Singapore's Government has released some figures that illustrate the consequences of the regulator's decision to end the Exempt Fund Managers' regime in August 2012.

It did so recently in response to a parliamentary question to Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Deputy Prime Minister and minister in charge of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Before August 2012, fund managers who served 30 or fewer qualified investors were not required to hold capital markets service licences for fund management under the Securities and Futures Act. These fund managers were known as exempt fund managers or EFMs. All other fund managers had to apply for a licence and meet prescribed regulatory requirements. A qualified investor is an accredited investor, institutional investor or a fund whose underlying investors are all accredited investors.  An accredited investor who is an individual must have net assets exceeding S$2 million, or an annual income of not less than S$300,000; or in the case of a corporation, net assets exceeding S$10 million.

In August 2012, the MAS decided to discontinue the EFM regime and gave the EFMs a grace period to either apply for a licence, or register as Registered Fund Management Companies (RFMC). This was to raise regulatory standards and supervisory oversight of the fund management industry. Unlike EFMs, RFMCs have to meet prescribed admission criteria and business conduct requirements. RFMCs can only serve up to 30 qualified investors and manage up to S$250 million in assets. All other fund managers will require licensing and have to meet regulatory requirements that are more stringent than those applicable to RFMCs.

Between January and December 2011, 95 fund managers obtained EFM status and between January and August 2012 the figure was 80. When the EFM regime ended, there were 527 EFMs. Of the 527 EFMs, 408 applied to be licensed or be registered as RFMCs. The remaining 119 ceased their fund management activity. All fund managers are listed on the financial institutions directory on the MAS website.