MAS Guidelines

MAS Guidelines are issued under Section 64 of the FAA (CMG-G02 additionally under Section 321 of the SFA) to set out the Authority's expectations and give practical guidance on how financial advisers and their representatives should conduct themselves. They are not legislation — each Guideline states it provides general guidance and is not intended to replace or override any legislative provisions — but a failure to observe a Guideline may be relied on to establish or negate any liability in proceedings, so they carry real weight and MAS will be guided by them when judging whether a firm satisfies its FAA conduct obligations.

The RES5 syllabus groups them across three chapters, each a numbered FAA-G / FSG-G / CMG-G series: e.g. FAA-G01 (grant of licence), FSG-G01 (fit and proper), FAA-G04 (standards of conduct), FAA-G05 (the term 'independent'), FAA-G13 (conflicts in research), FAA-G15 (online distribution of life policies with no advice) and CMG-G02 (digital advisory services).

A financial adviser's licence is granted only to a corporation, which must establish a physical presence in Singapore. The licence covers the financial advisory services in the FAA's Second Schedule: advising on investment products, issuing/promulgating research analyses or reports, and arranging life policies (other than reinsurance). Key criteria MAS assesses include:

• •at least 2 full-time appointed representatives for the services sought
• •a CEO and Executive Directors with a minimum 5 years' relevant experience (at least 3 in a managerial capacity) plus acceptable academic/professional qualifications, with the CEO resident in Singapore and not placed in a conflict of interest
• •a board of at least 2 directors, at least one resident in Singapore
• •minimum paid-up capital $150,000 for basic advising or arranging life policies, for advising on futures / spot-FX / OTC-derivatives contracts, or for a combination of the two categories (FAR Reg 15; net head office funds for a foreign company)