[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1049},["ShallowReactive",2],{"guide-investment-scheme-ad-rules-malaysia":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"answer":6,"authorId":7,"body":8,"category":953,"ctaVariant":954,"dataset":953,"description":955,"examples":956,"extension":957,"faqs":958,"heroImage":983,"intro":984,"meta":985,"navigation":987,"path":988,"publishedAt":989,"seo":990,"sources":991,"stats":1015,"stem":1047,"updatedAt":989,"__hash__":1048},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Finvestment-scheme-ad-rules-malaysia.md","Investment Ad Rules in Malaysia (2027)","In Malaysia an investment advertisement can be an offence in its own right. Section 241(1) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 bars publishing a notice that issues, offers for subscription or purchase, or makes invitations to subscribe for or purchase securities, section 241(11) defines notice to include anything published on any medium or in any manner capable of suggesting words and ideas, and section 241(12) sets a maximum of RM3 million or ten years or both. Separately, the Securities Commission Malaysia Guidelines on Advertising for Capital Market Products and Related Services, SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025), in force since 1 November 2025, apply to a voluntary advertiser at paragraph 4.01(d), meaning a person nobody engaged who posts on his own accord, and prohibit at paragraph 8.08 any statement that the risk of losing the principal sum or of missing the stated returns is low or nil. Breaching the guidelines is administrative rather than criminal, through section 377(3), section 377(4) and section 354, where the penalty ceiling is one million ringgit.","xanny-lee",{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":935},"minimark",[11,16,20,23,34,37,40,45,48,51,56,59,62,66,69,74,77,82,85,88,159,163,166,169,174,177,180,185,188,191,194,197,201,204,207,212,215,220,223,226,229,233,236,239,242,247,250,253,256,259,262,265,351,355,358,361,369,372,380,383,386,391,394,397,401,404,409,412,415,420,425,430,433,436,441,444,453,457,460,465,470,473,476,481,484,487,495,499,502,507,510,515,518,521,529,616,620,623,626,629,632,635,640,643,646,649,653,656,785,788,791,794,797,801,804,812,820,828,832,835,842,848,854,860,866,872,878,881,885,888,932],[12,13,15],"h2",{"id":14},"in-malaysian-securities-law-the-publication-is-itself-the-offence","In Malaysian securities law the publication is itself the offence",[17,18,19],"p",{},"Most advertising rules work on the advertiser. They say who may advertise, or what an advertisement must disclose, and the sanction arrives once a regulator decides the business behind the ad was in the wrong. Section 241 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 does not work that way. It puts the offence on the act of publishing.",[17,21,22],{},"Here is the operative sentence, quoted from the SC consolidated text of Act 671, the edition whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment with effect from 1 January 2026:",[24,25,26],"blockquote",{},[27,28,30],"ol",{"start":29},241,[31,32,33],"li",{},"(1) A person shall not publish a notice that- (a) issues, offers for subscription or purchase, or makes invitations to subscribe for or purchase, securities; or (b) refers, whether directly or indirectly, to- (i) a prospectus in respect of securities of a corporation; ...",[17,35,36],{},"Read the subject of that sentence. Not an issuer. Not a licensed person. A person. And read the verb: publish. The section has been drafted so that the thing prohibited is the publication, which means the ad is not evidence of a breach somewhere upstream. The ad is the breach.",[17,38,39],{},"Then comes the definition that decides whether your creative is inside. Subsection (11) says:",[24,41,42],{},[17,43,44],{},"In this section, \"notice\" includes any notice published in a document, newspaper or periodical or on any medium or in any manner capable of suggesting words and ideas.",[17,46,47],{},"That formula is worth slowing down on. The word includes makes the list open rather than closed. On any medium covers everything the drafters in 2007 had not seen yet. And in any manner capable of suggesting words and ideas reaches past text entirely. A six-second vertical video with no voiceover and three words on screen is a manner capable of suggesting words and ideas. So is a carousel. So is a story sticker. Nothing in this definition gives you room to argue that a short-form social asset is too small or too informal to be a notice.",[17,49,50],{},"The penalty sits at subsection (12):",[24,52,53],{},[17,54,55],{},"A person who- (a) issues or publishes a notice in contravention of subsection (1), (4) or (5); (b) issues a preliminary prospectus in contravention of subsection (6); or (c) issues or publishes a report in contravention of subsection (7), commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding three million ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or to both.",[17,57,58],{},"Note the drafting: not exceeding. That is a ceiling with no floor, so RM3 million is a maximum a court may reach rather than a tariff anyone pays automatically. Quoting it as the fine overstates it. Quoting it as irrelevant because nobody has paid it understates it just as badly.",[17,60,61],{},"One point of provenance, because on a page full of penalty figures the edition matters. Every statutory quotation here comes from the SC consolidated text described above, and each one was cross-checked against the Attorney General's Chambers online version of updated text of reprint, whose cover reads as at 1 December 2017. The two editions agree on the substance of every provision quoted on this page. They do not agree character for character. In sections 354 to 356 alone there are at least four differences: a comma in the section 354(1)(b) chapeau that the Chambers text does not carry, a stray any in the opening words of section 356(1), a British spelling at section 356(1)(b)(i), and a capital letter in a fund name at section 354(10)(a). That is what a side-by-side read of those three sections turned up, not a claim that the search was exhaustive. All of it is immaterial to meaning, and all of it is a reason to name the edition you are quoting rather than claim both say the same words. One house note on the block quotes on this page. The statute sets several of its lists off with a long dash, and they are rendered here as plain hyphens, so read every quotation as accurate to the word rather than to the character.",[12,63,65],{"id":64},"the-carve-outs-are-five-and-the-one-marketers-need-turns-on-who-got-paid","The carve-outs are five, and the one marketers need turns on who got paid",[17,67,68],{},"Subsection (3) sets out all five:",[24,70,71],{},[17,72,73],{},"(3) Subsection (1) shall not apply to- (a) such notices referred to in subsection (4) or (5); (b) such preliminary prospectuses referred to in subsection (6); (c) such reports referred to in subsection (7); (d) such notices or reports as may be specified by the Commission; or (e) such publication of a registrable prospectus referred to in section 232.",[17,75,76],{},"Limb (c) is the one a communications team needs, because it is where earned coverage is separated from a paid post. Subsection (7)(c) exempts:",[24,78,79],{},[17,80,81],{},"a report which is a news report or is a genuine comment, published by a person in a newspaper or periodical or by broadcasting or televising, relating to- (i) a prospectus that has been registered or information that is contained in such a prospectus; or (ii) a report referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), if none of the following persons receives or is entitled to receive any consideration or other benefit from a person who has an interest in the success of the issue of securities to which the report or comment relates as an inducement to publish, or as the result of the publication of the report or comment: (A) the person making the report or comment; (B) an agent or employee of the person making the report or comment; ...",[17,83,84],{},"The exemption survives only while the money stays out. The test has two triggers, receives and is entitled to receive, so an unpaid invoice does not help, and it catches consideration or other benefit rather than cash alone. It also runs down the chain to an agent or employee of the person making the comment. And it is worded two ways, as an inducement to publish or as the result of the publication, which closes the obvious workaround of paying after the piece runs.",[17,86,87],{},"What that means in practice is uncomfortable for a lot of Malaysian finance marketing. A journalist writing up a registered prospectus is inside the carve-out. The same words, in the same publication, under a commercial arrangement, are not a news report or genuine comment published without consideration, and the carve-out closes. An advertorial is not a report. A creator paid to explain an offer is not making a genuine comment for these purposes. The line is not drawn at how editorial the writing sounds. It is drawn at whether anybody in the