CISI Client Money and Assets Exam Guide: CASS Study Priorities

Table of Contents

• • Exam overview
• • Seven chapters and question weightings
• • The essential distinction: money versus custody assets
• • Chapter 1: legal and regulatory context
• • Chapters 2 and 3: client money under CASS 7
• • Chapter 4: safe custody under CASS 6
• • Governance, oversight and the resolution pack
• • When problems arise
• • An 80-hour study plan
• • A practical question method
• • Use the current rulebook
• • Final takeaway

The CISI Client Money and Assets exam tests whether you understand how regulated firms protect money and safe custody assets belonging to clients. It combines legal concepts, the FCA Client Assets Sourcebook, day-to-day controls, governance and failure scenarios. The exam has 50 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes.

Quick answer: Start by separating CASS 6 custody assets from CASS 7 client money. Then learn the records, segregation, reconciliation and escalation processes for each. The three largest areas—legal context, CASS 7 fundamentals and CASS 6 custody—account for 29 of 50 questions.

Exam overview

Feature	Detail
Level	CISI Level 3 IOC unit
Format	50 multiple-choice questions
Duration	60 minutes
Recommended study	Approximately 80 hours
Current syllabus	Version 7
Exam window	11 December 2025 to 10 December 2027

Seven chapters and question weightings

Chapter	Questions	Core subject
Legal and Regulatory Context	10	Trust, agreements, settlement, FCA framework, permissions and firm types
Client Money Fundamentals	9	CASS 7, segregation, accounts, allocation and exemptions
Controls over Client Money	6	Bank selection, records, reconciliations and discrepancies
Safe Custody of Assets	10	CASS 6, registration, third parties, records and reconciliation
Governance and Oversight	6	Responsibilities, audit, reporting and resolution packs
When Problems Arise	5	Shortfalls, failures, insolvency, pooling and consequences
The Client	4	Client types, mandates, reporting and contractual relationships

The essential distinction: money versus custody assets

The phrase “client assets” can describe the wider protection regime, but exam questions need precision.

Question	CASS 6	CASS 7
What is protected?	Safe custody assets, such as financial instruments held for a client	Money received or held for a client within the rules
Core objective	Safeguard ownership rights and minimise loss or misuse	Ensure proper accounting, treatment and segregation of client money
Typical records	Client and firm custody records, registrations, third-party holdings	Client balances, client bank accounts, internal and external records
Key control theme	Custody record checks and reconciliations	Client money calculations and reconciliations

This is a learning framework, not a substitute for the detailed rulebook. In a scenario, first identify what the firm holds. Only then decide which chapter and control process applies.

Chapter 1: legal and regulatory context

This joint-largest chapter explains why the protections exist. Learn the relationship between contractual obligations, trust concepts, settlement, FCA permissions and the firm’s role. The same asset movement can produce different obligations depending on whether the firm is holding, arranging, administering or transferring it.

Build a “who owns what?” habit. Ask who has beneficial ownership, in whose name an asset or account is recorded, what agreement exists and what the firm is permitted to do.

Chapters 2 and 3: client money under CASS 7

Client Money Fundamentals covers segregation, client bank and transaction accounts, allocation, the standard and alternative approaches and relevant exemptions. Controls over Client Money covers due diligence on banks, records, internal and external reconciliations and discrepancy resolution.

Study the process in order:

1. Determine whether a receipt is client money.
2. Allocate it to the correct client where possible.
3. Segregate it in the appropriate account within the applicable process.
4. Maintain records that explain entitlement and balances.
5. Perform the required calculations and reconciliations.
6. Investigate and resolve differences, escalating where necessary.

Avoid learning reconciliation as a single word. Know what is compared, which records are internal or external, what a difference may mean and what action follows.

Chapter 4: safe custody under CASS 6

CASS 6 focuses on safeguarding ownership rights, appropriate registration, third-party custody, records and reconciliations. A firm’s responsibilities do not disappear simply because it appoints a third party. Selection, instruction, records and oversight remain examinable.

Create a custody chain diagram from client to firm to custodian or sub-custodian. Add where legal title is registered, where the books and records sit, and which comparison can reveal a shortfall.

Governance, oversight and the resolution pack

Client-asset protection is not only an operations-team task. Governance establishes ownership, escalation, audit, regulatory reporting and readiness for a failure. The CASS resolution pack brings together information needed to help return client money and custody assets if the firm fails.

For each governance role or report, learn its purpose, frequency or trigger, recipient and evidence. Questions often include several genuine control activities but ask who is responsible or when the activity occurs.

When problems arise

Shortfalls, unreconciled differences, bank or custodian failure and firm insolvency reveal why accurate records matter. Study the sequence from detection through investigation, funding or correction, notification and possible pooling or distribution consequences.

Do not assume every discrepancy is fraud or every shortfall has the same solution. Timing differences, posting errors and actual asset shortages are different problems even when they first appear as a break.

An 80-hour study plan

Activity	Hours
Legal and regulatory context	13
Client money fundamentals	12
Client money controls	9
Safe custody assets	13
Governance and oversight	8
Problems and insolvency	7
Client classification and relationships	5
Mixed questions, retrieval and review	13
Total	80

A practical question method

For every scenario, write four letters on your scratch pad:

• O — Object: money, custody asset, mandate or something else?
• R — Role: what is the firm doing?
• C — Control: segregation, record, reconciliation, due diligence or oversight?
• A — Action: what must happen next?

This prevents you from selecting an answer that is true under CASS but irrelevant to the facts given.

Use the current rulebook

This article was reviewed for the 2026 syllabus. The FCA Handbook changes over time, and the exam follows the official syllabus for the booked date. Check the live FCA CASS 6 custody rules and FCA CASS 7 client money rules for context, while treating the current CISI syllabus and candidate updates as your exam boundary.

Review the complete outline on the CISI Client Money and Assets course page.

Final takeaway

The most reliable preparation is process-based. Identify whether the scenario concerns money or an asset, apply the correct CASS chapter, then follow the records, control and escalation chain. That method is stronger than memorising disconnected rule numbers.