Posted by The Team at Brand Financial Training on May 9, 2023 in Newsletter
9 May 2023
This article is correct as at 9 May 2023.
One third of the year over already! May is a wonderful month of the year, full of bank holidays, Star Wars Day and National Orange Juice Day (who knew?!). But it is also Mental Health Awareness month, so here is a reminder to prioritise your mental health and wellbeing and take some time out for self-care (whatever that might look like for you). Sitting exams can be really stressful, so it’s extra important to remember to take a break and enjoy some brain-rest!
We would also like to wish good luck to those of you waiting for your AF4 results this Friday – do let us know how you got on!
Best Wishes,
The Team at Brand Financial Training
Featured Article
Handling Complaints as a Financial Services Firm
Each financial services firm must have and publish a written complaints procedure to deal with complaints from eligible complainants. In this article, which is relevant to the CII’s R01, CF1, CF8, ER1, and J07 exams, we take a look at how complaints should be made, the process to be followed by the firm being complained about, and what happens if the firm cannot resolve the complaint to the complainant’s satisfaction.
Eligible Complainants
The list of eligible complainants includes:
consumers;
micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees and a turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2m;
charities with an annual income of less than £6.5m;
trustees of trusts with a net asset value of less than £5m;
consumer buy-to-let (CBTL) consumers;
small businesses with an annual turnover of less than £6.5m and fewer than 50 employees or a balance sheet total of less than £5m;
and
guarantors.
Making a Complaint
A complaint should be made in the first instance to the firm that provided the service. If they consider that another firm is responsible, they must refer the complaint to them within 5 working days.
In this Brand Bitesize video, we take a look at the Capital Asset Pricing Model. This could be useful for anyone studying for the CII’s R02, J10, J12, or AF4 exams.
Capital Asset Pricing Model
The Capital Asset Pricing Model or, as it’s more commonly referred to ‘CAPM’ is a model that is used to describe the relationship between the expected return of an investment and its risk. It assumes that investors will expect a higher return (a risk premium) than the risk-free rate when investing in a higher-risk product. In any given CII R02 paper, there’ll almost certainly be at least one question relating to CAPM, but it could also appear in J10, J12, and AF4. In this video, we take a quick look at what CAPM is, and how it is calculated.
Introducing our new Youtube channel! You can find our first few videos on our channel @brandfinancialtraining which are about preparing for the R06 and AF5 exam and our latest Brand Bitesize (see above).
Please do hit the ‘Subscribe’ button so that you’ll be notified as we start to upload many more videos over the coming weeks!
Our Youtube channel will be a place to find exam help and tips, as well as some helpful videos that talk about key concepts across the CII Exam syllabus.
..."Your MP3 audio masterclasses were of great quality. I felt they reminded me of some things I had not thought about for some time and prompted some wider study. The content was accurate, relevant and up to date for the exam and the length of each class was very good. The approach was not patronising like so many learning MP3s. I would definitely recommend..."
Richard Baxter, Senior Financial Adviser, Gower Financial Services, Guernsey
Available for AF1, AF4, J02, R01, R02, R03, R04 and R05
Every individual has his/her own learning style. Learning by listening provides an alternative to reading and re-reading the study text, and can help with absorbing and understanding materials. Our MP3 audio masterclasses come in digestible chunks allowing you to listen at home, in the car, at the gym or wherever else you may be.
For a list of each masterclass in your chosen exam, go to:
Planning to sit the J07 exam? The CII updated J07 last year, and we have taken the opportunity to re-vamp our J07 mock papers to ensure they cover the exam learning outcomes and the questions reflect the type of questions that may come up in your exam. The great news is that later this week, our J07 PDF Mock Exam Papers will again be available for your exam preparation. We’ll email when they’re ready, so watch your inbox!
Updates to CII Study Texts
Here’s a reminder that the CII update their study texts throughout the examinable year to either incorporate new legislations, correct errors or clarify information. Many candidates aren’t aware of this, which can result in candidates studying out-of-date information.
To find out if you have the most up-to-date information, visit the CII website, navigate to your chosen exam and click on ‘learning solutions update’ in the ‘Unit updates’ section in the sidebar.
Note that we keep our resources up-to-date with any updates from the CII.
Did You Miss These Posts on Our Blog?
Articles and Help for All Your Exams
You’ll find that there’s something for everyone when you check out our blog:
specific topics and how-to articles;
reviews of recent CII exam papers;
our Friday Five – a weekly quiz to give you a fun break from reading the study text;
study techniques that help you to retain your revision and keep your brain working for you, when you need it
Here are the blog posts you might have missed since our last newsletter:
There’s such a variety of information on offer to help you as you tackle your CII exams, that you won’t want to miss a single post. We’ve made it easy for you; just click the button below and enter your email details. Be ‘in the know’ with CII-exam-related tips and info – straight to your inbox!
Quote of the Month
..." It always seems impossible until it’s done. "...
Nelson Mandela
Friday 5 Focus on...
"5 Questions in 5 Minutes Every Friday"
Each week, we ask questions relating to one of these topics: Investments, Taxation, Pensions, Protection, or Regulation. The challenge is for you to answer them in 5 minutes.
Where do I find the Friday Five?
We post each week’s Friday Five to our blog first thing every Friday. You can either visit our blog every Friday at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ or you can simply go there now, and click on the subscribe button in the top right-hand corner of the blog and sign up to receive notifications of our Friday Five posts.
Note that we don’t email the Friday Five out to everybody every Friday, so we recommend you sign up to our blog at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ so that you receive an email notification when it is posted. It will only take you a minute to sign up.
A bit of Friday Fun, but with the added benefit of testing your exam knowledge!
