CIR study plan

Map the full import/export transaction lifecycle from sales contract to settlement, writing out each document and the party that originates it

Distinguish the roles and liability boundaries of applicant, beneficiary, issuing bank, advising bank, negotiating bank and reimbursing bank

Explain how Incoterms shift cost, risk and documentary obligation between buyer and seller, using at least five rules

Identify the main settlement methods (open account, collections, documentary credits, advance payment) and rank them by risk for each counterparty

Break down UCP 600 article structure and state the examination standard for complying presentations

Apply the rules on discrepant documents, refusal notices and preclusion to three short fact patterns

Differentiate documentary credits from standby credits and guarantees, including the governing rule sets

Trace how a documentary collection works under URC 522 and where the banks' obligations end

Describe the message flow and roles in a correspondent-based wire transfer, naming the fields that carry value date, charge code and remitter information

Compare RTGS, net settlement and instant payment schemes on finality, timing and liquidity impact

Explain how SWIFT MT and ISO 20022 formats differ in structure and what migration means for field mapping

Identify the main causes of payment repair, return and failed straight-through processing

Explain the purpose and mechanics of nostro, vostro and loro accounts and how balances are funded and monitored

Describe how correspondent relationships are established, documented and periodically reviewed

Outline the role of a correspondent in providing access to clearing, trade services and local currency to a respondent bank

Explain how de-risking decisions affect respondent banks and what alternatives exist

Distinguish spot, forward, swap and option exposures and identify which instrument hedges which cash flow

Calculate a forward rate from interest rate differentials and explain why covered interest parity holds approximately

Compute the hedged versus unhedged outcome of a foreign currency receivable under two forward rates

Explain translation, transaction and economic exposure with a concrete example of each

Apply a risk-based customer due diligence approach, distinguishing simplified, standard and enhanced measures

Explain how sanctions screening works in practice, including list sources, fuzzy matching, false positives and escalation

Identify red flags in trade-based activity such as over- and under-invoicing, mismatched goods descriptions and unusual routing

State the record-keeping, suspicious activity reporting and tipping-off obligations that apply to cross-border transactions

Explain how country risk, transfer risk and counterparty risk differ for a cross-border borrower

Describe the components of a cross-border credit assessment including political, regulatory and currency mismatch factors

Outline how syndicated and bilateral cross-border facilities are structured and documented

Identify how trade finance exposures are assessed differently from general corporate lending

Summarise the supervisory expectations that shape market conduct in trade and correspondent banking, including documentation and transparency duties

Reconcile the regulatory frameworks domain with the trade and transaction banking domain by listing where compliance obligations attach to each stage of a transaction

Complete two full-length timed practice exams and categorise every error by domain

Re-drill the two weakest domains until error rates fall below one in five questions