Mariam Musa, CFA, head of compliance at Dunfield Brokers, questions her colleague Omar Kassim, a CFA candidate and a research analyst, about his purchase of shares in a company for his own account immediately before he publishes a "buy" recommendation. He defends his actions by stating he has done nothing wrong because Dunfield does not have any personal trading policies in place. The CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct were most likelyviolated by:
C is correct because both Musa and Kassim violated the Standards of Professional Conduct.
Musa violated Standard Ⅳ (C) Responsibilities of Supervisors by not ensuring policies were in place to prevent violations of the Code and Standards (in this case Standard Ⅵ (B) Priority of Transactions) by someone subject to her supervision. As the head of compliance, Musa supervised Kassim and must meet her supervisory responsibilities outlined in the Standards of Professional Conduct. Kassim violated Standard Ⅵ (B) Priority of Transactions in that he did not give sufficient priority to Dunfield's clients before trading on his recommendation.