Global Financial Compliance (CME-2A) Course

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CME 2-A is the international technical examination in the Capital Market Authority’s qualification framework for compliance and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing functions. It is provided in cooperation with the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, and the paper is CISI’s Global Financial Compliance, commonly abbreviated to GFC: 100 multiple-choice questions in two hours, pass mark 70. The Compliance Function is the largest single element at 24 questions, and together with Managing the Risk of Financial Crime and Ethics, Integrity and Fairness it makes up 63 of the 100 marks — the three elements that ask what a compliance professional should actually do, not merely what the rules say. Our course covers all five elements while concentrating your study time where the marks are.

Important: Tadawul Academy prepares candidates for CME 2-A only. We do not offer CME 2-B or CME 1-B preparation. Passing CME 2-A on its own does not complete the Saudi CME 2 certificate, and the CMA’s qualification examinations guide lists three examinations for registration in compliance and AML/CTF functions: CME 1-B, CME 2-A and CME 2-B.

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• The official examination and its study material are published in Arabic and English. Tadawul Academy’s currently available CME 2-A preparation course is in English.

The examination is booked and paid for separately, directly with the Financial Academy. The price on our course page covers Tadawul Academy preparation only. Current Financial Academy fees are set out below.

What the CME 2-A examination is

The CMA developed its qualification examinations with the Financial Academy and CISI for people performing the registrable functions set out in the Capital Market Institutions Regulations. Each pathway pairs international technical knowledge with the Saudi rulebook: an A paper set by CISI, a B paper set by the Financial Academy. CME 2-A is the technical paper on the compliance and financial crime pathway.

Examination	What it covers	Set by	Tadawul Academy course
CME 2-A	Global Financial Compliance — international regulation, the compliance function, financial crime risk, ethics and market integrity, governance and risk management	CISI	Offered
CME 2-B	Saudi Capital Market Rules and Regulations for compliance, AML and CTF — the CMA’s implementing regulations, Investment Accounts Instructions, and the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws	The Financial Academy	Not offered
CME 1-B	General Saudi Capital Market Rules and Regulations — Securities Business Regulations, authorisation, systems and controls, prohibitions	The Financial Academy	Not offered

Two different questions are worth keeping apart, because candidates routinely answer one and assume the other. To obtain the CME 2 professional certificate, the Financial Academy requires CME 2-A and CME 2-B. For CMA registration in a compliance or AML/CTF function, the CMA’s qualification examinations guide lists three: CME 1-B, CME 2-A and CME 2-B. Budget and plan for three papers, not two.

CME 2-A itself contains no Saudi regulation. It deals in international frameworks — IOSCO, FATF, the Basel Committee, the Bank for International Settlements and the models of regulation they represent. Reading a CMA implementing regulation will not earn you a mark on CME 2-A, and reading the CISI material will not earn you one on CME 2-B. They are different bodies of knowledge sat on different days.

Who needs CME 2-A in Saudi Arabia

The Financial Academy states that passing both CME 2-A and CME 2-B is required of everyone being registered to perform compliance and/or anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing functions, and has been since 1 February 2023. That is the most narrowly targeted of the CME requirements: where CME 1-A applies broadly across general registrable functions, CME 2 attaches to a job family. Depending on the institution and the exact role, that includes:

• Compliance officers, deputy compliance officers and compliance managers
• Money Laundering Reporting Officers and their deputies
• AML, CTF, sanctions and financial crime analysts
• Compliance monitoring, testing and assurance staff
• Regulatory advisory and policy staff
• Customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence and onboarding specialists
• Risk, governance, internal audit and legal staff moving across into a regulated compliance function

Requirements depend on the precise registrable function, so confirm your examination combination with your employer’s compliance department, the Financial Academy or the CMA before registering. The Financial Academy lists no prior certificate, training programme or earlier examination as a prerequisite for booking CME 2-A itself, and the examinations are open to Saudis and non-Saudis alike.

Outside the Saudi registration framework, the same CISI unit is taken by compliance staff at banks, brokers, asset managers and insurers worldwide, by MLROs and financial crime teams, and by auditors, corporate lawyers and non-executive directors who need a working command of the compliance function. Our course prepares you for the paper either way.

What passing CME 2-A awards

Passing the international unit gives you the CISI Level 3 Award in Global Financial Compliance, which sits at level 4 on the European Qualifications Framework. CISI puts total qualification time for the standalone Award at 102 hours. The Award entitles you to join CISI at Affiliate level.