chain got paid to publish it.",[89,90,93],"data-table",{"caption":91,"title":92},"Maximum penalties on conviction, read in the SC consolidated text of Act 671 whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment with effect from 1 January 2026, and cross-checked in the Attorney General's Chambers online updated text of reprint as at 1 December 2017.","The four CMSA offences an investment ad can trigger",[94,95,96,112],"table",{},[97,98,99],"thead",{},[100,101,102,106,109],"tr",{},[103,104,105],"th",{},"Provision",[103,107,108],{},"Conduct reached",[103,110,111],{},"Maximum on conviction",[113,114,115,127,138,149],"tbody",{},[100,116,117,121,124],{},[118,119,120],"td",{},"s.241(1) with s.241(12)",[118,122,123],{},"Publishing a notice that issues, offers for subscription or purchase, or invites subscription for or purchase of securities, outside the five carve-outs in s.241(3)",[118,125,126],{},"RM3 million or 10 years, or both",[100,128,129,132,135],{},[118,130,131],{},"s.58(1) with s.58(4)",[118,133,134],{},"Carrying on a business in a regulated activity, or holding yourself out as carrying on such business, without a Capital Markets Services Licence or registered-person status",[118,136,137],{},"RM10 million or 10 years, or both",[100,139,140,143,146],{},[118,141,142],{},"s.59(1) with s.59(2)",[118,144,145],{},"Acting as a representative in a regulated activity, or holding yourself out as doing so, without a Capital Markets Services Representative's Licence",[118,147,148],{},"RM5 million or 5 years, or both",[100,150,151,154,157],{},[118,152,153],{},"s.232(1) with s.232(7)",[118,155,156],{},"Issuing, offering or inviting subscription for securities without a prospectus registered by the SC and compliant with the Act",[118,158,137],{},[12,160,162],{"id":161},"behind-the-ad-sit-two-ten-million-ringgit-offences-and-neither-can-be-read-flat","Behind the ad sit two ten-million-ringgit offences, and neither can be read flat",[17,164,165],{},"Section 241 reaches the publication. Two heavier provisions reach what the publication is doing.",[17,167,168],{},"The first is licensing. Section 58(1):",[24,170,171],{},[17,172,173],{},"No person shall whether as a principal or agent, carry on a business in any regulated activity or hold himself out as carrying on such business unless he is the holder of a Capital Markets Services Licence or is a registered person.",[17,175,176],{},"Hold himself out is doing real work there, because holding out is an advertising act. You do not have to have taken a single client's money to hold yourself out as carrying on a business. Section 58(4) sets the maximum at RM10 million or ten years or both. Section 59 runs the same structure one level down for a representative, at RM5 million or five years or both.",[17,178,179],{},"The second is the prospectus rule. Section 232(1):",[24,181,182],{},[17,183,184],{},"A person shall not issue, offer for subscription or purchase, make an invitation to subscribe for or purchase securities or in the case of an initial listing of securities, make an application for the quotation of the securities on a stock market of a stock exchange unless- (a) a prospectus in relation to the securities has been registered by the Commission under section 233; and (b) the prospectus complies with the requirements or provisions of this Act.",[17,186,187],{},"Section 232(7) carries RM10 million or ten years or both. Note that the two conditions in (a) and (b) are joined by and: a registered prospectus that does not comply with the Act does not satisfy the section.",[17,189,190],{},"Neither prohibition can be quoted flat. Each has a statutory gate sitting under it.",[17,192,193],{},"Section 58(2) provides that subsection (1) shall not apply to the persons or classes of persons specified in Schedule 3. Sections 229 and 230 do the equivalent job on the offering side. Section 229(1) makes an offer or invitation an excluded offer or excluded invitation if it is specified in Schedule 6, and section 230(1) makes an issue an excluded issue if it is so specified in Schedule 7. Both sections then go further, at 229(2) and 230(2), by allowing those Schedules to specify the provisions of the Act that shall not apply to the excluded offer, invitation or issue.",[17,195,196],{},"So the correct statement is not that every securities offer needs a registered prospectus. It is that an offer needs one unless it falls inside a Schedule that says otherwise, and those Schedules are moved by gazetted orders from time to time. Anyone building a campaign on a placement that sits inside an exclusion needs the current schedule text in front of them and not a summary, this one included. That is a question for the issuer's counsel before the media plan exists, not a question for the creative review.",[12,198,200],{"id":199},"investment-advice-is-one-of-eight-regulated-activities-and-a-disclaimer-does-not-lift-it","Investment advice is one of eight regulated activities, and a disclaimer does not lift it",[17,202,203],{},"The regulated activities are listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 and there are eight: dealing in securities, dealing in derivatives, fund management, advising on corporate finance, investment advice, financial planning, dealing in private retirement schemes, and clearing for securities or derivatives. Any one of them needs a licence under section 58(1).",[17,205,206],{},"Part 2 of the same Schedule defines the one that catches content people:",[24,208,209],{},[17,210,211],{},"\"Investment advice\" means carrying on a business of advising others concerning securities or derivatives or as part of a business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning securities or derivatives.",[17,213,214],{},"The SC has published a Guidance Note on Provision of Investment Advice, SC-GN\u002F1-2020 (R2-2024), that explains how it reads those words. Paragraph 2.2 is the passage to know:",[24,216,217],{},[17,218,219],{},"Any communication involving providing recommendations or opinions which are likely to induce a person to take any action or position (e.g. buy, sell or hold) regarding a particular class, sector, or instrument in relation to securities or derivatives, is likely to be considered as \"advising others concerning securities or derivatives\". The SC is more likely to consider that a person is 'carrying on a business' if the activity is undertaken in a structured manner with regularity, or where any of the following is in place: (a) Pay-for-advice arrangements; (b) Offering a fee-based subscription to a channel or group, including on social media, which offers investment advice; or (c) Expectation of benefits or gratification, direct or indirectly, from the provision of investment advice. The factors mentioned above are not intended to be exhaustive. Having a disclaimer that states that you are not providing an investment advice, in itself, does not relieve you from the requirement of holding a licence.",[17,221,222],{},"Three things there change how a Malaysian content calendar should be planned. Structured manner with regularity means a weekly series is a worse fact pattern than a one-off. A fee-based subscription to a channel or group, including on social media, is named expressly, so a paid Telegram or Discord tier that carries buy and sell calls is the exact case the SC had in mind. And paragraph 3.9 adds that entering into any arrangement where you may expect benefits or gratification, such as affiliate marketing, is taken into account in deciding whether the activity amounts to carrying on a business. An affiliate link under a stock pick is not a neutral monetisation choice in this regime, it is a factor.",[17,224,225],{},"Paragraph 3.4 sets out what the SC expects from anyone commenting on securities, whether on radio, television or any other manner of communication: disclose whether or not you are licensed by the SC for providing investment advice, and disclose any interest you may have in the securities or derivatives you discuss.",[17,227,228],{},"Paragraph 3.8 states the consequence plainly, in the SC's own words: undertaking a regulated activity without a licence carries a maximum fine of RM10 million or a maximum imprisonment term of 10 years or both, and depending on how you promote the product you may be considered to be providing investment advice or dealing in securities. Paragraph 3.5 sets out separate offences that apply to any person including an unlicensed person, covering transactions that raise, lower or maintain a price to induce others to deal, false or misleading statements likely to induce dealing, and recklessly making a misleading, false or deceptive statement, promise or forecast to induce dealing. The penalty the SC states for those is up to ten years with a minimum fine of RM1 million. That is the rare Malaysian advertising-adjacent figure with a floor rather than a ceiling.",[12,230,232],{"id":231},"since-1-november-2025-the-advertising-rules-reach-a-person-nobody-engaged","Since 1 November 2025 the advertising rules reach a person nobody engaged",[17,234,235],{},"Above the statute sits the instrument that governs what the advertisement