Investment Advertising & Finfluencer Compliance (SC Guidelines)
Since 1 November 2025, the Securities Commission's revised Guidelines on Advertising treat independent finfluencers as advertisers and make firms accountable for the marketing agents who promote on their behalf. The rules reach every firm that promotes capital market products: fund managers and unit trust companies and their agents, stockbrokers and remisiers, investment banks, robo-advisers and investment apps, banks and insurers distributing capital market products, crowdfunding and digital asset platforms, and the agencies and creators they hire. Most of that promotion now happens on channels the firm does not control, through people it pays but does not employ, and a single misleading post can become the firm's problem. The SC has also been working with technology platforms since April 2026 to block advertising by unregistered operators, so the line between compliant and unlicensed promotion is being enforced, not just written down.
This one-day course is for marketing, digital, product, compliance and agency-management teams, with worked examples from fund management, broking, robo-advice and platforms. It covers what counts as an advertisement, what a compliant one must contain, how to brief and supervise issuers and influencers, and where promotion turns into unlicensed investment advice. It is about promotion only. Crowdfunding and digital asset platforms will find their wider obligations in Crowdfunding & Digital Asset Platform Compliance, and asset management staff their core conduct rules in Capital Market Compliance Essentials.
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Programme Agenda
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Welcome and Programme Overview
Introduction to the session, objectives, and housekeeping.
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
What Changed on 1 November 2025
The revised Guidelines on Advertising for Capital Market Products and Related Services in plain terms: who is an advertiser, the new treatment of independent finfluencers, the explicit accountability for marketing agents, and the restriction on unauthorised entities providing advertising services. The penalties for unlicensed regulated activity, which reach RM10 million or ten years' imprisonment.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
What Counts as an Advertisement
Posts, videos, livestreams, webinars, email, referral schemes, community chats and paid search, and the grey areas between education, opinion and promotion. Why an agent's reel about a fund, a founder's post about their own crowdfunding raise and an app's referral bonus are usually all advertisements. Exercise: classify twelve real-world style examples.
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Clear, Fair and Balanced Content
Risk warnings that are genuinely visible, projections and past performance, testimonials, urgency tactics, and claims such as guaranteed, safe or passive income. Sector pitfalls: cherry-picked fund performance periods, comparing a unit trust to a fixed deposit, robo-adviser projections that hide their assumptions, implying the SC endorses a crowdfunding campaign, overstating liquidity, and describing tokens as returns. Workshop: rewrite three non-compliant posts from different sectors.
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Supervising Issuers, Agents and Finfluencers
Supervising unit trust and PRS agents, remisiers, affiliates, agencies and, for platforms, issuers before launch. Written marketing guidelines, contracts and disclosure of paid relationships, pre-approval workflows, monitoring live channels and taking content down. Record keeping that proves supervision happened. When a finfluencer's recommendation crosses into activity that needs a licence.
3:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Unregistered Operators, Scams and Impersonation
The SC's action against unregistered digital asset exchanges and their advertising, using the SC Investment Checker, and responding when scammers clone your platform or impersonate your campaigns. Building a quick-response playbook with your legal and communications teams. Knowledge check and certificates.
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
Wrap-Up and Q&A
Key takeaways, next steps, and close.
Key Outcomes
- Explain the revised SC Guidelines on Advertising and who they now cover, including finfluencers
- Identify when content by the platform, an issuer or an influencer is an advertisement
- Produce campaign content that is clear, fair and balanced with effective risk warnings
- Brief, contract and supervise agents, issuers, agencies and finfluencers, with records to prove it
- Recognise when promotion crosses into unlicensed investment advice
- Respond to unregistered operator advertising, cloned sites and impersonation scams
Training Mode Physical / Online / Hybrid / e-learning
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Level Foundation. For marketing, digital, product, compliance and agency or agent-management staff at fund managers, unit trust and PRS providers, brokers, robo-advisers, banks, insurers and crowdfunding or digital asset platforms. No prior regulatory knowledge required.
Duration 1 Day (8 Hours) | 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Venue In-house at the client's premises, or delivered via the client's preferred platform (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or equivalent)
Assessment A campaign content review exercise and a written knowledge check
Certificate Certificate of Completion issued to all participants upon full attendance