That is not the same thing as the completed Saudi CME 2 professional certificate, which requires CME 2-A and CME 2-B. Nor is it the CISI Level 3 Certificate in Global Financial Compliance — total qualification time 183 hours, and the one carrying Associate membership and the ACSI letters — which pairs this unit with an eligible CISI regulatory examination. CME 2-B is set by the Financial Academy rather than by CISI, so if the CISI Certificate and Associate membership matter to you, ask CISI directly which regulatory paper it accepts before planning around it. For CMA registration none of this changes anything: the requirement is CME 1-B, CME 2-A and CME 2-B.

What the CME 2-A syllabus covers

Five elements. The Financial Academy publishes the weighting of each as a percentage; because the paper is 100 questions, each percentage point is one question, so the weightings map directly onto CISI’s own examination specification — syllabus version 11, effective 1 October 2024.

Element	Weight	Questions	What to prepare for
1. The International Regulatory Environment	20%	20	Rules-based, principles-based, risk-based, thematic and relationship-based regulation; IOSCO’s objectives and its principles 1 to 8; BIS, the FSB, the ESAs, the SEC and the ISSB; data protection, tax reporting and market integrity legislation; cross-border business, OTC derivatives and how regulators approach fintech.
2. The Compliance Function	24%	24	The compliance manual, the compliance programme, monitoring programmes and how they are designed and conducted; the three lines of defence; training and competence; outsourcing and new business; the regulatory relationship, scheduled and unscheduled visits, and what to do when a breach occurs.
3. Managing the Risk of Financial Crime	20%	20	Money laundering and terrorist financing and the three stages; FATF and the international agencies; predicate offences; Ponzi schemes, boiler rooms and beneficial ownership; the MLRO’s role; the risk-based approach; sanctions and PEP screening; and suspicious transaction reporting.
4. Ethics, Integrity and Fairness	19%	19	Ethical decision-making against rule-following; fiduciary and agency responsibilities; price-sensitive non-public information and insider dealing; information barriers, personal account dealing, gifts and conflicts policies; whistleblowing; fair conduct across the sale cycle; complaints and redress; and ESG.
5. Governance, Risk Management and Compliance	17%	17	Corporate governance objectives and board structures; matrix and silo structures and compliance independence; audit committees and internal audit; due diligence; the BIS principles for enhancing corporate governance; risk types and the risk management process; operational resilience; and cyber, fintech, regtech and cloud risk.

Any element can move by up to two questions between papers, but the shape holds. Elements 2, 3 and 4 are 63 of the 100 marks, and that is where the paper stops rewarding memorised definitions and starts asking what a compliance function should do in a realistic situation. Do not treat Elements 1 and 5 as the tail, though: at 37 marks combined they decide plenty of passes, and Element 1 supplies the regulators, bodies and acronyms the other four refer to without re-explaining.

The second thing to plan for is what this paper does instead of calculation. There is no arithmetic in CME 2-A, and that misleads people into treating it as the easy A paper. It replaces calculation with two demands. The first is precision: a large share of the learning objectives are prefixed know rather than understand, meaning you must recall a named source accurately — IOSCO’s three objectives of securities regulation and its principles 1 to 8, Principles 5 and 6 of the Basel Committee’s guidance on compliance in banks, the BIS definition of compliance risk and who BIS holds responsible for managing it, the three stages of laundering, the criteria for an effective suspicious transaction reporting system. Distractors here are built from near-miss wording, so learn the exact formulation rather than the general idea.

The second demand is sequence. Expect questions that link several elements at once: a single scenario can combine customer due diligence from Element 3, escalation and breach reporting from Element 2, and confidentiality or conflicts from Element 4. Practise the order of operations — identify the risk, work out what information is missing, apply the control, document the reasoning, escalate to the correct person, and report externally only through the required process. Answers that get the actions right but the order wrong are the most common way to lose these marks.

View the official Financial Academy page for CME 2-A, which carries the element weightings and the downloadable study material, or read CISI’s official syllabus for the underlying unit. CISI also publishes an official sample paper — check its contents against the current syllabus, because sample papers are not always reissued with every edition. CISI publishes amendments in its Candidate Update area between syllabus editions.

