning and Automation
The exam tests the difference between rules-based automation, RPA, machine learning and generative AI; the model lifecycle; the risks of bias, overfitting and unexplainability; and the EU AI Act and model risk expectations. Taxonomy: deterministic rules and RPA follow explicit logic; supervised ML learns from labelled data; unsupervised ML finds structure; NLP handles text; large language models generate text and can hallucinate.
370 words, about 2 min09Cyber Security, Resilience and Operational Risk
The exam tests the confidentiality, integrity and availability (CIA) model, the control set used against cyber threats, and the operational resilience regime: important business services, impact tolerances, severe-but-plausible scenarios, recovery objectives and incident reporting. Threats and controls: phishing, ransomware, insider threat, supply chain compromise.
386 words, about 2 min10Technology Change, Outsourcing and Vendor Management
The exam tests the change lifecycle from business case to post-implementation review, and the regulatory and commercial controls over outsourcing and vendors - materiality, due diligence, contracts, service levels, exit planning, concentration and ongoing monitoring. Change lifecycle: strategy and business case → requirements → RFP and vendor selection → due diligence → contract → design and build → UAT → data migration → parallel run → go-live → post-implementation review and benefits realisation.
393 words, about 2 min