What Is CMFAS? Singapore Exam Modules Explained

If you want to give financial advice or sell investment and insurance products in Singapore, you'll come across the term CMFAS. It stands for the Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services examinations — the licensing exams the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) requires before you can be appointed as a representative. CMFAS is not one exam but a family of modules, and the framework was substantially rebuilt on 1 April 2024. This guide maps the whole family, decodes the old module codes you'll still see quoted online, and shows where RES5 fits.

Who actually runs CMFAS? (It isn't one body)

A common misconception is that the Singapore College of Insurance runs every CMFAS exam. It doesn't. CMFAS sits under two separate MAS notices, each with its own administrator:

If you are heading into financial advisory, insurance or bank wealth-management sales, your exams are almost entirely on the SCI side — starting with RES5.

What changed on 1 April 2024

This is the single most useful thing to understand, because a lot of advice still circulating online predates it. Three things happened:

• "Rules and Regulations" became "Rules, Ethics and Skills" (RES). Every rules module was renamed and renumbered — Module 5 became RES5, Module 1A became RES 1A, and so on. The rename came with real syllabus changes, not just a new label.
• Combined product knowledge modules appeared. Instead of sitting related product modules one at a time, you can now sit a single combined paper covering the pair — or all four.
• The old papers were withdrawn. SCI stopped offering the old M5 after 28 March 2024; IBF stopped offering its old modules after 25 March 2024. Module 4B was retired outright.

The full CMFAS module map

Rules, Ethics and Skills (RES) modules

Product knowledge modules

Separately, SCI runs a Health Insurance (HI) module for intermediaries advising on or selling health insurance products, and general-insurance modules (ComGI, PGI, BCP) that sit outside the FAA-N26 structure above. If health or general insurance is part of your role, confirm with your firm and SCI which of these you also need.

Which modules will you actually sit?

For the overwhelming majority of people reading this — aspiring financial advisers, insurance representatives and bank sales staff — the answer is short:

• RES5, which everyone providing financial advisory services takes. It is the common denominator, and usually the first paper you sit.
• One product module matched to what you will advise on: CM-LIP for life policies and ILPs, CM-CIS for collective investment schemes, or CM-LIC if you need both.
• HI as well, if you will advise on health insurance.

Which regulated activity maps to which module is set out in FAA-N26 itself, and your firm will confirm the exact combination. For a closer look at whether RES5 applies to you, see who needs CMFAS RES5 and the licensing path, or how to become a financial adviser representative for the whole route from exam to appointment. RES5 itself is built on the Financial Advisers Act and FA Regulations, so that is where the syllabus starts.

How the exams work — and why RES5 is the hard one

CMFAS modules are computer-based multiple-choice exams sat at the administrator's test centre, in English, with one mark per correct answer and no penalty for a wrong or blank one. What differs sharply between modules is the pass mark:

Passing is not the same as being licensed

Worth knowing before you start: a CMFAS pass slip does not entitle you to advise anyone. Your principal firm must lodge your appointment with MAS, and you may act as a representative only once you are entered in the public Register of Representatives. Passing is one step of five — the financial advisory career path guide walks the rest, including entry requirements, how representatives are paid, and the CPD you must clock every year to stay licensed.

Where to start with RES5

RES5 is the module nearly every financial advisory role has in common, and the one worth passing first time — a re-sit costs a full fee and pushes back the date your firm can lodge your appointment. It is broad and detail-heavy rather than conceptually hard, which is exactly why steady question practice beats last-minute cramming. Work out your timeline with how long to study for RES5, follow the method in how to pass CMFAS RES5, then practise RES5 questions and check where you stand with a free timed mock exam.

Official sources

• MAS Notice FAA-N26 — competency requirements for representatives of financial advisers (the FAA side, including RES5)
• MAS Notice SFA 04-N22 — competency requirements on the capital-markets side
• SCI — Implementation of New CMFAS Examinations (M5 renamed RES5, combined product modules, transition dates)
• IBF — Implementation of New CMFAS Exams (RES1–RES4, RESP10, CM-EIP/CM-SIP/CM-CMP and pass marks)
• SCI — RES5 examination details (structure, question counts and pass marks)