CME 2-A examination format

Official Saudi examination name	The CMA lists it as Global Financial Compliance (CME-2A); the Financial Academy’s own exam page title translates as International Financial Compliance
CISI qualification	Global Financial Compliance, abbreviated to GFC — the CISI Level 3 Award
Questions	100 multiple choice
Duration	120 minutes
Pass mark	70 marks out of 100 — 70%
Examination provider	CISI, under the CMA’s qualification examinations framework
Registration and booking	The Financial Academy, at its Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam centres
Languages	Arabic and English
Study time	The Financial Academy estimates around 100 hours to work through the study material; CISI’s total qualification time for the standalone Award is 102 hours
Entry requirements	None. No prior certificate, training programme or earlier examination is required to register
Trial questions	CISI’s specification for this unit allows up to 10% extra unscored questions in computer-based delivery. They are not identified, do not count towards your result, and attract proportionately more time

What CME 2-A costs

Financial Academy fees, separate from the price of our preparation course. Checked 6 August 2026.

• CME 2-A: SAR 2,100
• CME 2-B: SAR 1,700, booked separately
• Both CME 2 papers, giving the professional certificate: SAR 3,800
• CME 1-B: also listed by the CMA for registration in compliance and AML/CTF functions, booked and paid for separately

Two points worth reading twice. First, the Financial Academy publishes the study material for each examination on its own exam page, in Arabic and English, at no charge — there is no mandatory workbook purchase on the Saudi route, which is a real difference from booking CISI units internationally. If you are taking Global Financial Compliance directly through CISI instead, CISI’s own workbook policy applies and differs between UK and international bookings. Second, the fee is recoverable through the Human Resources Development Fund’s Hadaf platform after you pass, but only on the complete certificate: the Financial Academy states plainly that support is not granted for passing one of the two examinations on its own. You pass both, obtain the certificate, and submit it.

Fees and booking arrangements are reviewed periodically, so confirm the amount, the delivery method and the available appointments on the official CME 2-A examination and registration page before paying.

How to plan 100 hours of CME 2-A study

A hundred hours is the Financial Academy’s estimate for the material, and CISI’s total qualification time for the standalone Award, at 102 hours, lands in the same place. Two schedules that reach it:

• Ten weeks at around 10 hours a week
• Fourteen weeks at around 7 hours a week

These are our suggestions, not CMA, Financial Academy or CISI rules. Work through the elements the way a compliance programme works rather than as five unrelated chapters:

1. Start with Element 1, 20 marks. Learn the regulatory models, the international bodies and the standards they set. They supply the vocabulary used everywhere else, and the acronyms are worth drilling now.
2. Give the most time to Element 2, 24 marks and the largest element. Work the complete cycle: mandate, risk assessment, policies and manual, training, monitoring, reporting, breach response and regulatory engagement.
3. Build Element 3 as a control framework, 20 marks. Connect the financial crime risks to customer due diligence, beneficial ownership, monitoring, sanctions and PEP screening, investigation, escalation and suspicious transaction reporting.
4. Study Elements 4 and 5 through scenarios, 36 marks together. Practise recognising conflicts, misuse of information, unfair conduct, governance weaknesses and technology risk — and note that the BIS governance material in Element 5 is pure recall and should be drilled, not reasoned through.
5. Finish with timed mixed practice across all five elements, then back to anything scoring below 70%.

Start the practice questions before you finish the syllabus, element by element — they show where your recall is weak while there is still time to fix it. Then time yourself: 100 questions in 120 minutes is 72 seconds each, and the scenario questions in Elements 2, 3 and 4 will take longer than that because several answers sound plausible, so the recall questions have to be quick. Book the examination once you are repeatedly clearing 80% on mixed timed sets rather than after touching 70% once. That margin is what covers unfamiliar wording and exam-day pressure.

Choose your CME 2-A preparation course

Tadawul Academy currently offers the Global Financial Compliance preparation course in English. Any course carrying the CME 2-A tag is shown below. Study in the language you intend to sit in: the terminology in this syllabus is the thing being tested, and translating it in your head during the examination costs marks.

What is included

• Recorded video lectures covering all five elements of the current syllabus
• Element summary slides and revision notes
• Multiple-choice practice questions designed around the CISI examination format, organised by chapter
• Scenario practice on monitoring, breaches and escalation, due diligence, suspicious activity, conflicts and governance
• Terminology and named-framework revision for the recall objectives in Elements 1, 3 and 5
• An Ask the Trainer section for questions on the material
• Access options of two weeks, one month or three months
• Three months access to the Tadawul Academy job board — current vacancies in compliance, AML and CTF, financial crime, risk and governance

Everything is recorded and self-paced. There are no classroom sessions and no live online classes. The practice questions are written by Tadawul Academy for preparation; they are not official CMA, Financial Academy or CISI examination questions, and no training provider has access to the live examination bank.