itself may say: the Guidelines on Advertising for Capital Market Products and Related Services, SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025). Its cover records the history, issued 4 May 2020 and revised 27 March 2025, and its revision table gives the effective date as 1 November 2025.",[17,237,238],{},"Paragraph 1.01 places it: the guidelines are issued by the SC pursuant to section 377 of the CMSA. Paragraph 2.01 sets the scope, applying to all advertisers as defined in paragraph 4.01 who disseminate any information seeking to promote a capital market product or capital market-related service, through a printed, electronic, digital or any other mode or channel of communication, but excluding a disclosure document.",[17,240,241],{},"Then paragraph 4.01 defines advertiser in four limbs, and the fourth is new thinking:",[24,243,244],{},[17,245,246],{},"advertiser means the following persons who issue or authorise an advertisement, in respect of a capital market product or capital market-related service: (a) An issuer of a capital market product; (b) A capital market intermediary; (c) A person who operates or maintains a recognised market; or (d) A person who is not engaged by any of the persons referred to under paragraphs (a) to (c) and who on his own accord issues or authorises such advertisement (voluntary advertiser);",[17,248,249],{},"Limb (d) is the finfluencer, described without using the word. No engagement, no contract, no fee required. Posting on his own accord is enough.",[17,251,252],{},"The SC's FAQ on the guidelines removes any doubt about who was meant. Question 2 says the revised guidelines address the use of social media and the role of financial influencers as channels for advertising, and recognise the involvement of finfluencers including those who may not be engaged by any product issuer or service provider but would on their own accord still advertise the product or service to the public. Question 4(e) gives the illustration: X, a famous YouTuber and TikTok influencer, voluntarily advertises the investment products of Company B on his social media account without being engaged by Company B, and the revised guidelines apply to X.",[17,254,255],{},"Two administrative points from the same FAQ matter to anybody with creative already in market. Question 3 says the revised guidelines came into effect on 1 November 2025 for all advertisers who issue or authorise advertisements on or after that date. Question 5 says an advertisement that does not comply must cease on or after that date, rather than being allowed to run out its flight.",[17,257,258],{},"The definitional boundary is where most of the practical questions land. Question 10 of the FAQ says service providers such as an advertising agency that designs or prepares an advertisement at the request of the advertiser will not be subject to the guidelines, while the licensed advertiser retains the obligation to ensure the advertisement complies. Paragraph 7.01 states the same duty from the client side: an advertiser who relies on a third-party provider to advertise its product or service must remain responsible for the third-party provider's conduct in relation to the advertisement. Question 11 adds that where a celebrity is the third party, the advertiser is accountable for the celebrity's conduct and the celebrity must still make his own benefits disclosure.",[17,260,261],{},"Against that, question 24 says re-posting or sharing content that seeks to promote a capital market product or capital market-related service constitutes an advertisement and must comply. Put the two together and you get a line that is easy to state and easy to trip over. Taking a brief keeps you outside. Posting promotional material on your own accord, even by sharing somebody else's asset, puts you inside. The same person can be on both sides of it in the same afternoon.",[17,263,264],{},"There is a boundary on the far side of that line, and it is written into the instrument. The guidance under paragraph 2.01 says the guidelines are not intended to apply to dissemination of factual information relating to a capital market product that is intended solely for educational purposes, and the FAQ gives the point a question of its own, question 6, asking whether a person is caught as a voluntary advertiser merely for sharing factual information about a particular product. Its third worked example is a finfluencer sharing general market knowledge without naming a product, and he is outside. Promotion is the trigger. Explaining how a class of instrument works, without steering anybody towards one, is not the same act as passing the campaign along.",[89,266,269],{"caption":267,"title":268},"Positions drawn from paragraphs 4.01 and 7.01 of SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025) and from questions 10, 11 and 24 of the SC advertising FAQ revised 27 March 2025.","Who is an advertiser under the 2025 guidelines",[94,270,271,284],{},[97,272,273],{},[100,274,275,278,281],{},[103,276,277],{},"The person",[103,279,280],{},"Inside the guidelines",[103,282,283],{},"Where it says so",[113,285,286,297,307,318,329,340],{},[100,287,288,291,294],{},[118,289,290],{},"Issuer of the capital market product",[118,292,293],{},"Yes",[118,295,296],{},"Para 4.01(a)",[100,298,299,302,304],{},[118,300,301],{},"Licensed intermediary running its own campaign",[118,303,293],{},[118,305,306],{},"Para 4.01(b)",[100,308,309,312,315],{},[118,310,311],{},"Agency that designs the ad on the client's brief",[118,313,314],{},"No, the client carries the duty",[118,316,317],{},"FAQ Q10, para 7.01",[100,319,320,323,326],{},[118,321,322],{},"Engaged celebrity or creator",[118,324,325],{},"The advertiser is accountable, and the creator owes his own benefits disclosure",[118,327,328],{},"FAQ Q11, para 8.06",[100,330,331,334,337],{},[118,332,333],{},"Finfluencer posting on his own accord, unpaid",[118,335,336],{},"Yes, as a voluntary advertiser",[118,338,339],{},"Para 4.01(d), FAQ Q4(e)",[100,341,342,345,348],{},[118,343,344],{},"Anyone re-posting or sharing promotional content",[118,346,347],{},"Yes, the re-post is itself an advertisement",[118,349,350],{},"FAQ Q24",[12,352,354],{"id":353},"breaching-a-guideline-is-not-a-crime-and-the-chain-that-makes-it-bite-runs-through-section-377","Breaching a guideline is not a crime, and the chain that makes it bite runs through section 377",[17,356,357],{},"Two readings of the guidelines circulate and neither survives the statute. One treats them as advisory. The other attaches a RM10 million criminal penalty to a guideline breach. The text settles it.",[17,359,360],{},"Section 377 contains the guideline-making power and the duty that follows it:",[24,362,363],{},[27,364,366],{"start":365},377,[31,367,368],{},"(1) The Commission may, generally in respect of this Act or in respect of any particular provision of this Act, issue such guidelines and practice notes as the Commission considers desirable. ... (3) Subject to this Act or unless the contrary intention is expressly stated, a person to whom the guideline or practice note referred to in subsection (1) apply, shall give effect to such guideline or practice note within such period as may be specified by the Commission. (4) Where a person referred to in subsection (3) contravenes or fails to give effect to any guideline or practice note issued by the Commission, the Commission may take any one or more of the actions set out in section 354, 355 or 356 as it thinks fit.",[17,370,371],{},"There is no offence limb in section 377. It routes a failure into the administrative sections instead. Section 354(1) then defines the breach, in the SC text:",[24,373,374],{},[27,375,377],{"start":376},354,[31,378,379],{},"(1) Where a person- (a) contravenes the provisions of this Act other than the provisions of Part V and Division 2 of Part VI or any securities laws; or (b) fails to comply with, observe, enforce or give effect to- ... (ii) any written notice, direction, guideline or practice note issued or condition imposed, by the Commission; ... in circumstances where the person is under an obligation to comply with, observe, enforce or give effect to such rules, written notice, direction, guideline, practice note, or conditions, that person has committed a breach.",[17,381,382],{},"Read the closing words of that chapeau. The breach arises where the person is under an obligation to give effect to the guideline, and the obligation itself is the one section 377(3) imposes on a person to whom the guideline applies. Section 354(2) follows with a long deeming list, but that list is expressly stated to be without limiting the generality of paragraph (1)(b), and its object is compliance with the rules of a stock exchange, approved clearing house, central depository or recognised self-regulatory organisation. It is not the hook that makes an advertising guideline apply to you. Section 377(3) is.",[17,384,385],{},"The available actions are at section 354(3):",[24,387,388],{},[17,389,390],{},"(a) direct the person in breach to comply with, observe, enforce or give effect to such rules, provisions, written notice, direction, practice