ACI Dealing Certificate study guide
ACI Dealing Certificate · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ACI Dealing Certificate is a professional qualification offered within the education programme of the ACI Financial Markets Association (ACI FMA), a global association whose stated mission centres on education, ethical conduct and market integrity for financial-market professionals. ACI FMA describes itself as "Setting the benchmark in certifying the global financial industry" and organises its education offering around ACI certificates, a diploma and online exams, with accredited trainers and a network of exam booking and test centres. The Dealing Certificate is aimed at practitioners and aspiring practitioners in treasury, foreign exchange and money markets - dealers, sales and support staff, risk and operations personnel, and graduates entering trading rooms - who need a structured grounding in how wholesale markets work rather than narrow product specialisation. Preparation should be built around four study pillars of equal weight: the financial markets environment (market participants, infrastructure, settlement and the regulatory backdrop), foreign exchange (spot, forwards, swaps, quotation conventions and calculations), interest rate instruments (money-market instruments, discount and yield conventions, and hedging), and ethical conduct and market practice, an area ACI FMA treats as central through its Ethical Conduct programme, handbook and industry codes. The ACI Dealing Certificate study guide has 4 sections and about 1,538 words.
01Financial Markets Environment
The Financial Markets Environment domain tests the architecture of wholesale finance: which instruments trade in which market, who the participants are, how trades are cleared and settled, and which regulators set the rules. Questions are often definitional but hinge on precise distinctions.
379 words, about 2 min02Foreign Exchange
The Foreign Exchange domain tests quoting conventions, settlement dates, cross-rate construction, forward pricing and the distinction between FX swaps, currency swaps and non-deliverable forwards. Precision with bid and offer matters more than general commentary.
391 words, about 2 min03Interest Rate Instruments
The Interest Rate Instruments domain tests deposit mathematics, day-count conventions, FRAs, short-term interest-rate futures and swaps. The exam rewards candidates who can state the cash flow, the day count and the settlement convention without mixing them up.
385 words, about 2 min04Ethical Conduct and Market Practice
The Ethical Conduct and Market Practice domain tests the standards expected in wholesale trading: the ACI Model Code, the FX Global Code, market-abuse rules and the handling of conflicts. Questions often present a scenario and ask what a dealer should have done.
383 words, about 2 min