The Securities Commission Malaysia Revises Guidelines for Financial Adverts

The Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) this month published an amended version of its Guidelines on Advertising for Capital Market Products and Related Servicess (the Guidelines), which are scheduled to come into effect on 1 November this year.

According to the SC, the revised version of the Guidelines updates certain requirements on advertising and promotional trends in Malaysia along with other regions, particularly the growing prominence of social media platforms and finfluencers. The move aims to safeguard the reliability of advertising activities related to capital market products and services.

The Commission said the Guidelines has taken into account the regulations in other jurisdictions such as Australia, the UK and Singapore, as well as the feedback of relevant stakeholders.

According to the revised Guidelines, finfluencers who are not employed by advertisers as marketing agents but conduct their advertising activities for capital markets products and services will be considered as advertisers and will be required to subject to the Guidelines. In addition, the SC prohibits individuals who the Commission does not authorise from conducting financial promotional activities in Malaysia.

At the same time, advertisers have the responsibility to ensure that their advertising agents comply with the Guidelines and are held accountable for their conduct.

The Guidelines also improved the requirements on the use of social media as more and more financial promotional activities are conducted on social media platforms.

‘The Guidelines is part of the SC's ongoing efforts to promote responsible advertising on new channels of advertising such as social media, ultimately protecting investors.’

To give advertisers sufficient time to familiarise themselves with the new regulations and make the necessary preparations, the newly revised Guidelines will come into effect on 1 November this year.