- Loyalty, Prudence, and Care. Members have a duty of loyalty to their clients and must act with reasonable care and exercise prudent judgment. Members must act for the benefit of their clients and place their clients’ interests before their employer’s or their own interests.
- Fair Dealing. Members must deal fairly and objectively with all clients when providing investment analysis, making investment recommendations, taking investment action, or engaging in other professional activities.
- Suitability.
- When Members are in an advisory relationship with a client, they must:
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Judge the suitability of investments in the context of the client’s total portfolio.
- When Members 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.
4. Performance Presentation. When communicating investment performance information, Members must make reasonable efforts to ensure that it is fair, accurate, and complete.
5. Preservation of Confidentiality. Members must keep information about current, former, and prospective clients confidential unless:
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- The information concerns illegal activities on the part of the client or prospective client,
- Disclosure is required by law, or
- The client or prospective client permits disclosure of the information.