70 per cent of financial advisers pass MAS requirement

SINGAPORE - About 70 per cent of financial advisory representatives have passed Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services Module 9A, a survey by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) found.

Module 9A is an updated module on life insurance and investment-linked policies administered by the Singapore College of Insurance (SCI).

As of January 2012, MAS requires all representatives providing advice on or arranging investment- linked policies to pass the module, with the aim of raising financial advisory standards for the benefit of clients across the board.

Representatives have until June 30 to pass Module 9A, failing which they must confine their financial advisory activities to non-complex life insurance products, such as term policies, whole life plans and endowment plans.

Conducted in February, the survey covered 24 financial institutions, comprising large life insurance companies, banks, capital markets services licence holders, and licensed financial advisers.

Of the 17,540 representatives surveyed, 12,251 had passed Module 9A; 1,537, or 9 per cent, had attempted the module but failed; and 3,752, or 21 per cent, had not yet attempted the module.

MAS assistant managing director Lee Chuan Teck said the overall pass rate was heartening. However, a breakdown of the results by industry revealed that only 66 per cent of insurers and 60 per cent of licensed financial advisers (LFAs) and capital markets services licence holders had passed.

The Association of Financial Advisers in Singapore expressed concern about the poor performance of LFAs.

"With only two months remaining, there could be a proportion of this group leaving the industry and the FA profession, thereby depriving consumers of good, experienced but less well-educated financial advisers," it said.

To help more representatives pass Module 9A, MAS is working with the industry to ensure adequate preparation is available.

Training programmes are available both from the SCI and in-house at some companies.

Acting on feedback from representatives, SCI is also making Module 9A more accessible to those who are Chinese-educated.

It has made its study guide in Chinese, and allowed the use of English-Chinese dictionaries in the examination. Recently, SCI began offering the Module 9A examination in Chinese.

Mr Lee said MAS will not postpone the June deadline for passing the module "as it may compromise the quality of advice given to customers on complex products".

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