note, condition or guideline; (b) impose a penalty in proportion to the severity or gravity of the breach on the person in breach, but in any event not exceeding one million ringgit; (c) reprimand the person in breach; (d) require the person in breach to take such steps as the Commission may direct to remedy the breach or to mitigate the effect of such breach, including making restitution to any other person aggrieved by such breach",[17,392,393],{},"Section 354(4) requires that the Commission shall not take any action under subsection (3) without giving the person in breach an opportunity to be heard. Section 354(8) provides that an unpaid penalty may be sued for and recovered as a civil debt due to the Government of Malaysia.",[17,395,396],{},"A warning for anyone verifying this against the Act themselves, because the trap is real and it sits about ten printed pages further on. Section 356 imposes the same RM1 million ceiling in almost the same words, but it opens with a licensed-person gate, so it cannot reach an unlicensed voluntary advertiser at all. If the text in front of you reads shall not exceed rather than not exceeding, you are in the wrong section.",[12,398,400],{"id":399},"the-claim-your-brief-wants-is-prohibited-in-terms-and-in-two-limbs","The claim your brief wants is prohibited in terms, and in two limbs",[17,402,403],{},"Chapter 8 of the guidelines carries the content rules. Paragraph 8.08 is the one that ends most investment briefs as written:",[24,405,406],{},[17,407,408],{},"In the case where the principal sum or rate of returns from investment in a product is not guaranteed, an advertiser must ensure that the advertisement does not state that- (a) the risk of investors losing their principal sum invested is low or nil; or (b) the risk of investors not achieving the stated, target or expected rate of returns is low or nil.",[17,410,411],{},"Two separate limbs. Limb (a) is about the capital. Limb (b) is about the return. A creative that carefully avoids promising the return and then reassures the viewer that his money is safe has cleared (b) and walked into (a). The SC's own Summary of Amendments records paragraph 8.08 as a new requirement inserted on 27 March 2025, one of 59 numbered changes in that revision.",[17,413,414],{},"Three paragraphs sit above it and reach further than 8.08 does.",[24,416,417],{},[17,418,419],{},"5.02 An advertiser must ensure that the advertisement must not contain any messaging that is likely to mislead or deceive an investor, such as an exaggerated, flamboyant, overstated, or over-zealous messaging.",[24,421,422],{},[17,423,424],{},"5.03 An advertiser must ensure that investors are treated fairly at all times. An advertiser must not in any way attempt to exploit an investor's vulnerability including his behavioural traits, financial status, lack of expertise, experience or knowledge.",[24,426,427],{},[17,428,429],{},"5.05 An advertiser must ensure advertisements are presented in a manner that allows the intended target audience to immediately identify it as an advertisement.",[17,431,432],{},"Paragraph 5.03 is the one that should worry anyone writing performance creative for this vertical. It names behavioural traits and financial status. A hook built on financial anxiety or on fear of missing out is the thing it describes.",[17,434,435],{},"Paragraph 5.06, also new in 2025, closes the route through an unlicensed provider:",[24,437,438],{},[17,439,440],{},"An advertiser must not issue or authorise any advertisement relating to a capital market-related service offered by a person that is not licensed, registered or otherwise authorised by the SC.",[17,442,443],{},"The SC's worked example under FAQ question 15 is example 9: a popular Malaysian social media influencer advertises the services of an online stock trading platform licensed only in Singapore and not licensed by the SC in Malaysia. The SC says he will be in breach of the guidelines, and adds that he may also be prosecuted for the offence of abetting another in carrying on an activity that requires authorisation under the CMSA. The administrative ceiling and the criminal exposure can both be live on the same post.",[17,445,446,447,452],{},"One vocabulary note to stop a common cross-wiring. Guaranteed in paragraph 8.08 means guaranteed returns or guaranteed capital. That is a different word from the money-back guarantee a consumer brand offers, which answers to consumer protection law and to a different set of rules on free and guarantee claims, covered separately in the guide to ",[448,449,451],"a",{"href":450},"\u002Fblog\u002Ffree-offer-guarantee-rules-malaysia","free and guarantee claims in Malaysian ads",". One compliance note cannot answer both questions and should not try.",[12,454,456],{"id":455},"there-is-no-sc-pre-approval-and-paragraph-816-makes-you-say-the-opposite","There is no SC pre-approval, and paragraph 8.16 makes you say the opposite",[17,458,459],{},"Malaysian marketers who have worked on a health brand arrive here with the wrong mental model, because the medicine regime really does issue a reference number that goes on the creative. Capital markets advertising runs the other way. There is no application, no queue, no number, and the guidelines require an explicit statement that no review happened.",[24,461,462],{},[17,463,464],{},"8.16 An advertiser must clearly state that an advertisement has not been reviewed by the SC.",[24,466,467],{},[17,468,469],{},"8.17 An advertiser must not use the name or logo of the SC or include any such information or presentation in an advertisement that may give the impression or imply that the SC recommends, endorses or is in any way associated with the product, service or the advertiser, or any of its advertising activity.",[17,471,472],{},"Paragraph 8.18 completes the set, requiring an advertisement that describes a product as SC-approved to also make clear that the approval is not a recommendation. FAQ question 19 says a licensed advertiser may state that it is licensed, provided it also states that the SC's licence does not mean the SC endorses or recommends the service advertised.",[17,474,475],{},"Guidance N1 in Appendix 1 carries the most useful line in the whole instrument for anyone working in short-form:",[24,477,478],{},[17,479,480],{},"In ensuring compliance with the relevant requirements as set out in the Guidelines including paragraph 8.16, other than on the advertisement itself, an advertiser may choose appropriate platforms to notify investors that the advertisement has not been reviewed by the SC, including on the advertiser's website or social media home pages.",[17,482,483],{},"That guidance is itself a 2025 change, recorded in the Summary of Amendments as an amendment to the previous guidance to clarify that an appropriate platform may be selected for the notice other than on the advertisement itself. So the not-reviewed statement does not have to be burned into a six-second caption. It can live on the advertiser's website or social media home page.",[17,485,486],{},"One caveat on how much weight that carries. Paragraph 2.04 says guidance in the appendices is guidance, and that any departure from the guidance will be taken into consideration in the SC's assessment of whether a breach occurred. So N1 is the SC telling you what it will accept, which is worth a great deal, and it is not a provision you can point at as a safe harbour in the same way as a paragraph in the body. Cite it as guidance and cite it with its appendix, because the guidelines number a C1 in Appendix 1 as well as a C1 in the second appendix.",[17,488,489,490,494],{},"If your instinct here is to look for a permit number to put on the artwork, that instinct comes from the medicines regime, which is a genuinely different mechanism set out in the guide to ",[448,491,493],{"href":492},"\u002Fblog\u002Fkkliu-meta-ad-approval-malaysia","KKLIU numbers and Meta ad approval in Malaysia",". Importing it into a capital markets brief produces exactly the wrong artwork.",[12,496,498],{"id":497},"the-disclosure-duty-here-is-a-different-instrument-from-the-one-influencers-already-know","The disclosure duty here is a different instrument from the one influencers already know",[17,500,501],{},"Malaysian creators and the agencies that book them have generally been briefed on disclosure once already, through the industry content code that governs paid and incentivised posts. The capital markets rules are a second, separate obligation with a different instrument behind them, a different test and a very different ceiling. Doing the first does not discharge the second.",[24,503,504],{},[17,505,506],{},"8.05 An advertiser must ensure that any testimonial or endorsement included in an advertisement is by a person who has invested in the advertised product or has used the advertised service, and it must be accompanied with a statement stating whether such person is being compensated in any manner by the advertiser.",[17,508,509],{},"Two duties in one paragraph, and the first is the harder one. The endorser must actually have invested in the product or used the service. A creator who has never held