FinSA Q&A: Education of Client Advisors
UBS Business Solutions AG
This product consists of 5 Q&As on the requirements of the FinSA regarding the education of client advisors.
Author's Note
The product, a know-how collection entitled “ FinSA Q&A: Education of Client Advisors ” consists of 5 questions and answers (" Q&As ") developed by the UBS team of regulatory experts and provides you with the basis for understanding the education requirements of the FinSA. Your purchase gives you access to a know-how collection prepared by UBS and may serve as a basis for you to establish your best practices as a financial service provider. The Education Requirements of the FinSA When applying the FinSA in its interplay with the Swiss Financial Institutions Act (“ FinIA ”) and the revised Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act (“ revCISA ”), financial service providers also have to understand which requirements apply as regards the education of client advisors. The rules in their interplay can be complex and the practice is still developing. A good understanding of this topic may hence be helpful in order to avoid regulatory and operational risks in this context. These...
Read moreThe product, a know-how collection entitled “FinSA Q&A: Education of Client Advisors” consists of 5 questions and answers ("Q&As") developed by the UBS team of regulatory experts and provides you with the basis for understanding the education requirements of the FinSA.
Your purchase gives you access to a know-how collection prepared by UBS and may serve as a basis for you to establish your best practices as a financial service provider.
The Education Requirements of the FinSA
When applying the FinSA in its interplay with the Swiss Financial Institutions Act (“FinIA”) and the revised Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act (“revCISA”), financial service providers also have to understand which requirements apply as regards the education of client advisors. The rules in their interplay can be complex and the practice is still developing. A good understanding of this topic may hence be helpful in order to avoid regulatory and operational risks in this context.
These Q&As are essential practical knowledge for those that provide financial services in Switzerland or to clients in Switzerland.
For a full overview of the questions covered by this product, see Questions answered by UBS' FinSA Q&A under the Education of Client Advisors section.
What you get
After you make your purchase, PartnerVine makes the Q&A available to you for download as a searchable pdf. Below are two Q&As from this product so you can see a sample of what you will get:
Samples of the Q&A
What is the legal definition of client advisors?
Art. 3(e) FinSA defines client advisors as natural persons who perform financial services on behalf of a financial service provider or in their own capacity as financial service providers. However, in case the client advisors perform financial services on behalf of a financial service provider organized as a company, this definition does not help to identify client advisors amongst the whole staff. Therefore, the identification of client advisors should be based on the definition provided by the Dispatch to the FinSA. According to the Dispatch, client advisors are natural persons who have direct client contact and furthermore offer and/or execute financial services.
Thus, for example, employees of a bank who execute transactions with financial instruments for their clients or advise them on the investment of their assets, are client advisors within the meaning of the FinSA. Consequently, employees who have no contact with clients or support the provision of financial services only in a subordinate manner are not to be considered as client advisors. E.g., the provision of product documentation on client's request, the arrangement of an appointment between client advisor and client as well as the support of technical processes of electronic client portals or websites of the financial service provider may be regarded as support in a subordinate manner.
What is considered as "necessary competence" under the FinSA?
The FinSA requires that client advisors have the necessary competence (i.e. expertise) required to perform their activities. In this context, the Dispatch to art. 6 FinSA states, that the requirements for an adequate qualification of client advisors are met if they are aligned with a "minimum standard" (which should be determined by the industry). Besides this, the law does not stipulate any criteria for a compliant qualification and, thus, leaves a large margin of manoeuvre. A certification of the Swiss Association for Quality (SAQ) or a bachelor or master in banking & finance may e.g. qualify as such minimum standard.
Who needs it
The FinSA Q&A: Education of Client Advisors is for financial service providers providing their services in Switzerland or to clients in Switzerland. If you are a financial service provider, this product helps you understand the FinSA education requirements and implement them.
About UBS
UBS Business Solutions AG ("UBS") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UBS Group AG. For more information on UBS, go to www.ubs.com.
Key features
Key features of this product include:
- Structured & easy-to-read. Structured in a reader-friendly, easy-to-access Q&A format that is aligned with the relevant regulations.
- Easy-to-understand. The language is practical and business friendly. The explanations in the text are accompanied by tables and graphics which make it easier to understand and communicate the regulations.
- Interconnected. The Q&As include references to related content in other modules of UBS' FinSA Q&A and third party content to help readers understand the issues.
- Categorization. All of the Q&As are categorized into specific topic groups which you can adapt to your individual needs.
- Upskilling your employees. Underlined terms are explained in the Glossary, which is a complementary product that comprises over 160 terms and definitions. Together with the Glossary, the Q&As provide knowledge management support not just for employees that know an issue well, but employees that need to learn about an issue, increasing expertise across your firm.
- Cost & time savings. You receive extraordinary value when you purchase this product. As your usage increases, your savings increase dramatically (see the Relative Advantage Calculator on the left hand side and the section below on the Relative Advantage Calculator, which will help you understand the value of this product).
Relative Advantage
The FinSA Q&A: Education of Client Advisors gets rid of the need to research Swiss regulatory requirements of the FinSA regarding the education of client advisors. The Relative Advantage Calculator on this page shows a conservative use case, and the amount you would save compared to doing the tasks without the benefit of our product. For the calculator, we've taken an hour as the estimate for a lawyer charging CHF 450 per hour to research the answer to one of our Q&As. Our assumptions are conservative ones based on our experience. If you'd like to change our assumptions, you can do so in the calculator and run the number again. The value delivered by our product is meaningful in the vast majority of circumstances, and exceptional as your usage increases.
Circumstances of Use
This product is intended for Swiss financial service providers and financial institutions and provides general information on the FinSA and related laws as of the date of finalization. Our objective is to provide the UBS' perspective of the law in order to help support a better understanding of the new regulatory framework in Switzerland. This product can be used either for implementing the new regulatory framework or as the basis of your own internal knowledge management. This product is not for use outside of Switzerland.
Important Terms
- This product is provided to you only for use in Switzerland.
- You are required to pay for this product by invoice after you have received it. As digital products are so easily replicable, there is no right of rescission for this product and your obligation to pay is unconditional.
- This product is provided to you on a non-reliance basis. There is no guarantee that this product will address your particular facts and circumstances, and you will have no recourse to UBS or PartnerVine if you do not think it does.
- Use of this product does not create an attorney-client relationship with UBS Business Solutions AG or PartnerVine, nor should the product be considered a substitute for qualified legal advice. If you need advice tailored to your facts and circumstances, please consult qualified counsel.
- Your contract for this product is with UBS Business Solutions AG. You will not have recourse to PartnerVine in respect of your use and enjoyment of this product.
Support
This product is a downloadable pdf. There is no additional support for this product.
Demonstration video
This video provides an overview of the "FinSA Q&A" offer from UBS. The video refers to the complete set of Q&As from UBS, and is helpful as an orientation for UBS' offering on PartnerVine.
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