What is the purpose of a Customer Knowledge Assessment (CKA)?
The purpose of the Customer Knowledge Assessment (CKA) is to ascertain a potential investor’s financial knowledge and experience to understand the risks and features of unlisted* Specified Investment Products prior to any purchases made online or at the Bank’s branch.
*Unlisted Specified Investment Products refer to the following 2 Product Categories:
| Product Category | Examples of Unlisted Specified Investment Products |
|---|
A. Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) and Investment-linked Life Insurance Policies (ILPs) B. Specified Investment Products which are neither listed nor quoted on a securities market or a futures market (excluding CIS & ILPs) | Unit Trusts; and/or |
| Investment-linked Life Insurance Policies |
| Currency-linked Investments; |
| Structured Deposits; |
| Asset-backed Securities & Structured Notes; |
| Equity-linked Notes; and/or |
| Foreign Exchange Margin Trading Line and Foreign Exchange Forward Contracts |
What are the questions under CKA that require me to complete?
There are 3 questions to be answered by you under CKA relating to your (i) highest education attained; (ii) occupation in the past ten years; and (iii) investment experience in Unlisted Specified Investment Products. A sample of the CKA Questions as follows:
- What are the investment products currently in DBS/POSB iBanking that require me to complete CKA?
You will be required to complete CKA for Unit Trusts / Structured Deposits investment products.
How will I be deemed to have satisfied CKA?
(a) You should hold a diploma or has higher qualifications in accountancy, actuarial science,
business/business administration/business management/business studies, capital
markets, commerce, economics, finance, financial engineering, financial planning,
computational finance and insurance; or
(b) You should have a professional finance-related qualification e.g. the Chartered Financial
Analyst Examination conducted by the CFA Institute, USA and the Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants (ACCA) Qualifications;
(c) You should have a minimum of 3 consecutive years of working experience in the past 10
years in:
(i) the development of, structuring of, management of, sale of, trading of, research on and
analysis of investment products , or the provision of training in investment products;
(ii) the provision of legal advice on or possess legal expertise in the areas set out at
(c)(i); or
(iii) accountancy, actuarial science, treasury or financial risk management activities
(d) You should have invested in the following unlisted Specified Investment Products:
(i) For transactions in collective investment schemes (referred to as “CIS”) and
investment-linked life insurance policies (referred to as “ILPs”), the investor has
transacted in CIS or ILPs at least 6 times in the preceding 3 years; or
(ii) For transactions in Specified Investment Products which are neither listed nor quoted
on a securities market or a futures market (excluding CIS and ILPs), the investor has
transacted in any Specified Investment Products which are neither listed nor quoted
on a securities market or a futures market (excluding CIS and ILPs) at least 6 times
in the preceding 3 years;
(e) If you are assessed to not possess knowledge or experience in an unlisted Specified
Investment Products, but subsequently demonstrates sufficient understanding of the
features and risks of that Specified Investment product through financial education, you
may be deemed to possess the knowledge to transact in that unlisted Specified
Investment Product.
- What type of transactions is Q4d (i) and d (ii) referring to?
A pure buy/purchase into the unlisted specified investment products is considered as one transaction.
For example: Switching of unit trust funds from A to B on a same day is considered as a transaction.
A pure sell order refers to a sell order where the investment sale proceeds are paid to you in the form of a cheque or credited into your bank account or CPF Investment Account will not be considered as a transaction.
For example: Unit trust dividend reinvestment, transfer and fee deduction contracts will not be considered as a transaction.
How often will I need to go through the Customer Knowledge Assessment (CKA)?
If you have been assessed to have attained a positive CKA outcome, the Bank will not be required to conduct a CKA on you when you buy the unlisted Specified Investment Product online during the one year period. Otherwise, the Bank will have to conduct a new CKA on you before allowing you to purchase an unlisted Specified Investment Product online during the one year period.
The positive outcome of the CKA for any unlisted Specified Investment Product is valid for a period of one year from the date of the assessment. After a year has elapsed from when the CKA was first conducted, the Bank will have to conduct a new CKA before allowing you to purchase an unlisted Specified Investment Product online.
How will CKA outcome affect me?
If you have attained a positive CKA outcome, you may continue to execute your online purchases of unlisted Specified Investment Products.
If you have attained a negative CKA outcome, you will not be able to execute your online purchases for the unlisted Specified Investment Products. Kindly proceed to seek advice concerning these products from our relationship managers or sales representatives at any of our POSB/DBS branches.
- If I have already gone through a CKA with another financial institution, must I go through the assessment with POSB/DBS Bank again?
Yes. Each financial institution has an obligation to conduct CKA with their customers. The outcome of the assessments conducted with another financial institution cannot be transferred.
