5 CPD
Course Description
This course provides an in-depth analysis of the information, including marketing communication that investment firms should address to their clients or potential clients to satisfy the fair, clear and not misleading rule. It describes in detail the information that investment firms should provide to their retail or professional clients or potential retail or professional clients, including marketing communications.
Investment firms should provide appropriate information to their clients and potential clients in a comprehensible form, including information about the firm and its services, the risks associated with investing in financial instruments or in respect of particular investment strategies, and about costs and charges, so that investors are reasonably able to understand the nature and risks of the investment service and of the specific type of financial instrument that is being offered and, consequently, to take investment decisions on an informed basis.
CFDs and other speculative products are complex products and are not appropriate for the majority of retail clients. Investment Firms should monitor that trading platforms that give access to complex products only market complex products to those clients for whom they would be potentially suitable, or appropriate. This course explains how investment firms can oversight over the marketing communications used to offer CFDs or other speculative products to retail clients.
In addition this course explain the provisions that investment firms should apply when granting trading benefits to their clients. Investment firms should provide sufficient explanation of the conditions of the trading benefit granted to a client in a clear and understandable way. It explains how investment firms that offer bonuses to retail clients trading in CFDs or other speculative products can do so in a way that ensures they are meeting their MiFID II obligation to act in the best interests of their clients.
Investment firms are required to keep accounts and records as are necessary to enable them at any time and without delay to distinguish assets held for one client from assets held for any other client, and from their own assets. This course explains how long it should take for an investment firm offering CFDs or other speculative products to retail clients to process a client’s request to withdraw funds from his/her trading account.
Investments firms operating in the CFD sector often engage with third parties across multiple jurisdictions who operate on behalf of, or for the benefit of, the investment firm. This course analyses the most important provisions that investment firms should satisfy when use third parties for (a) promoting the brand of the authorised firm online or through other media outlets, (b) hosting marketing material and directing web-traffic to the authorised firm’s website, (c) increasing the online profile of the firm through search engine optimisation, (d) providing customer support services, and (e) directly introducing clients or other third parties to the investment firm. It also provides examples of poor practice that have been observed in respect of the use of third parties by investment firms offering CFDs and other speculative products to acquire retail clients on a cross border basis.
It also explains how CIFs should handle the case in which their domain name differs from the name under which they obtained authorisation in order to comply with MiFID II rule that all information addressed by a CIF to its clients or potential clients shall be fair, clear and not misleading. It explains CySEC’s requirement that CIFs must operate a domain name that is unique and not used by another person and that the domain name must direct potential clients to a website, belonging exclusively to the CIF, and also the provisions for derogation for this requirement in case a CIF belongs to a group.
Topics covered
The course is split into the following sections:
Section 1: Marketing communication – Investment Firms obligations and restrictions
- Introduction
- Fair, clear and not misleading information/ marketing communication requirements
- Important points to consider
- How can firms oversight over the marketing communications used to offer CFDs or other speculative products to retail clients?
- Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission – Public statement on certain bad practices in cross-border marketing of investment services by firms located in other EU countries
- Requirements of the Portuguese Securities and Exchange Commission (‘the CMVM’) regarding the promotion, distribution and marketing of PRIIPs in the territory of Portugal
- Requirements of the Portuguese Securities and Exchange Commission (the ‘CMVM’) regarding advertising and prospecting aimed at agreeing financial intermediation contracts or collecting information on current or potential clients
- Under what circumstances might the activity of an education provider be considered to be the provision of marketing communications?
Section 2: Granting trading benefits to clients – Investment Firms obligations and restrictions
- General provisions
- How can firms that offer bonuses to retail clients trading in CFDs or other speculative products do so in a way that ensures they are meeting their MiFID II obligation to act in the best interests of their clients?
- How long should it take for a firm offering CFDs or other speculative products to retail clients to process a client’s request to withdraw funds from his/her trading account?
Section 3: Use of third parties by investment firms to acquire retail clients
- Important provisions
- Examples of poor practice that have been observed in respect of the use of third parties by investment firms offering CFDs and other speculative products to acquire retail clients on a cross border basis
- Risks of investing in complex products – CIFs Obligations and restrictions
Section 4: Notification of website address – Domain name – Redirecting and informing clients
- Notification of website address – CIFs obligations
- Domain name different from the name under which the CIF was granted authorisation – CIFs obligations
- Use of same domain name by other persons
- Redirecting clients to a website of another person
- Information concerning terms and condition and other
Course Duration:
This course may take up to 5 hours to be completed. However, actual study time differs as each learner uses their own training pace.
The course is addressed to:
This course is addressed to all individuals who are involved in Investment Firms such as:
- Directors, Senior Managers, Compliance officers, head of departments of Investment firms and in general employees of investment firms.
- Internal Auditors
- Consultants
It is also suitable to professionals pursuing CPD for the renewal of the “Basic” and “Advance” CySEC Certificate or other relevant professional certificates in other jurisdictions.
Training Method
The course is offered fully online using a self-paced approach. The learning units consist of power point presentations. Learners may start, stop and resume their training at any time.
At the end of the course, participants take a Quiz to complete the course and earn a Certificate of Completion once the Quiz has been passed successfully.
Accreditation and CPD Recognition
The course may be accredited by regulators and other bodies for up to 5 CPD Units, that require CPD training in financial regulation.
Eligibility criteria and CPD Units are verified directly by your association or other bodies in which you hold membership.
Registration and Access
To register to this course, click on the Take this course button to pay online and receive your access instantly. If you are purchasing this course on behalf of others, please be advised that you will need to create or use their personal profile before finalizing your payment.
Access to the course is valid for 60 days.
If you wish to receive an invoice instead of paying online, please Contact us by email. Talk to us for our special Corporate Group rates.
Instructor
George Papanicolaou has more than 20-years experience in the Financial industry. He worked for several years in managerial positions as area Manager, Head of Brokerage, Compliance Officer, Anti Money Laundering Officer, General Manager and Executive Director in Cypriot Investment Firms as well as Managing Director of GP GLOBAL LTD offering consulting services and training courses to Investment Firms, focuses in Internal Audit, compliance & AML issues. He offered numerous courses/seminars both in Cyprus and abroad in Investment Firms Law as well as in Compliance & Anti Money Laundering. George Papanicolaou is also a Chairman of a Nomination Committee in a company listed in the Oslo Stock Exchange.
George Papanicolaou holds a BSc in Electronic Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (USA), an MBA with specialization in Finance from Leicester University (UK) and a Postgraduate Certificate in the Mechanics of Risk Management from Middlesex University (UK).
He also holds an ICA International Diploma in Anti Money Laundering from the International Compliance Association and the University of Manchester, as well as an Advance and Money Laundering certificate from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission for the provision of investment services/activities.
He is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association (FICA), Mentor of ICA new students, member of the Cyprus Institute of Internal Auditors and Network chair for Cyprus of the International Compliance association.
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