Financial Adviser Websites in Singapore: MAS Rules to Know

Which MAS rules apply to a financial adviser website

MAS issued the Guidelines on Standards of Conduct for Digital Advertising Activities on 25 September 2025, effective 25 March 2026. They apply to all financial institutions regulated by MAS and to their 'digital marketers': staff, appointed representatives, agencies, affiliates and influencers.

The guidelines define digital media to include 'electronic mail and websites, including blogs and forums', as well as social media and video platforms. So a firm site, a representative's personal page, a newsletter and a landing page for an ad campaign are all in scope.

They sit alongside, not instead of, the advertising requirements in the Financial Advisers Regulations, the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations and MAS's fair dealing guidelines. The guidelines also make clear that the board and senior management remain accountable for all digital advertising, even when an agency or a foreign head office produces it.

Licence and representative disclosures

Visitors should be able to see who they are dealing with and whether that person or firm is licensed. MAS's Financial Institutions Directory and Register of Representatives are the public sources clients use to check.

Representatives' personal sites and pages are the usual weak point. If your firm allows them, they should be approved, registered and built on templates that carry the required disclosures.

Fair, balanced product content on every page

The key website rule in the guidelines (paragraph 5.4) is that each advertisement must not be misleading when viewed on its own. MAS gives a direct example: it is not acceptable to highlight benefits in an advertisement while mentioning risks on a separate webpage.

• Product pages and blog posts: put the main risks and conditions on the same page as the benefits, near them, not only in a footer link.
• Illustrated returns: MAS's examples say historical returns must be accompanied by a clear statement that they are not indicative of future performance, and holding-period conditions must be stated.
• Banners and carousels: disclosures must be on every frame, or on the first frame.
• Video: on-screen text disclosures must stay visible long enough to be read.

Client reviews, endorsements and social proof

Paragraph 5.6 of the guidelines says financial institutions are responsible for all content that they and their digital marketers re-post or share, including customer reviews and third-party endorsements. Re-posting counts as disseminating an advertisement.

In website terms, that covers embedded Google reviews, client quote sliders, 'as featured in' quotes and representatives sharing clients' comments. Before publishing any of them, run them through the same approval process as other advertising and check them against the Financial Advisers Regulations and your firm's own policy. Many firms choose not to publish performance-related client comments at all.

Under the PDPA you also need the client's consent to publish their name, photo or story. Our guide to automating Google review requests covers collecting reviews; for advisers, run that through compliance first.

Lead forms, consent and Do Not Call

Lead generation is where MAS has seen problems, including deceptive tactics such as 'catfishing' to solicit leads on social media. A clean website lead process is part of the answer.

1. 1

   Collect only what you need

   Name, contact number or email and topic of interest. Do not ask for NRIC, income or policy details on a public form.

2. 2

   State the purpose and who will contact them

   Say the firm and, where relevant, which representative will follow up, and how.

3. 3

   Get clear consent for marketing contact

   A separate, unticked checkbox for calls, SMS or WhatsApp marketing, recorded with the submission.

4. 4

   Check numbers against the DNC Registry

   Without clear and unambiguous consent, check numbers before marketing calls or messages; see our DNC Registry guide.

5. 5

   Route leads to firm systems

   Send form submissions to a firm-controlled CRM or mailbox, not a representative's personal Gmail, so they can be supervised and retained.

Our PDPA checklist for small businesses covers the consent and notification wording.

Monitoring, records and unauthorised sites

The guidelines expect firms to keep track of their digital advertising, monitor it and act fast on unauthorised content.

• Register: keep a list of every website, landing page and social account used to advertise, who owns it, and when campaigns run.
• Approval records: keep the approved version of each page or post and the approval date. Website version history or archived PDFs help.
• Monitoring: the guidelines mention tools such as web crawls, social listening and mystery shopping.
• Impersonation: if a fake site or account copies your firm or representatives, request takedown, alert clients through official channels, keep evidence and make a police report where needed.

Protect the accounts behind the website too. Domain, hosting, CMS and social logins should be under the firm's control with MFA. Our guides to lookalike domain takedowns and SPF, DKIM and DMARC help stop scammers posing as your firm.

Do it yourself or get help?

The compliance judgements, such as what disclosures a product page needs and which client reviews are acceptable, belong to your compliance team or adviser. The website side is practical: templates that carry disclosures, approval and version records, lead forms with proper consent, and firm control of every account.

Our Website Pro (S$2,990) builds sites with disclosure-ready templates, consent-recording lead forms and accounts in the firm's name. The PDPA Compliance Pack (S$690) adds privacy notices and consent wording. This guide is general information, not legal or compliance advice.