RES 1B tests how a company gets onto SGX-ST and what it must do once there: the Mainboard and Catalist admission criteria, the IPO timeline, sponsors, moratoria, continuing obligations and SGX-ST enforcement. It then adds the securities-only conduct rules a dealer applies daily: hawking under SFA s.309, short-sell marking and reporting, buying-in and specified products lending. Most exam traps are Mainboard-versus-Catalist number swaps.
8 min read·8 sections
✓Checked against the IBF RES 1B Study Guide v1.1 (Nov 2024) 1.2.2, 1.4, 3.10, 3.11, 2026-09-22; SGX Mainboard Rule 210 as amended 29 Oct 2025, SGX SPAC framework release (2 Sep 2021) and SFR(LCB) regs 33 and 45 on SSO, 2026-10-06. Unofficial prep, not endorsed by MAS or SCI.
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Must-know for the exam
✓Mainboard quantitative tests (Rule 210(2), one of): pre-tax profit ≥ S$10m in the latest year + 3-year track record (S$30m until SGX lowered it on 29 Oct 2025; the RES 1B guide v1.1 still shows S$30m); profitable + market cap ≥ S$150m + 3-year track record; operating revenue + market cap ≥ S$300m.
✓Catalist: no quantitative criteria; a full sponsor authorised by SGX-ST assesses suitability, and a continuing sponsor must be retained for as long as the company is listed.
✓Shareholder spread: Mainboard 25% held by ≥ 500 shareholders (market cap < S$300m; 12–20% above that); Catalist 15% of post-invitation capital in public hands and ≥ 200 shareholders.
✓Independent directors: at least 2 on both boards; foreign issuers need 2 Singapore-resident IDs on the Mainboard, 1 on Catalist.
✓Promoter moratorium: Mainboard profit test 6 months; market-cap test 6 months then 50% for 6 more. Catalist 6 months then up to 50% for 6 more; MOG promoters 12 months then up to 50% for 6 more.
✓Pre-IPO investors (shares bought within 12 months before IPO): profit portion locked 6 months on the Mainboard (holders ≥ 5%), 12 months on Catalist.
✓Documents: Mainboard prospectus lodged on MAS OPERA (minimum 7 days' exposure); Catalist offer document lodged with SGX-ST as MAS's agent on Catalodge (at least 14 days for public comment).
✓Timeline: Mainboard Section (A) review 4–6 weeks, Section (B) + MAS pre-lodgement about 4 weeks, research blackout 2 weeks, OPERA ≥ 7 days, launch 1–2 weeks. Catalist pre-admission review 2–4 weeks, exposure 2 weeks, launch 1–2 weeks.
✓Mainboard public subscription tranche: at least 5% of the securities offered or S$50m in value, whichever is lower (Rule 233A(1)); Catalist has none.
✓Shareholder approval for acquisitions and disposals: Mainboard 20% of the benchmarks; Catalist 75% (acquisition) or 50% (disposal).
✓General meeting notice: 14 days for ordinary resolutions, 21 days for special resolutions; all resolutions voted by poll; meetings held in Singapore.
✓SFA s.309 hawking: no offers of securities, SBDCs or CIS units at an unsolicited meeting, unless the offer needs no prospectus (e.g. s.304 institutional, s.305 accredited investors).
▸On this page · 8 sections
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Traps that cost marks
→Custody, product financing and specified products lending are three separate licence heads.
→OPERA exposure is a minimum of 7 days for Mainboard; 14 days is the Catalist offer document period.
→Catalodge and SGX-ST as agent, not OPERA and MAS directly.
→Secondary listing is Mainboard-only and rides on the home exchange's regime.
→Three tests, any one of them; spread is on top. The profit test is S$10m since 29 Oct 2025 (S$30m before).
→25%/500 is Mainboard; 15%/200 is Catalist.
→Profit test: 6 months. Market-cap test: 6 months plus 50% for 6 more.
→Sponsor-supervised, but SGX-ST still authorises and disciplines the sponsors.
Why this matters in the exam
•The listing questions are almost all comparisons: Mainboard against Catalist, promoter against pre-IPO investor, prospectus against offer document. If you learn the two admission tables side by side, most of the items become recall.
•The securities-only conduct rules (hawking, short selling, buying-in, lending) are the RES 1B material that RES 2B candidates do not see. Expect scenario stems.
Getting listed: process and timeline
•RES 1B 1.4.1–1.4.2: the company appoints an issue manager, usually a bank or financial institution with a CMS licence to advise on corporate finance. On the Mainboard the issue manager acts as sponsor, lodges the application and deals with SGX-ST. It may first file a pre-consultation on issues affecting eligibility.
•The Mainboard submission comes in two stages, in order. Section (A) covers the company and key issues, and SGX-ST reviews it in 4–6 weeks if nothing is material. Section (B) goes in with the full listing application and prospectus. Its review, alongside MAS's pre-lodgement review of the draft prospectus, takes about 4 weeks. A 2-week research blackout, if any, follows. The prospectus then goes on MAS OPERA for at least 7 calendar days, registration and launch take 1–2 weeks, and trading begins.
•Catalist runs through a full sponsor. The sponsor submits the pre-admission notification with the full application and offer document. SGX-ST's review takes 2–4 weeks, public exposure on the SGX-ST website 2 weeks, and registration and launch 1–2 weeks.
•Trap: MAS reviews the draft prospectus for the Mainboard; for Catalist, SGX-ST receives the offer document as MAS's agent.
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