Date: For Parliament Sitting on 8 April 2026
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Ms Goh Sze Kee, Mountbatten SMC
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye, Radin Mas SMC
Mr Shawn Loh, Jalan Besar GRC
Question
Ms Gho Sze Kee: To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in light of the issues with GIRO deductions faced by parents following the closure of a student care chain (a) whether the Minister can clarify what safeguards exist within the GIRO framework to prevent duplicate or erroneous debits; and (b) whether the Ministry will review the framework to strengthen consumer protections, including mandatory pre-debit notifications and consumer set limits on variable deductions.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether the Government can provide information on (a) what due diligence checks are banks required to conduct when onboarding a corporate customer for GIRO billing; and (b) whether banks are required to have suspicious transactions alerts when a billing organisation deducts multiple GIRO transactions from a customer in a short time span.
Mr Shawn Loh: To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in addition to the limits-per-transaction for GIRO deductions and safeguards against scams, whether MAS will consider requiring banks to allow customers to set optional limits on the number or cumulative amount of deductions per billing period for individual GIRO arrangements, so as to improve customer control against bad actors or technical failure in company payment systems.
Answer by Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of National Development, and Board member of MAS, on behalf of Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chairman of MAS:
1. My response will cover the questions raised by Ms Gho Sze Kee, Mr Shawn Loh and Mr Melvin Yong in today’s Order Paper.
2. There are existing safeguards for GIRO. Customers can set transaction limits on their GIRO payments. Banks also apply due diligence checks on GIRO billing organisations. These include checking that they are properly registered businesses, and are not linked to any sanctioned or other criminal activities.
3. However, checks by banks may not always be able to prevent errors and potential misuse of GIRO. While such cases have been uncommon so far, we agree that the safeguards should be strengthened. MAS is working with the Association of Banks in Singapore and member banks to strengthen safeguards. The review will consider measures including enabling customers to set monthly limits on the value and number of transactions, and enhancing transaction monitoring and due diligence on billing organisations. We will consider suggestions by Ms Gho, Mr Yong, Mr Loh and members of the public. We also advise consumers to review their current GIRO arrangements and set appropriate transaction limits with their banks. There are also other non-GIRO payment options available to consumers including standing instructions to the bank for recurring monthly payments for an amount set by the customer.
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