Statute Details
- Title: Financial Services and Markets (Prescribed Financial Institutions under Section 49) Regulations 2024
- Act Code: FSMA2022-S401-2024
- Type: Subsidiary legislation (SL)
- Enacting Authority: Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
- Enabling Provisions: Powers under section 192, read with section 219(zb), of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022
- Commencement: 10 May 2024
- Legislation Number: S 401/2024 (SL 401/2024)
- Status: Current version as at 27 Mar 2026
- Key Provisions:
- Section 2: Definitions
- Section 3: Prescribes “Type A” financial institutions for section 49(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022
- Section 4: Prescribes “Type B” financial institutions for section 49(5) of the Act
- Section 5: Prescribes “Type C” financial institutions for section 49(5) of the Act
- Section 6: Revokes the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Prescribed Financial Institutions under Section 40A) Regulations 2020
- Related Legislation (as referenced): Banking Act 1970; Finance Companies Act 1967; Financial Advisers Act 2001; Financial Holding Companies Act 2013; Futures Act 2001; Securities and Futures Act 2001; Insurance Act 1966; Trust Companies Act 2005; Payment Services Act 2019; Financial Services and Markets Act 2022
What Is This Legislation About?
The Financial Services and Markets (Prescribed Financial Institutions under Section 49) Regulations 2024 (“FSMA Prescribed Institutions Regulations 2024”) is a Singapore subsidiary law that “prescribes” which financial institutions fall within the categories used in section 49 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 (“FSMA 2022”). In practical terms, it is a classification instrument: it tells lawyers and regulated entities which types of institutions are treated as “Type A”, “Type B”, or “Type C” for the purposes of the FSMA 2022 framework.
Although the extract provided does not reproduce section 49 itself, the structure of the Regulations makes the legislative intent clear. MAS has created a taxonomy of financial institutions across banking, insurance, capital markets, payments, and related market infrastructure (such as exchanges, clearing houses, trade repositories, and benchmark administrators). The Regulations then allocate each institution into one of three types. That allocation matters because section 49(5) of the FSMA 2022 refers to “prescribed” institutions and uses the type labels to trigger different legal consequences under the Act.
The Regulations also serve a transitional and consolidation function. They revoke an earlier MAS instrument—namely the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Prescribed Financial Institutions under Section 40A) Regulations 2020—indicating that the FSMA 2022 has reorganised or renumbered the relevant statutory scheme, and MAS has aligned the prescribed categories accordingly.
What Are the Key Provisions?
1. Citation, commencement, and definitions (Sections 1 and 2)
Section 1 provides the short title and commencement date: the Regulations come into operation on 10 May 2024. This is important for compliance timing—entities should ensure that any FSMA 2022 obligations that depend on the “Type A/B/C” classification are assessed from the commencement date.
Section 2 sets out definitions by reference to other statutes. For example, it defines “designated financial holding company” by reference to the Financial Holding Companies Act 2013, “licensed insurer” by reference to the Insurance Act 1966, and “merchant bank” by reference to the Banking Act 1970. This drafting technique is common in Singapore financial regulation: it avoids duplicating definitions and ensures consistency across the regulatory perimeter.
2. Type A financial institutions (Section 3)
Section 3 prescribes a broad list of institutions as Type A financial institutions for the purposes of section 49(5) of the FSMA 2022. The list includes, among others:
- Banks (without limiting to incorporation location in Type A—unlike Type B and Type C)
- Finance companies licensed under section 6 of the Finance Companies Act 1967
- Merchant banks
- Designated financial holding companies
- Capital markets and market infrastructure entities under the Securities and Futures Act 2001: approved exchanges, recognised market operators, licensed trade repositories, licensed foreign trade repositories, approved clearing houses, recognised clearing houses, and approved holding companies
- Benchmark-related entities: authorised/exempt benchmark administrators and authorised/designated/exempt benchmark submitters
- Depository (as defined in section 81SF of the Securities and Futures Act 2001)
- Capital markets services licence holders and persons exempt from holding such licences but carrying on regulated activities in the Second Schedule to the Securities and Futures Act 2001
- Collective investment scheme trustees approved under section 289
- Trust companies licensed under the Trust Companies Act 2005
- Financial advisers: licensed advisers and exempt financial advisers
- Insurance sector participants: authorised reinsurers, Lloyd’s members permitted under the Lloyd’s Asia Scheme Regulations, insurance agents and insurance brokers (registered/regulated under the Insurance Act 1966), and licensed insurers
- Marine/aviation/transit insurer category: approved MAT insurers
- Payments: operators or settlement institutions of designated payment systems under the Payment Services Act 2019, and payment service providers licensed under section 6(7)(a) of that Act
From a practitioner’s perspective, the key point is that Type A is the “default” category for many Singapore-based regulated entities and certain function-based roles (e.g., benchmark submitters, trade repositories, and payment system operators). The Regulations do not require additional factual inquiry beyond confirming the entity’s legal status under the referenced sectoral statute (licensed/approved/recognised/exempt, etc.).
3. Type B financial institutions (Section 4)
Section 4 prescribes Type B financial institutions. Compared with Type A, Type B is narrower and includes explicit incorporation-location distinctions for some categories. The listed institutions include:
- Banks incorporated in Singapore
- Licensed insurers incorporated in Singapore
- Designated financial holding companies
- Designated payment system operators/settlement institutions
- Approved exchanges
- Licensed trade repositories
- Approved clearing houses
- The Depository
- Approved holding companies
The incorporation qualifiers (“incorporated in Singapore”) for banks and licensed insurers suggest that Type B may be tied to a different regulatory treatment than Type A. For counsel, this means that the same broad sector (banking/insurance) can fall into different types depending on corporate structure and incorporation location.
