MAS Requires All Financial Institutions to Apply Fair Dealing Guidelines to All Products & Services

On 30 May 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS“) updated the “Guidelines on Fair Dealing – Board and Senior Management Responsibilities for Delivering Fair Dealing Outcomes to Customers” (“Revised Fair Dealing Guidelines“).

With immediate effect, the Revised Fair Dealing Guidelines has an expanded scope to cover all financial institutions (“FIs“) and all of the products and services (including incidental services) offered by such FIs to any customers (not limited to retail customers). They are expected to incorporate key principles and guidance on the fair treatment of customers into various stages of the product life cycle or provision of service by the FIs.

The Revised Fair Dealing Guidelines set out the following five fair dealing outcomes for FIs:

• Outcome 1: Customers have confidence that they deal with FIs where fair dealing is central to the corporate culture.
• Outcome 2: FIs offer products and services that are suitable for their target customer segments.
• Outcome 3: Customers are served by competent representatives.
• Outcome 4: Customers receive clear, relevant, and timely information that accurately represent the products and services offered and delivered.
• Outcome 5: FIs handle customer complaints in an independent, effective and prompt manner.

This Update discusses some of the principles and guidance under the fair dealing outcomes and highlights some key changes introduced in the Revised Fair Dealing Guidelines.