  Based on flavour symmetries only, there are two ways to give rise to an
effective description of flavour physics in the quark sector close to the CKM
picture: one is based on $U(3)_q\times U(3)_u\times U(3)_d$ (or equivalent) and
the other on $U(2)_q\times U(2)_u\times U(2)_d$ (or equivalent). In this
context we analyze the current status of flavour physics measurements and we
compare their impact, in the specific case of supersymmetry, with the direct
searches of new particles at the LHC, present or foreseen.
