Date: For Parliament Sitting on 4 August 2026
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Victor Lye, Ang Mo Kio GRC
Question
Mr Victor Lye: To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether MAS has data on the number of complaints or chargeback requests received by (i) banks (ii) card issuers or (iii) payment institutions, involving minors who incurred unauthorised or excessive spending through online platforms, including livestream gifting, in-app purchases or transfers to online content creators; and (b) if so, what is the data for each of the last five years.
Answer by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chairman of MAS:
1. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) does not collect the requested data from financial institutions, and has received a few cases of feedback from the public on this issue in the past five years. Customers would typically approach their banks for such disputed transactions.
2. Bank accounts for minors under 16 years old can only be opened by their parents or guardians, who can set lower daily transaction limits for themPlease refer to the reply given in this house on 12 November 2024 for more information: Written reply to Parliamentary Questions on digital banking and fraud liability protection for minors .. Minors would generally be ineligible for credit cards, as they would not meet minimum income or net asset requirements.Under MAS’ unsecured credit rules, card issuers like banks can only issue credit cards to individuals 55 years of age or younger if the individual meets at least one of the following requirements: (i) has an annual income of at least S$30,000, (ii) has net financial assets in excess of S$1 million, or (iii) has total net personal assets in excess of S$2 million.
3. We encourage all parents to remain actively engaged in guiding their child’s access to online content and managing the child’s spending on online platforms.
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