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How to use the course with the official material

The current Financial Academy material is the examinable source for candidates sitting CME 2-A in Saudi Arabia. Our course adds guided explanations, revision slides, terminology drills, practice questions and trainer support so you can work through that text systematically and find the elements that need more revision.

1. Watch the recorded lecture for the chapter.
2. Read the matching section of the current official material.
3. Review the summary slides and build a short control or escalation checklist from them.
4. Answer that chapter’s practice questions without looking at your notes.
5. Revisit anything you answered incorrectly, guessed, or could not justify afterwards.

Do not prepare from an old GFC workbook found online — this syllabus has been revised repeatedly, and the fintech, ESG and client-outcomes material in the current edition is exactly what older copies are missing. At Level 3 the paper tests application as well as recall, and the correct answer often turns on sequence: gather the facts before drawing a conclusion, protect confidentiality, document the decision, escalate to the right level, and report externally only through the required process. Practice questions build that habit; re-reading does not.

Before you enrol

• The subscription price covers the Tadawul Academy preparation course only. The Financial Academy examination fee is paid separately.
• We prepare candidates for CME 2-A only. We do not offer CME 2-B or CME 1-B preparation.
• The currently available Tadawul Academy course is in English. The official examination and the Financial Academy’s material are published in Arabic and English.
• You can create a free account on our e-learning portal and try two chapters before buying.
• After you order, we activate your account and email confirmation within a few hours. Please check your email address is correct when you place the order.
• When your access expires, place a new order to extend it.
• Register for the examination yourself with the Financial Academy and use its current official study material. We are not an examination centre and cannot book, sit, reschedule or refund it for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is CME 2-A the same examination as CISI Global Financial Compliance?

Yes. CME 2-A is the CMA and Financial Academy designation for CISI’s Global Financial Compliance unit, and CISI is named as the examination provider. The Financial Academy’s published element weightings match CISI’s current examination specification exactly: 20, 24, 20, 19 and 17 questions. If you are sitting in Saudi Arabia you register through the Financial Academy, not through CISI’s own examination shop.

Is CME 2 the same as CME 2-A?

No. CME 2-A is the international technical half. The complete CME 2 professional certificate also requires CME 2-B, the Saudi rules and regulations paper for compliance, AML and CTF.

Which examinations are required for CMA registration in compliance or AML/CTF?

The CMA’s qualification examinations guide lists three for this registrable function: General Saudi Capital Market Rules and Regulations (CME 1-B), Global Financial Compliance (CME 2-A), and Saudi Capital Market Rules and Regulations for Compliance, AML and CTF (CME 2-B). That is one more than most other functions require. Confirm the combination for your exact role with your employer or the relevant official body before registering.

Does Tadawul Academy offer CME 2-B or CME 1-B?

No. We offer preparation for the international A paper, CME 2-A. We do not offer the Saudi regulatory B papers, and the same applies to the other pathways — our courses cover the A papers only.

Do I need to pass CME 1-A before taking CME 2-A?

The Financial Academy lists no previous certificate or examination as a prerequisite for registering for CME 2-A. Do not confuse that booking rule with what your registration requires: the CMA guide separately lists CME 1-B, CME 2-A and CME 2-B for compliance and AML/CTF functions. CME 1-A is not among them.

Do I need to buy a workbook as well as this course?

Not on the Saudi route. The Financial Academy publishes the current CME 2-A study material on its exam page in Arabic and English, free to download. Our course does not replace it — it adds lectures explaining the harder elements, terminology and framework revision, slides to revise from, and practice questions to test whether the reading has stuck. Candidates booking Global Financial Compliance directly through CISI outside Saudi Arabia should follow CISI’s separate current workbook policy.

How much does the CME 2-A examination cost?

SAR 2,100, paid to the Financial Academy when you register, and separate from our course price. CME 2-B is a further SAR 1,700, so the two CME 2 papers cost SAR 3,800 in examination fees, with CME 1-B on top of that for registration. Figures checked 6 August 2026 — confirm on the official booking pages before paying, because fees change.

Can the examination fee be reimbursed through Hadaf?