the instrument cannot give a compliant testimonial for it at any price, and no disclosure line fixes that. The second duty is the compensation statement, and note its wording: a statement stating whether such person is being compensated. Whether, not that. An unpaid endorsement still needs the statement, saying so.",[24,511,512],{},[17,513,514],{},"8.06 A voluntary advertiser and any third-party provider engaged by an advertiser, must disclose in the advertisement any direct or indirect benefits they may receive or have received in relation to the advertisement.",[17,516,517],{},"Indirect benefits is the phrase to think about before signing anything. Affiliate commission, a referral code, free access to a platform, a sponsored trip, a discounted fee: none of those is a cash fee for the post and all of them are benefits. Paragraph 8.07 places a matching duty on the advertiser to ensure its third-party providers make that disclosure, so the brand cannot subcontract the problem.",[17,519,520],{},"On mechanics, FAQ question 22 says using labels or hashtags in the advertisement is permissible provided it is clear and easily understood by the target audience that the advertiser is paid to advertise the products or services. The test is comprehension by the target audience, not the presence of a tag. A hashtag buried at the end of a twelfth line does not meet a clarity test simply because the characters are on the page.",[17,522,523,524,528],{},"The general Malaysian disclosure expectations for paid and gifted creator content, which run on a separate registered industry code with its own complaints process, are set out in the guide to ",[448,525,527],{"href":526},"\u002Fblog\u002Finfluencer-ad-disclosure-rules-malaysia","influencer and creator ad disclosure in Malaysia",". Read it alongside this section rather than instead of it. The two instruments sit on top of each other for a finance brief.",[89,530,533],{"caption":531,"title":532},"How the licensing question under the CMSA differs from the disclosure and content question under the advertising guidelines, with the ceiling each one carries.","Two rulebooks running on the same post",[94,534,535,548],{},[97,536,537],{},[100,538,539,542,545],{},[103,540,541],{},"What you are testing",[103,543,544],{},"Licensing half",[103,546,547],{},"Guidelines half",[113,549,550,561,572,583,594,605],{},[100,551,552,555,558],{},[118,553,554],{},"Instrument",[118,556,557],{},"CMSA ss.58 and 59, Schedule 2, read with the Guidance Note on Provision of Investment Advice",[118,559,560],{},"SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025)",[100,562,563,566,569],{},[118,564,565],{},"Question asked",[118,567,568],{},"Are you carrying on a regulated activity, or holding yourself out as doing so",[118,570,571],{},"Does the advertisement comply with the content and disclosure rules",[100,573,574,577,580],{},[118,575,576],{},"Who it reaches",[118,578,579],{},"Any person, licensed or not",[118,581,582],{},"Any advertiser under para 4.01, including a voluntary advertiser",[100,584,585,588,591],{},[118,586,587],{},"Nature of sanction",[118,589,590],{},"Criminal, on conviction",[118,592,593],{},"Administrative, after an opportunity to be heard",[100,595,596,599,602],{},[118,597,598],{},"Ceiling",[118,600,601],{},"RM10 million or 10 years, or both, under s.58(4)",[118,603,604],{},"RM1 million under s.354(3)(b)",[100,606,607,610,613],{},[118,608,609],{},"Does a disclaimer help",[118,611,612],{},"No, para 2.2 of the Guidance Note says so expressly",[118,614,615],{},"Not for targeting, FAQ Q25 says an audience disclaimer must be paired with measures such as geo-blocking",[12,617,619],{"id":618},"some-channels-are-named-in-the-rules-and-others-only-in-the-guidance","Some channels are named in the rules and others only in the guidance",[17,621,622],{},"The guidelines describe channel in two places, and merging them produces a list that is partly wrong about its own authority.",[17,624,625],{},"The body of the instrument, at paragraph 2.03, says an advertisement may be carried out through various means and then lists them. Limb (d) covers the internet, including webpages, banner advertisements, video streaming platforms such as YouTube, social networking platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and microblogging platforms such as X and Threads. Limb (e) adds social media and internet discussion sites. Limb (f) covers mobile phone messages or messaging applications, naming SMS, MMS, text messages and WhatsApp.",[17,627,628],{},"Instagram and TikTok are not in that list. Instagram appears in the second appendix, printed in the PDF as Appendix II, at guidance C1 and again at C3. TikTok appears only at C3. Guidance C3 says advertisers should carefully consider the appropriateness of using certain channels, naming X, TikTok and Instagram, where such channels may impose content limitations that may limit the provision of balanced information about a product or service to investors. Because of paragraph 2.04, that is guidance whose departure is taken into consideration rather than a named requirement.",[17,630,631],{},"The FAQ bridges the two tiers at question 9, where the SC says advertisers may choose any medium which suits their needs, including X, LinkedIn, Instagram and WhatsApp, so long as they comply with the guidelines. So the practical rule is that channel choice is open and the content rules travel with you.",[17,633,634],{},"Paragraph 8.20 makes the choice itself a compliance step:",[24,636,637],{},[17,638,639],{},"An advertiser may use social media to advertise a product or service provided that the advertiser- (a) has considered the appropriateness of using social media to advertise the product or service; (b) has assessed the specificities and limitations of such social media; and (c) has addressed the risks associated with its use.",[17,641,642],{},"Read with guidance C3, that is a documented decision rather than a default. And the SC has published two examples under FAQ question 15 that show what the assessment is supposed to catch, both of them about format rather than wording. Example 7: an influencer engaged by a registered trading platform includes all the benefits inside his short-form video and puts the risks in the accompanying caption outside the main body of the video. The SC says that is not compliant. Example 8: a trading platform's own Instagram post has its key risks and terms obscured behind the more ellipsis. Also not compliant.",[17,644,645],{},"Both examples describe one construction: the benefits inside the asset, the qualifying material outside it, in a caption or behind a truncation. Under these examples that construction fails. Whatever balances the claim has to sit where the claim sits, inside the asset, above the fold, visible without a tap.",[17,647,648],{},"FAQ question 25 adds one more mechanical point. A disclaimer does not absolve an advertiser from using best endeavours to ensure the advertisement is only accessed by the target audience, and the SC says the disclaimer should be used together with other measures, giving geo-blocking as its example. On a platform where campaign geography is a setting rather than an aspiration, that is a straightforward instruction to use the targeting controls rather than a sentence of small print.",[12,650,652],{"id":651},"what-the-sc-actually-does-about-a-bad-investment-ad-in-its-own-numbers","What the SC actually does about a bad investment ad, in its own numbers",[17,654,655],{},"Enforcement in this area is mostly not prosecution. It is takedown, blocking and listing, and the SC publishes the volumes.",[89,657,660],{"caption":658,"title":659},"Figures as published in Table 17, Intervention efforts on scams and unlicensed activities, on page 64 of Part 2 of the SC Annual Report 2025.","SC intervention on scams and unlicensed activity",[94,661,662,675],{},[97,663,664],{},[100,665,666,669,672],{},[103,667,668],{},"Action taken",[103,670,671],{},"2025",[103,673,674],{},"2024",[113,676,677,688,699,710,721,732,743,754,765,775],{},[100,678,679,682,685],{},[118,680,681],{},"Inclusion in the SC's Investor Alert List",[118,683,684],{},"249",[118,686,687],{},"273",[100,689,690,693,696],{},[118,691,692],{},"Blocking of websites with MCMC assistance",[118,694,695],{},"175",[118,697,698],{},"153",[100,700,701,704,707],{},[118,702,703],{},"Requests to block Telegram accounts",[118,705,706],{},"208",[118,708,709],{},"180",[100,711,712,715,718],{},[118,713,714],{},"Social media interventions",[118,716,717],{},"215",[118,719,720],{},"336",[100,722,723,726,729],{},[118,724,725],{},"Facebook and Instagram accounts geo-blocked",[118,727,728],{},"35",[118,730,731],{},"81",[100,733,734,737,740],{},[118,735,736],{},"Referrals to other agencies or foreign regulators",[118,738,739],{},"174",[118,741,742],{},"235",[100,744,745,748,751],{},[118,746,747],{},"Lodgement of police reports",[118,749,750],{},"66",[118,752,753],{},"141",[100,755,756,759,762],{},[118,757,758],{},"Notification letters to banks",[118,760,761],{},"22",[118,763,764],{},"7",[100,766,767,770,773],{},[118,768,769],{},"Commencement of enforcement