SIDC Module 14 cheat sheet

No verified domain taxonomy is available for this module; treat all content below as provisional and flag anything you cannot corroborate against a primary source.

The SIDC (Swiss Institute for Comparative Law) publishes study materials for financial-market certification; module numbering alone does not establish subject matter, so confirm the module syllabus before relying on any topic list.

Core regulatory anchors for Swiss financial-services material: FinSA (Financial Services Act), FinIA (Financial Institutions Act), AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Act), and FINMA ordinances and circulars.

Swiss AML due-diligence duties under AMLA Art. 3–8: identify the contracting party, identify the beneficial owner, establish a risk-based profile, and apply enhanced measures for higher-risk relationships.

Beneficial-owner threshold for legal entities under AMLA: any natural person holding 25% or more of capital or voting rights, or exercising control by other means.

Reporting duty: a financial intermediary must file a suspicious activity report (SAR) with MROS and, where assets are involved, freeze them pending MROS instruction.

Regulatory classification matters: portfolio managers and trustees are now FinIA-supervised institutions requiring FINMA authorisation, distinct from client advisors registered with a supervisory body.

Client-information rules under FinSA Art. 8 and the key-information document (KID) regime govern what must be disclosed before a financial service is provided.

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Suitability vs appropriateness under FinSA: suitability applies where advice is given or a portfolio is managed; appropriateness applies to execution-only transactions and requires assessing knowledge and experience.

Execution-only relief under FinSA Art. 11 requires the client to be informed and to initiate the transaction, and the service provider must still check appropriateness unless an exemption applies.

Risk-return framing: expected return is not guaranteed; any performance illustration must state the period, currency, and whether fees and taxes are included.

Diversification reduces idiosyncratic risk but not systematic risk; correlation below 1 is the mechanism, not the guarantee.

Compound growth: FV = PV × (1 + r)^n; the rule of 72 approximates doubling time as 72 divided by the annual percentage rate.

Real return ≈ nominal return − inflation; use this for purchasing-power comparisons across currencies and periods.

Volatility is typically annualised by multiplying the periodic standard deviation by the square root of the number of periods per year.

No verified domain taxonomy is available for this module; treat governance and conduct items as provisional until confirmed.

Conflicts of interest: identify, avoid where possible, otherwise disclose and manage; disclosure must precede the transaction and be specific, not boilerplate.

Inducements under FinSA must be disclosed and must not impair the duty to act in the client's best interest; third-party payments require client consent or a clear legal basis.

Best-execution considerations: price, cost, speed, likelihood of execution and settlement, size, and nature of the order.

Record-keeping: retain client-identification documents and transaction records for at least ten years under AMLA Art. 7.

Segregation of client assets from firm assets is a core investor-protection requirement; client securities must be held in segregated custody accounts.

Cross-border activity: providing services into another jurisdiction can trigger licensing there; Swiss authorisation does not confer passporting outside Switzerland.