CISI UK Financial Regulation 2026: Syllabus, Pass Mark, Fees

What’s in the CISI UK Financial Regulation exam?

Element	Questions
The regulatory environment	12
Conduct of business and client assets	35
Enhancing market integrity	19
Complaints and redress	9

CISI says the numbers can vary slightly from one paper to the next, so that each paper has a consistent level of difficulty.

Pass mark and merit

CISI’s sample paper for Version 33 scores the exam in three bands:

0 to 51: fail
52 to 67: pass
68 to 75: pass with merit

The sample paper’s answer sheet shows which syllabus element each question you got wrong comes from, so you can see where to revise.

CISI sample papers and mock exams →

Where UK Financial Regulation counts

It’s the regulatory unit CISI recommends for the IOC and the Capital Markets Programme, and passing it in one exempts you from it in the other. It can also be the regulatory exam that turns Risk in Financial Services into the Level 3 Certificate.

The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) table lists it as the regulation and ethics part for several roles, including corporate finance advice (activity 8), managing investments (activities 14 and 10) and the overseeing roles numbered 15 to 19, each alongside other qualifications.

The Investment Operations Certificate →The Capital Markets Programme →