action",[118,771,772],{},"4",[118,774,772],{},[100,776,777,780,782],{},[118,778,779],{},"Issuance of notices of cease and desist",[118,781,772],{},[118,783,784],{},"3",[17,786,787],{},"Two things stand out for a Meta advertiser. The first is that the Facebook and Instagram geo-block line is small and shrinking, 35 in 2025 against 81 in 2024. That is not evidence the platforms are a safe harbour. It sits alongside 208 Telegram block requests and 175 website blocks, which is a picture of where the SC found the problem rather than of where it chose not to look.",[17,789,790],{},"The second is the detection picture behind those actions. As at 31 December 2025 the SC had identified 1,170 URLs across various websites and social media platforms potentially involved in scams or the offering of unlicensed products and services to Malaysians, up from 796 a year earlier. The distribution was 50% websites, 35% Telegram, 8% Facebook, and 7% other platforms including TikTok, X, Instagram and YouTube. The SC also records that 73% of the suspicious URLs detected involved crypto assets.",[17,792,793],{},"On the complaints side, the SC reports 6,893 cases in 2025, made up of 2,462 complaints and 4,431 enquiries. It describes that as a 22% increase on 2024, and it footnotes its own figure: the comparative counts complainants and enquirers, whereas its 2024 report counted complaints and enquiries, so the two bases are not the same. Quote the 2025 absolute numbers freely and carry the footnote if you quote the increase.",[17,795,796],{},"The operational lesson from that table is about what a bad ad costs in practice, which is usually not a fine. It is an account geo-block, a takedown, a listing, and a referral, all of which land on the media schedule immediately and none of which requires anyone to be convicted of anything first.",[12,798,800],{"id":799},"where-the-scs-regime-ends-and-another-regulators-begins","Where the SC's regime ends and another regulator's begins",[17,802,803],{},"A lot of the traffic arriving on a question like this one is not actually about securities, which is worth settling early because the wrong regulator produces the wrong compliance pack.",[17,805,806,807,811],{},"If the product is a loan or a financing facility, this is not the SC's regime at all. A moneylender's advertisement is a Registrar of Moneylenders question under the Moneylenders Act 1951 and a licensed bank's is Bank Negara's, and the permit-and-licence structure behind both is set out in the guide to ",[448,808,810],{"href":809},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcredit-loan-ad-rules-malaysia","credit and loan ad rules in Malaysia",". That page is where a financing brief belongs.",[17,813,814,815,819],{},"If the offer is an income opportunity, a recruitment scheme or a distributor programme rather than a securities offer, the statute that reaches it is the direct selling and anti-pyramid legislation, whose scheme test and promote-by-any-medium definition are set out in the guide to ",[448,816,818],{"href":817},"\u002Fblog\u002Fdirect-selling-ad-rules-malaysia","direct selling and MLM ad rules in Malaysia",". That page also carries Meta's own investment and get-rich-quick policy wording in full, which is the right place to read the platform layer for this vertical rather than a summary here.",[17,821,822,823,827],{},"If the pitch is a savings, buy-back or instalment plan around a physical asset, the deposit-taking question under the financial services legislation comes first, and that boundary, along with the reason absence from the SC's Investor Alert List proves nothing about a business, is already worked through in the guide to ",[448,824,826],{"href":825},"\u002Fblog\u002Fjewellery-facebook-ads-malaysia","jewellery and gold ads in Malaysia",". What no campaign should do is describe an advertiser as SC-licensed, SC-registered or SC-authorised on the strength of the advertiser's own copy. That is a register check, and the register is the SC's, not the brand's.",[12,829,831],{"id":830},"what-this-guide-cannot-tell-you","What this guide cannot tell you",[17,833,834],{},"A compliance page that hides its gaps is less useful than one that lists them. Here is where the evidence stops.",[17,836,837,841],{},[838,839,840],"strong",{},"Whether a specific token or digital asset is a security for these purposes."," That turns on a prescription instrument this page has not retrieved and therefore does not describe. The SC's own 2025 figure that 73% of the suspicious URLs it detected involved crypto assets tells you where the enforcement attention is, and nothing about your asset.",[17,843,844,847],{},[838,845,846],{},"What the current text of Schedules 3, 6 and 7 says."," The carve-outs that matter most to an offer are in those Schedules, they are amended by gazetted order from time to time, and this page deliberately describes their existence rather than their contents. Anyone relying on an exclusion needs the current schedule text and counsel, not a guide.",[17,849,850,853],{},[838,851,852],{},"Whether Act 671 has been amended between the last amendment printed in the Chambers' own list and the commencement date on the SC consolidation's cover."," The currency statement on this page rests on that cover and on a check of the text beneath it: not one of the operative sections quoted here, 58, 59, 232, 241, 354 or 377, carries a 2025 amendment marker in that edition. The only markers those sections carry are from 2011 and 2015, and both of those amending Acts are already inside the Chambers' printed list. Every 2025 marker in the consolidation sits in the Schedules, which is a further reason this page describes their existence rather than their contents.",[17,855,856,859],{},[838,857,858],{},"Any named SC enforcement action against a specific Facebook or Instagram advertisement."," Table 17 on page 64 publishes aggregate geo-block counts only. No individual case was retrieved, so none is described here, and the aggregate should not be turned into an anecdote.",[17,861,862,865],{},[838,863,864],{},"Whether Meta requires SC authorisation before serving a Malaysian financial services ad."," No published Meta country list or Malaysia-specific licensing requirement was located. Meta's financial services rules say advertisers may be required to be licensed in the country they target, and account-level experiences vary, which is a different sentence from a published requirement and should not be budgeted against as if it were one.",[17,867,868,871],{},[838,869,870],{},"Any Malaysian cost benchmark for this vertical."," No dated, neutral CPM, CPC or cost-per-lead figure for Malaysian finance advertising was located, and none is invented here.",[17,873,874,877],{},[838,875,876],{},"How the SC weighs a first breach."," Section 354(3)(b) requires a penalty in proportion to the severity or gravity of the breach and caps it at RM1 million. No published scale, band or precedent explains how that proportionality is applied to an advertising breach. Treat the ceiling as a ceiling.",[17,879,880],{},"Take anything finely balanced to a Malaysian capital markets adviser with the instruments in hand, and remember that the guidelines changed on 1 November 2025, so any note written before that date is describing a text that no longer governs. The superseded 2020 edition is still downloadable from the SC's own site and even has a paragraph 5.06, with entirely different words in it. A paragraph number lifted from the wrong file can look right and be wrong.",[12,882,884],{"id":883},"a-pass-to-run-before-the-next-investment-ad-goes-live","A pass to run before the next investment ad goes live",[17,886,887],{},"Work down this in order. The first three questions decide whether there is a campaign to brief at all.",[27,889,890,893,896,899,902,905,908,911,914,917,920,923,926,929],{},[31,891,892],{},"Does the creative, the caption or the landing page issue, offer for subscription or purchase, or invite subscription for or purchase of securities? If it does, section 241(1) is engaged, and the question of which carve-out applies goes to counsel before media money moves.",[31,894,895],{},"Is there a prospectus registered by the SC, or does the offer sit inside a stated exclusion under section 229 or section 230? Nobody on the marketing side should be answering this one.",[31,897,898],{},"Is the advertiser, or the person posting, carrying on or holding out as carrying on any of the eight regulated activities in Part 1 of Schedule 2? Investment advice is the limb that catches content, and a disclaimer does not lift it.",[31,900,901],{},"Who is the advertiser under paragraph 4.01? Name every one of them, including any employee, ambassador or fan who will share the asset on his own accord. The educational carve-out in the guidance to paragraph 2.01 turns on the material being factual rather than promotional, so it does not cover anyone forwarding the campaign asset.",[31,903,904],{},"Does any line state or imply that the risk of losing the principal, or of missing the stated returns, is low or nil, where neither is guaranteed? Test both limbs of paragraph 8.08 separately.",[31,906,907],{},"Does any hook work by