In matters related to their employment, Members and Candidates must act for the benefit of their employer and not deprive their employer of the advantage of their skills and abilities, divulge confidential information, or otherwise cause harm to their employer.
Category: Ethics
Standard III(E): Preservation of Confidentiality
Members and Candidates must keep information about current, former, and prospective clients confidential unless:
1 The information concerns illegal activities on the part of the client or
prospective client,
2 Disclosure is required by law, or
3 The client or prospective client permits disclosure of the information.
Standard III(D): Performance Presentation
When communicating investment performance information, Members and Candidates must make reasonable efforts to ensure that it is fair, accurate, and complete.
Standard III(C): Suitability
1 When Members and Candidates are in an advisory relationship with a client, they must:
a Make a reasonable inquiry into a client’s or prospective client’s investment experience, risk and return objectives, and financial constraints prior to making any investment recommendation or taking investment action and must reassess and update this information regularly.
b Determine that an investment is suitable to the client’s financial situation and consistent with the client’s written objectives, mandates, and constraints before making an investment recommendation or taking investment action.
c Judge the suitability of investments in the context of the client’s total portfolio.
2 When Members and Candidates are responsible for managing a portfolio to a specific mandate, strategy, or style, they must make only investment recommendations or take only investment actions that are consistent with the stated objectives and constraints of the portfolio.
Standard III(A): Loyalty, Prudence, and Care
Members and Candidates have a duty of loyalty to their clients and must act with reasonable care and exercise prudent judgment. Members and Candidates must act for the benefit of their clients and place their clients’ interests before their employer’s or their own interests.
Standard III(B): Fair Dealing
Members and Candidates must deal fairly and objectively with all clients
when providing investment analysis, making investment recommendations, taking investment action, or engaging in other professional activities.
Standard II(B): Market Manipulation
Members and Candidates must not engage in practices that distort prices or artificially inflate trading volume with the intent to mislead market participants.
Standard II(A): Material Nonpublic Information
Members and Candidates who possess material nonpublic information that could affect the value of an investment must not act or cause others to act on the information.
Standard I(D): Misconduct
Members and Candidates must not engage in any professional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, or deceit or commit any act that reflects adversely on their professional reputation, integrity, or competence.
Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct
“Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct” is a verbatim reprint of the CFA Institute Standards of Practice Handbook included in the CFA Curriculum. It includes the following learning outcomes.