Payment Innovation
MAS and ABS Announce Incorporation of New Payments Entity, Singapore Payments Network (SPaN)
25 June 2025
MAS and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) jointly announced the incorporation of SPaN, which will administer and govern Singapore’s national payment schemes. SPaN is set up as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee to drive national payments objectives. The initial members of the company are MAS and the Domestic Systemically Important Banks. SPaN aims to provide strong governance over national and cross border payment schemes, promote continuous payments innovation and encourage active collaboration among key industry players.
Public Communication Campaign on Sunsetting of Corporate Cheques and Transition Plan for Retail Cheques
31 July 2025
The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), with MAS’ support, launched a public communication campaign to educate the public on transitioning from corporate cheques to e-payment alternatives by 31 December 2026, while reassuring the public that SGD retail cheques, USD cheques, and cashier’s orders remain available. Phase 1 (July - November 2025) focussed on raising public awareness of payment alternatives and their appropriate use cases, with banks developing communication toolkits for customers. Phase 2 (July - November 2026) will remind users that all banks will stop processing SGD corporate cheques from 1 January 2027, and highlight process changes for users of SGD retail cheques, USD cheques, and cashier's orders.
Expansion and Operationalisation of Nexus Global Payments (NGP)
2 February 2026
MAS, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and the Bank of Thailand (BOT), welcomed Bank Indonesia (BI) as a full participant on Nexus. Nexus is targeted to go-live in 2027, following the appointment of a joint venture between Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) and Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore (NETS), as the Nexus Technical Operator (NTO) to deliver the technical design and development of the Nexus platform.
PayNow Generation 2 Study
25 Jun 2026
MAS, together with the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), in February 2026 launched the PayNow Generation 2 (PNG2) Study, a forward-looking review of PayNow, Singapore’s national proxy addressing system for instant payments. The study aims to assess PayNow’s current state and chart its future evolution, in light of evolving user needs, technological developments and Singapore’s broader payments strategy and policy objectives.