exploiting a behavioural trait, financial status, or lack of expertise or experience? That is paragraph 5.03 territory, not a tonal preference.",[31,909,910],{},"Is every service being advertised offered by a person licensed, registered or otherwise authorised by the SC, checked on the SC's own register rather than on the advertiser's copy? Paragraph 5.06 leaves no room here, and abetting is a live risk on top.",[31,912,913],{},"Does every testimonial come from someone who actually invested in the product or used the service, and does it carry a statement saying whether that person is compensated?",[31,915,916],{},"Has every voluntary advertiser and third-party provider disclosed direct and indirect benefits, including affiliate commissions and referral codes, in the advertisement itself?",[31,918,919],{},"Is the not-reviewed-by-the-SC statement present somewhere appropriate, whether on the ad or on the advertiser's website or social media home page under guidance N1 in Appendix 1?",[31,921,922],{},"Do the risks and material terms sit inside the asset rather than in the caption or behind the more ellipsis? Examples 7 and 8 in FAQ question 15 are about exactly this.",[31,924,925],{},"Is the SC's name or logo absent from every frame, and is any licensed status stated together with the line that a licence is not an endorsement?",[31,927,928],{},"Has the appropriateness of the chosen channel been considered, assessed and risk-addressed, per paragraph 8.20, and recorded somewhere you could show?",[31,930,931],{},"Is targeting doing the work a disclaimer cannot, with geography restricted to the intended audience per FAQ question 25?",[17,933,934],{},"One sentence for whoever writes the brief. Most compliance questions end with a name on a form somewhere. This one ends with whoever pressed publish, briefed or not, paid or not.",{"title":936,"searchDepth":937,"depth":937,"links":938},"",2,[939,940,941,942,943,944,945,946,947,948,949,950,951,952],{"id":14,"depth":937,"text":15},{"id":64,"depth":937,"text":65},{"id":161,"depth":937,"text":162},{"id":199,"depth":937,"text":200},{"id":231,"depth":937,"text":232},{"id":353,"depth":937,"text":354},{"id":399,"depth":937,"text":400},{"id":455,"depth":937,"text":456},{"id":497,"depth":937,"text":498},{"id":618,"depth":937,"text":619},{"id":651,"depth":937,"text":652},{"id":799,"depth":937,"text":800},{"id":830,"depth":937,"text":831},{"id":883,"depth":937,"text":884},null,"local","Section 241 of the CMSA makes the publication itself the offence, at up to RM3 million. And since 1 November 2025 the SC's advertising rules reach a finfluencer nobody hired.",[],"md",[959,962,965,968,971,974,977,980],{"question":960,"answer":961},"Can I advertise an investment product on Facebook in Malaysia without an SC licence?","It depends on what you are advertising and what you are doing, and two separate questions have to be answered before the creative matters. First, does the ad publish a notice that issues, offers for subscription or purchase, or makes invitations to subscribe for or purchase securities? If it does and no carve-out in section 241(3) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 applies, the publication is itself an offence under section 241(1), carrying up to RM3 million or ten years or both under section 241(12). Second, does what you are doing amount to carrying on a regulated activity? Investment advice is one of the eight regulated activities in Part 1 of Schedule 2, and section 58(1) prohibits carrying on a business in any regulated activity, or holding yourself out as carrying on such business, without a Capital Markets Services Licence or registered-person status, subject to the persons specified in Schedule 3 under section 58(2). The SC's own Guidance Note on Provision of Investment Advice notes at paragraph 2.2 that a disclaimer saying you are not providing investment advice does not, in itself, relieve you from the requirement of holding a licence.",{"question":963,"answer":964},"Do I need SC approval before running an investment ad in Malaysia?","No, and the guidelines require you to say the opposite. There is no pre-clearance queue for capital market advertising in the way there is for a medicine advertisement. Paragraph 8.16 of SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025) says an advertiser must clearly state that an advertisement has not been reviewed by the SC. Paragraph 8.17 bars using the SC's name or logo, or presenting anything in a way that implies the SC recommends, endorses or is associated with the product, the service, the advertiser or its advertising. Guidance N1 in Appendix 1 softens the mechanics rather than the duty, allowing the advertiser to choose appropriate platforms for that notice, including the advertiser's website or social media home pages, rather than squeezing it into the ad itself. So the answer to a compliance officer asking where the approval number goes is that there is no approval number, and the required sentence runs in the other direction.",{"question":966,"answer":967},"Do the SC advertising guidelines apply to me if nobody paid me to post?","Yes, since 1 November 2025. Paragraph 4.01 of SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025) defines advertiser to include, at limb (d), a person who is not engaged by an issuer, a capital market intermediary or a recognised market operator and who on his own accord issues or authorises such advertisement. The guidelines call that person a voluntary advertiser. The SC's FAQ on the guidelines puts it beyond argument at question 4(e), giving the illustration of a famous YouTuber and TikTok influencer who voluntarily advertises the investment products of a company on his social media account without being engaged by that company, and saying the revised guidelines apply to him. Question 3 of the same FAQ confirms the 1 November 2025 commencement, and question 5 says an advertisement already running that does not comply must cease on or after that date rather than being grandfathered.",{"question":969,"answer":970},"Is it illegal to say guaranteed returns in a Malaysian investment ad?","The advertising guidelines attack the claim from a precise angle, and the wording is worth reading rather than paraphrasing. Paragraph 8.08 applies where the principal sum or rate of returns from investment in a product is not guaranteed, and in that case an advertiser must ensure the advertisement does not state that the risk of investors losing their principal sum invested is low or nil, or that the risk of investors not achieving the stated, target or expected rate of returns is low or nil. Two limbs, principal and returns, and the trigger is that the thing is not actually guaranteed. Paragraph 5.02 sits above it and bars messaging likely to mislead or deceive an investor, naming exaggerated, flamboyant, overstated or over-zealous messaging. Note also that the word guarantee does different work in Malaysian consumer law, where a money-back promise is governed by an entirely different regime, so do not let one compliance note answer both questions.",{"question":972,"answer":973},"What happens if I only share or re-post somebody else's investment ad?","The SC has answered this directly. Question 24 of its advertising FAQ says that re-posting or sharing content that seeks to promote a capital market product or capital market-related service constitutes an advertisement, and that such advertisement must comply with the guidelines. Combine that with the voluntary advertiser limb at paragraph 4.01(d) and the position is that a share from a personal account, with no brief, no fee and no agency in the chain, can still put the sharer inside the guidelines as an advertiser in his own right. That is a different outcome from the one most social media policies assume, and it is the single change from the 2025 revision most likely to catch a Malaysian marketing team by surprise, because it reaches employees and brand fans rather than only the media plan.",{"question":975,"answer":976},"Does my agency get in trouble for building the investment ad?","Not under the guidelines themselves, on the SC's own reading, though the accountability does not vanish. Question 10 of the advertising FAQ says service providers such as an advertising agency that designs or prepares an advertisement at the request of the advertiser will not be subject to the guidelines, and that the Capital Markets Services Licence holder who is the advertiser has the obligation to ensure the advertisement complies. Paragraph 7.01 puts the same point positively: an advertiser who relies on a third-party provider to advertise its product or service must remain responsible for the third-party provider's conduct in relation to the advertisement. So the brief-taking agency sits outside the instrument and the client carries the risk. The nuance that trips people is that the same individual who built the ad on the client's brief, posting the same asset to his own account on his own accord, is no longer taking a brief and is squarely inside paragraph 4.01(d).",{"question":978,"answer":979},"Can I promote a trading platform that is licensed overseas