4. Type C financial institutions (Section 5)
Section 5 prescribes Type C financial institutions. It includes:
- Banks incorporated outside Singapore
- Licensed insurers incorporated outside Singapore
- Merchant banks
- Finance companies licensed under section 6 of the Finance Companies Act 1967
- Capital markets services licence holders
- Collective investment scheme trustees approved under section 289
- Recognised market operators
- Licensed foreign trade repositories
- Recognised clearing houses
- Benchmark administrators and submitters (with an important carve-out: the benchmark submitter category is limited to those that are not Type B financial institutions)
- Financial advisers licensed under section 10 of the Financial Advisers Act 2001
- Insurance brokers registered under section 76 of the Insurance Act 1966
- Licensed trust companies
- Payment service providers licensed under section 6(7)(a) of the Payment Services Act 2019
The explicit “outside Singapore” incorporation qualifiers for banks and insurers are the clearest differentiator between Type B and Type C. Additionally, the benchmark submitter carve-out (“but that is not a Type B financial institution”) indicates that MAS anticipated overlap and resolved it by excluding Type B entities from the Type C benchmark submitter category. This is a drafting signal that classification is not purely additive; it may require careful mapping when an entity could plausibly fit more than one label.
5. Revocation (Section 6)
Section 6 revokes the earlier MAS regulations: the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Prescribed Financial Institutions under Section 40A) Regulations 2020 (G.N. No. S 637/2020). This confirms that the 2024 Regulations replace the 2020 scheme and align prescribed categories with the FSMA 2022 section numbering and structure. For compliance and legal research, revocation is critical: practitioners should avoid relying on the 2020 Regulations for current classification.
How Is This Legislation Structured?
The Regulations are short and structured as a classification schedule. After the formal enacting provisions (citation and commencement) and a definitions section, the core content is divided into three substantive provisions:
- Section 3: Type A financial institutions (a comprehensive list)
- Section 4: Type B financial institutions (a narrower list with specific incorporation qualifiers)
- Section 5: Type C financial institutions (a list with “outside Singapore” qualifiers and a benchmark submitter exclusion)
Finally, Section 6 provides the revocation of the earlier 2020 Regulations. There are no schedules in the extract; the “schedule” is effectively embedded in the enumerated lists within Sections 3 to 5.
Who Does This Legislation Apply To?
On its face, the Regulations apply to financial institutions that fall within the enumerated categories. However, the practical “who” is broader: the classification is relevant to any person or entity whose legal obligations under section 49 of the FSMA 2022 depend on whether it is a Type A, Type B, or Type C financial institution.
In practice, counsel should treat the Regulations as a mapping tool for regulated entities across multiple regimes: banking, insurance, capital markets infrastructure, benchmark administration/submission, trust services, and payments. The lists are drafted by reference to licensing/approval status under sectoral statutes, so the applicability question is typically answered by checking the entity’s regulatory status (e.g., “licensed insurer”, “approved exchange”, “recognised clearing house”, “payment service provider licensed under section 6(7)(a)”).
Why Is This Legislation Important?
This Regulations instrument is important because it operationalises a statutory scheme in the FSMA 2022 by defining which institutions are “prescribed” and how they are grouped into Type A, Type B, and Type C. Even though the Regulations themselves do not describe substantive duties (those are in the FSMA 2022), the classification can determine the legal consequences that flow from section 49—such as whether an institution is subject to particular regulatory requirements, reporting, governance expectations, or other FSMA 2022 mechanisms that vary by type.
For practitioners, the most significant practical impacts are:
- Regulatory classification accuracy: Misclassification could lead to non-compliance with the wrong set of FSMA 2022 obligations.
- Cross-border structuring considerations: The incorporation-location distinctions for banks and insurers (Singapore vs outside Singapore) mean that corporate structure affects regulatory categorisation.
- Overlap management: The benchmark submitter exclusion in Type C (“but that is not a Type B financial institution”) illustrates that entities may fall into multiple categories and that MAS has resolved conflicts through explicit drafting.
- Transition from 2020 framework: Revocation of the 2020 Regulations signals that prior mappings must be updated to reflect the FSMA 2022 numbering and the 2024 prescribed categories.
Finally, because the Regulations are concise and heavily referential, they are well-suited for compliance checklists and internal legal registers. A lawyer advising a financial institution can use the enumerated lists as a first-pass classification tool, then confirm the entity’s licensing/approval status under the referenced sectoral Acts.
Related Legislation
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 (including section 49 and section 192/219(zb))
- Banking Act 1970
- Finance Companies Act 1967
- Financial Advisers Act 2001
- Financial Holding Companies Act 2013
- Securities and Futures Act 2001
- Insurance Act 1966
- Trust Companies Act 2005
- Payment Services Act 2019
- Insurance (Lloyd’s Asia Scheme) Regulations (Rg 9)
- Insurance (Approved Marine, Aviation and Transit Insurers) Regulations (Rg 15)
- Monetary Authority of Singapore (Prescribed Financial Institutions under Section 40A) Regulations 2020 (revoked)
Source Documents
This article provides an overview of the Financial Services and Markets (Prescribed Financial Institutions under Section 49) Regulations 2024 for legal research and educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult the official text for authoritative provisions.