Page 45 - 期货和衍生品行业监管动态（2025年4月）

期货和衍生品行业监管动态

developments leading to a temporary suspension of immediate fund withdrawals
in March 2025 by a financial services platform (a) whether MAS is reviewing the

safeguards in place to ensure that non-licensed individuals do not provide

financial advice and influence the public with opinions on licensed financial

institutions; and (b) whether there has been an increase in complaints against

non-licensed individuals and financial influencers given this recent incident.

Answer by Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and

Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Board member of MAS, on behalf of

Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and

Chairman of MAS:

MAS has received eight complaints against finfluencers in 2025, with the

majority attributable to comments made recently by two finfluencers who shared their

reasons for liquidating their investments from an investment platform. The number of

complaints in 2025 is an increase from the average of five complaints per year in the

last five years and MAS is monitoring this closely.

By and large, finfluencers help create awareness of products and services offered

by financial institutions and some play a role in promoting financial literacy.
However, they must do so responsibly and must not veer into providing financial

advice, which is a regulated activity. MAS considers an individual as providing

financial advice if he is remunerated for making a recommendation or expressing an

opinion on the buying, selling, or holding of investment products. Even if he is not

remunerated, MAS considers a finfluencer to have provided financial advice if he

makes such recommendations or expressions regularly. A finfluencer providing advice

must be regulated under the Financial Advisers Act and must first be appointed as a

representative by a licensed financial advisory firm.

Even if finfluencers are not providing financial advice, they must not make false

or misleading statements on any capital markets products, or they may be liable for an

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