but not in Malaysia?","No, and the SC picked that exact fact pattern to illustrate the rule. Paragraph 5.06 of SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025) turns on authorisation by the SC itself, so a venue regulated in Singapore, Australia or anywhere else sits on the wrong side of it until it is licensed, registered or otherwise authorised here. Three things follow for the person holding the brief. Verify status on the SC's own register and not on the platform's marketing page, because a licence somewhere is not a licence here. Treat an affiliate link or a referral code for an overseas venue as the same problem, since the paragraph reaches the advertisement rather than the commercial terms sitting behind it. And price the downside correctly: the SC's worked example on this situation adds that the advertiser may also be prosecuted for abetting an activity that requires authorisation under the CMSA, which is a criminal exposure sitting on top of the administrative one. If the platform wants Malaysian distribution, the fix belongs on its side of the table and not in the creative.",{"question":981,"answer":982},"What is the penalty for breaching the SC advertising guidelines?","Administrative, and capped at RM1 million. The guidelines are issued under section 377 of the CMSA, which contains no offence provision of its own. Section 377(3) requires a person to whom a guideline applies to give effect to it within the period the Commission specifies, and section 377(4) provides that where such a person contravenes or fails to give effect to a guideline, the Commission may take any one or more of the actions set out in section 354, 355 or 356. Under section 354(3) the Commission may direct compliance, impose a penalty in proportion to the severity or gravity of the breach but in any event not exceeding one million ringgit, reprimand the person, or require steps to remedy the breach including restitution. Section 354(4) requires an opportunity to be heard first, and section 354(8) makes an unpaid penalty recoverable as a civil debt due to the Government of Malaysia. The RM3 million, RM5 million and RM10 million figures elsewhere on this page belong to separate criminal offences and never to a guideline breach.","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Finvestment-scheme-ad-rules-malaysia-hero.webp","A brief lands for an investment product. The claim is written, the creator is booked, the media plan is costed in ringgit, and somebody in the thread says the ad just needs to clear Meta review. In Malaysia that is the wrong first question by a wide margin. The Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 does not wait for the scheme to go wrong before it reaches your creative, because in this corner of Malaysian law the act of publishing is itself the thing the statute prohibits. And on 1 November 2025 a revised set of Securities Commission rules came into force that reaches people who were never hired by anybody.",{"reviewedAt":986},"2026-09-16",true,"\u002Fblog\u002Finvestment-scheme-ad-rules-malaysia","2027-02-08",{"title":5,"description":955},[992,996,1000,1003,1006,1009,1012],{"label":993,"url":994,"year":995},"Laws of Malaysia, Act 671, Capital Markets and Services Act 2007, SC consolidated text whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment with effect from 1 January 2026 (the edition every statutory quotation on this page is taken from)","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sc.com.my\u002Fapi\u002Fdocumentms\u002Fdownload.ashx?id=ff8ed6d5-2071-4eda-a636-95a8efcabef9","2026",{"label":997,"url":998,"year":999},"Laws of Malaysia, Act 671, Capital Markets and Services Act 2007, Attorney General's Chambers online version of updated text of reprint, as at 1 December 2017, used as the cross-check on every provision quoted","https:\u002F\u002Flom.agc.gov.my\u002Filims\u002Fupload\u002Fportal\u002Fakta\u002FLOM\u002FEN\u002FAct%20671%20-%2023-11-2017.pdf","2017",{"label":1001,"url":1002,"year":671},"Securities Commission Malaysia, Guidelines on Advertising for Capital Market Products and Related Services, SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025), issued 4 May 2020, revised 27 March 2025, effective 1 November 2025","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sc.com.my\u002Fapi\u002Fdocumentms\u002Fdownload.ashx?id=eed9034a-03f2-4df3-8b9c-64261bcba687",{"label":1004,"url":1005,"year":671},"Securities Commission Malaysia, Frequently-Asked-Questions on the Guidelines on Advertising for Capital Market Products and Related Services, revised 27 March 2025","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sc.com.my\u002Fapi\u002Fdocumentms\u002Fdownload.ashx?id=3f059e87-cd3b-4f10-96a3-b8de739cbef3",{"label":1007,"url":1008,"year":671},"Securities Commission Malaysia, Summary of Amendments, Revised Guidelines on Advertising for Capital Market Products and Related Services, issued 27 March 2025, a numbered table of 59 changes","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sc.com.my\u002Fapi\u002Fdocumentms\u002Fdownload.ashx?id=85c87ee3-bc11-4888-8524-e02146465228",{"label":1010,"url":1011,"year":674},"Securities Commission Malaysia, Guidance Note on Provision of Investment Advice, SC-GN\u002F1-2020 (R2-2024), first issued 30 December 2020, revised 18 July 2024","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sc.com.my\u002Fapi\u002Fdocumentms\u002Fdownload.ashx?id=d22c8909-06e8-40bf-a8da-4fc31b4606c0",{"label":1013,"url":1014,"year":995},"Securities Commission Malaysia, Annual Report 2025, Part 2, Regulatory Performance and Outcomes, source of the complaints figures on page 60, Table 17 on page 64 and the URL distribution on page 65","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sc.com.my\u002Fapi\u002Fdocumentms\u002Fdownload.ashx?id=cacdc196-ba4f-4cd0-95fe-2973b99f057a",[1016,1020,1024,1027,1031,1035,1039,1043],{"label":1017,"value":1018,"source":1019},"Maximum penalty for publishing a notice that offers or invites subscription for securities, outside the carve-outs","RM3,000,000 or 10 years, or both","Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671), s.241(12), read in the SC consolidated text whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment, c.i.f 1 January 2026, and cross-checked in AGC's online updated text of reprint as at 1 December 2017",{"label":1021,"value":1022,"source":1023},"Maximum penalty for carrying on a regulated activity, or holding yourself out as carrying it on, without a Capital Markets Services Licence","RM10,000,000 or 10 years, or both","Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671), s.58(4), read in the SC consolidated text whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment with effect from 1 January 2026, and cross-checked in AGC's online updated text of reprint as at 1 December 2017",{"label":1025,"value":1022,"source":1026},"Maximum penalty for offering or inviting subscription for securities with no prospectus registered by the SC","Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671), s.232(7), read in the SC consolidated text whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment with effect from 1 January 2026, and cross-checked in AGC's online updated text of reprint as at 1 December 2017",{"label":1028,"value":1029,"source":1030},"Maximum penalty for acting as a representative in a regulated activity without a Capital Markets Services Representative's Licence","RM5,000,000 or 5 years, or both","Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671), s.59(2), read in the SC consolidated text whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment with effect from 1 January 2026, and cross-checked in AGC's online updated text of reprint as at 1 December 2017",{"label":1032,"value":1033,"source":1034},"Ceiling on an SC administrative penalty for failing to give effect to an SC guideline","RM1,000,000","Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671), s.354(3)(b) as amended by Act A1499\u002F2015, reached through s.377(3) and s.377(4), SC consolidated text whose cover states it incorporates the latest amendment with effect from 1 January 2026",{"label":1036,"value":1037,"source":1038},"Penalty an unlicensed person faces on the market-manipulation and false-or-misleading-statement offences, as the SC itself states it","Up to 10 years and a minimum fine of RM1,000,000","SC, Guidance Note on Provision of Investment Advice, SC-GN\u002F1-2020 (R2-2024), para 3.5, revised 18 July 2024",{"label":1040,"value":1041,"source":1042},"Date the revised SC advertising guidelines took effect","1 November 2025, issued 4 May 2020 and revised 27 March 2025","SC-GL\u002FADV-2020 (R1-2025), revision table on the cover; SC advertising FAQ Q3 and Q5, revised 27 March 2025",{"label":1044,"value":1045,"source":1046},"URLs the SC identified as potentially involved in scams or unlicensed offerings to Malaysians","1,170 as at 31 December 2025, against 796 a year earlier","SC Annual Report 2025, Part 2, Chart 7 and the accompanying text, page 65","blog\u002Finvestment-scheme-ad-rules-malaysia","ZQRx9WEkWbRRkt3SFWye1NoUBleL69OcT54VXDHDjMU",1789556316874]