New exemption in Financial Advisers Regulations for entities from ASEAN participating countries providing financial advisory service under approved arrangements
30 January 2019
The Financial Advisers Regulations have been amended from 1 January 2019 to introduce a new regulation 32CB (“Regulation 32CB”) to exempt an entity from an ASEAN participating country (“foreign company”) from holding a financial adviser’s licence for providing financial advisory services in respect of any capital markets products that are listed for quotation or quoted on an organised market in any ASEAN member country. To qualify for this exemption, the financial advisory service has to be provided under an arrangement between the foreign company and a Singapore entity, and such arrangement must be approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”).
This development follows from a Memorandum of Understanding entered into by the Securities and Exchange Commission Thailand, the Securities Commission Malaysia, the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission and MAS on 11 October 2018 which is aimed at enhancing collaboration and cooperation among ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (“ACMF”) members. Regulation 32CB provides the statutory basis for the ACMF Pass, which is an initiative under the ACMF Professional Mobility Framework allowing for fast-track approval from a host regulator to allow a professional from a home jurisdiction to perform activities under the Framework in a host jurisdiction. The current ASEAN participating countries are Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.
On 7 January 2019, MAS issued the “Guidelines on Applications for Approval of Arrangements under Regulation 32CB of the Financial Advisers Regulations (Rg 2)” (“Guidelines”). The Guidelines set out MAS’ assessment criteria and application procedures for approval of arrangements under Regulation 32CB and MAS’ supervisory expectation in relation to approved arrangements. Further information on the ACMF Pass framework can also be found in the “Handbook on ACMF Pass under ASEAN Capital Market Professional Mobility Framework”.
Reference materials
The Financial Advisers Regulations can be accessed from the Singapore Statutes Online website sso.agc.gov.sg.
The following materials are available on the MAS website www.mas.gov.sg:
- Guidelines on Applications for Approval of Arrangements Under Regulation 32CB of the Financial Advisers Regulations (Rg 2) [FAA-G16]
- Handbook on ACMF Pass under ASEAN Capital Market Professional Mobility Framework