What is CMFAS? The Singapore licensing exams explained

CMFAS stands for Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services. It's the set of licensing exams MAS requires before you can advise on or sell investment products and life insurance in Singapore as a representative. There's no single CMFAS exam. You pass the modules that match the work you'll do, and for most insurance and financial adviser recruits that means RES 5 plus product papers such as M9 and M9A, all run by the Singapore College of Insurance (SCI).

What CMFAS is, and who sets the rules

MAS sets the requirement. SCI and the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) run the papers.

Two MAS notices hold the rules, and both took effect on 1 April 2024:

• Notice FAA-N26 covers representatives of financial advisers: insurance agents, financial adviser representatives and bank staff who advise on investment products. It sets the entry requirements, the CMFAS papers you need and your yearly training hours once you're appointed.
• Notice SFA 04-N22 covers representatives in capital markets: securities and derivatives dealers, fund managers, corporate finance and REIT management.

Passing is only one step. As IBF puts it, after you pass the relevant modules a notification has to be lodged with MAS before you can carry out regulated activities. Your firm does that, and your name then appears on MAS's public register of representatives.

What changed on 1 April 2024

FAA-N26 replaced the older notice on 1 April 2024, and the papers changed with it.

• Module 5 became RES 5, Rules, Ethics and Skills for Financial Advisory Services. It's a bigger paper, with 150 questions and two pass marks.
• The combined papers arrived: CM-CIS, CM-LIP and CM-LIC.
• On the IBF side, Modules 6 and 6A became CM-EIP and CM-SIP.

Old passes carry over. A Module 5 pass counts as a RES 5 pass, and passes in the old Modules 8, 8A, 9 and 9A count as M8, M8A, M9 and M9A, subject to the validity rules further down.

Old notes don't carry over as well. RES 5 has two pass marks, 75% on Part I and 80% on Part II, and you need both in one sitting, so M5 notes won't prepare you for it. Our note on how RES 5 replaced M5 covers what moved.

Who runs which papers

The financial advisory papers sit with SCI. The capital markets papers sit with IBF. You register with whichever body runs your paper.

If you're joining an insurer or a financial advisory firm, everything you need sits in the SCI rows. The IBF rows are for bank dealers, fund managers and corporate finance staff.

SCI also runs Health Insurance (HI) and three general insurance papers: BCP, PGI and ComGI. None of them is a CMFAS module. Plenty of insurance recruits still sit one or more alongside RES 5, because the products they'll sell need it.

RES papers and product papers

CMFAS modules come in two kinds.

RES stands for Rules, Ethics and Skills. These papers test the law, MAS notices and guidelines, and how you're expected to behave with clients. FAA-N26 lists RES 5 against every type of financial advisory service, so nearly every financial adviser representative sits it. On the IBF side, RES papers such as RES 2A and RES 4 need 75% to pass.

Product knowledge papers test how the products work. M9 covers life insurance and investment-linked policies (ILPs). M9A covers structured products, derivatives and structured ILPs. M8 covers collective investment schemes such as unit trusts, and M8A the structured products and derivatives behind some of them.

The combined papers let you sit two or four product modules in one go:

• CM-LIP is M9 and M9A together.
• CM-CIS is M8 and M8A together.
• CM-LIC is all four.

You need at least 70% in each part of a combined paper. SCI's own fee table shows a combined sitting costs more than the two single papers booked separately.

Which CMFAS papers you'll sit

That depends on what you'll advise on, and your firm's compliance team confirms the exact list. Under FAA-N26, the usual picture for the people this site serves looks like this:

• Life insurance: RES 5 and M9. Add M9A if you'll advise on or arrange ILPs, or sit CM-LIP to cover M9 and M9A in one paper.
• Unit trusts: RES 5 with M8 and M8A, or CM-CIS.
• Both: RES 5 with all four product modules, or CM-LIC.
• Health insurance: HI, required under MAS Notice 117 for anyone who advises on or arranges health cover.
• General insurance: BCP first, then PGI for personal lines or ComGI for commercial.

Our papers by role page sets this out as a table, with the order to sit them. If you're stuck on the life pair, read M9 or M9A first.

Entry requirements before the papers

FAA-N26 sets a floor before any of this. To be appointed as a representative, you must be at least 21 and hold one of these:

• a GCE A Level certificate with passes in at least three H2 subjects and two H1 subjects
• an International Baccalaureate Diploma
• a diploma from a Singapore polytechnic
• an equivalent qualification

On top of that, your firm assesses whether you're fit and proper. Passing the papers doesn't replace either check.

The nine papers we cover, at a glance

These are the papers insurance and financial adviser recruits sit with SCI. Every one is multiple choice on a computer screen, and a wrong answer costs nothing extra.

RES 5 is the odd one out. Part I has 110 questions and Part II has 40, and you have to clear both pass marks in the same sitting.

How booking and results work

You register and pay on SCI's website by Visa or MasterCard. SCI runs the CMFAS papers every weekday at its centre in Suntec Tower Two, and your study text comes as an eBook, with the link sent by email once you've paid.

SCI's fees include GST. They run from S$109.00 for M8, M8A, M9 or M9A at the member weekday rate up to S$236.53 for RES 5 at the non-member after-5pm rate. A retake costs the same as a first attempt, and there's no limit on how many times you can sit.

Your result shows on screen when you finish. You get a result slip, not a certificate, and SCI doesn't recheck results or hear appeals.

A pass doesn't last forever

Under FAA-N26, a RES 5 pass stops being valid if you don't start work as an appointed representative within three years of passing. It also lapses if you stop for more than three years and don't come back. Then you sit RES 5 again. So book your papers close to the date your firm plans to appoint you.

How to prepare for CMFAS papers

Each paper has its own study text, and the text's chapters are what SCI tests. Read a chapter, answer questions on it straight away, and go back over every one you got wrong. Then sit full timed mocks in the real question count and time limit until you're scoring clear of the pass mark.

Most recruits start with RES 5. Our RES 5 study plan breaks its 27 chapters into weeks, and the RES 5 paper page shows what our practice covers, with a sample question from the bank. Ready? Start RES 5 as a single paper for full mock exams, chapter practice and an explanation on every answer.

Sources

• MAS, Notice FAA-N26 on competency requirements for representatives of financial advisers, read 11 October 2026
• MAS, Notice SFA 04-N22 on competency requirements for capital markets representatives, read 11 October 2026
• IBF, CMFAS examinations: modules and registration, read 11 October 2026
• SCI, RES5 exam details, fees and registration policies, read 11 October 2026
• SCI, CM-LIP exam details, read 11 October 2026
• SCI, Health Insurance (HI) exam details, read 11 October 2026