The Financial Academy states that Hadaf support requires passing both CME 2-A and CME 2-B and submitting the completed qualification certificate, and that support is not granted for passing one examination on its own.

What is the difference between CME 2-A and CME 2-B?

CME 2-A is the international technical paper — models of regulation, the compliance function, financial crime risk, ethics and governance — and contains no Saudi regulation. CME 2-B is the Saudi regulatory paper: the Capital Market Institutions Regulations, Investment Funds Regulations, Market Conduct Regulations, corporate finance rules, Investment Accounts Instructions, and the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws.

How many questions are in the CME 2-A examination?

One hundred scored multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, with a pass mark of 70. A computer-based paper may also carry up to 10% additional unscored trial questions, with proportionately more time.

What is the current CME 2-A syllabus?

The underlying CISI Global Financial Compliance specification is version 11, effective 1 October 2024: the international regulatory environment, the compliance function, managing the risk of financial crime, ethics and fair conduct, and governance, risk management and compliance.

Are there past papers or official sample questions?

CISI publishes an official sample paper for Global Financial Compliance, but not past live papers, and neither the CMA nor the Financial Academy publishes them either. Check any sample paper against the current syllabus before relying on it. Any file of “real” CME 2-A questions circulating online is not an official document and is usually built from an expired edition.

Where can I find the official CME 2-A study material or PDF?

On the Financial Academy’s examination page for CME 2-A, which carries current Arabic and English material. Use that rather than an older copy hosted on another website.

Are there mock exams and practice questions in the course?

Yes. Questions are organised by chapter so you can test each area as you finish it, followed by mixed sets across all five elements. The aim is not only to recall the rules but to pick the correct compliance action, and the correct order of actions, in a scenario.

Can I sit CME 2-A in Arabic?

The Financial Academy offers the examination in Arabic and English and publishes the study material in both. Tadawul Academy’s currently available preparation course is in English. The course list above will show any additional CME 2-A course once it is available and carries the same tag.

Can I take CME 2-A from home?

Register through the Financial Academy and check the delivery method and available appointments in its current booking portal. Do not assume that a remote invigilation option offered for the CISI unit in another country applies to the Saudi CME 2-A booking route.

Is CME 2-A harder than CME 1-A?

It is twice the paper: 100 questions in two hours against 50 in one, and around 100 hours of study against 80. It removes the calculations, but replaces them with dense regulatory language, named international frameworks that have to be recalled accurately, and scenarios where several answers look defensible. Candidates who found CME 1-A manageable because they were comfortable with markets and products should not assume this one scales the same way.

What qualification do I receive after passing?

Passing the international paper awards the CISI Level 3 Award in Global Financial Compliance, at level 4 on the European Qualifications Framework. The completed Saudi CME 2 professional certificate requires both CME 2-A and CME 2-B. The CISI Level 3 Certificate in Global Financial Compliance is a separate international combination pairing this unit with an eligible CISI regulatory examination — confirm with CISI what it accepts before assuming CME 2-B counts towards it.

How long should I study for CME 2-A?

Around 100 hours is the Financial Academy’s estimate, and CISI’s total qualification time for the standalone Award is 102 hours. Ten weeks at 10 hours a week, or fourteen at about 7, are practical examples rather than official deadlines. Candidates coming from outside a compliance function should allow more, particularly for Elements 1 and 2.

Does this course include live classes?

No. Everything is recorded and self-paced. For questions on the material, use the Ask the Trainer section and you will receive a written answer.

How quickly is my account activated?

Within a few hours of your order, and we email you to confirm. The most common cause of delay is a mistyped email address at checkout.

What happens if I fail?

You re-register and re-sit through the Financial Academy. Repeat fees, waiting periods and booking conditions are set by the Financial Academy rather than by us, so check its current examination policy before rebooking. Your Tadawul Academy access continues for the remainder of its term, and you can place a new order to extend it.

Do I still need the new examinations if I passed an older CMA qualification?

The CMA states that everyone who passed its previous qualification examinations remains eligible for registration in the corresponding registrable function without taking the new examinations. If you are unsure which side of that line you fall on, confirm it with the CMA or your employer’s compliance function before paying for anything.

Is the job board really included?

Yes, at no extra cost, for three months from activation. It lists current roles in compliance, AML and CTF, financial crime, risk, governance and regulatory affairs across Saudi Arabia, the wider Gulf, Egypt, India and the UK.

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