Payments Licensees and Approved Holders

MAS currently regulates persons that provide these payment services:

• Holders of Stored Value Facilities (SVFs) are regulated under the Payment Systems (Oversight) Act (PS(O)A) .
• Money-Changers and Remittance Businesses are licensed and regulated under the Money-Changing and Remittance Businesses Act (MCRBA) . Find out about:
  • Money-Changer’s Licence Admission Criteria & Application Process
  • Remittance Licence Admission Criteria & Application Process 

With the changing payment services landscape, a new Payment Services Bill was passed in Parliament on 14 January 2019 to streamline payment services under a single legislation. Under the Payment Services Act 2019 (PS Act), payment service providers will only need to hold one licence to conduct specified payment activities. The scope of regulation has also been expanded to include payment services such as digital payment token services and merchant acquisition. MAS conducted public consultations to solicit feedback on the payments regulatory framework and subsidiary legislation under the PS Act.

The PS(O)A and MCRBA will be repealed upon the commencement of the new PS Act, which will apply to payment services licensees. You may wish to refer to the FAQs on the PS Act for further guidance.

Payment Systems

The Payment Systems (Oversight) Act (PS(O)A)  empowers MAS to collect information from all payment systems in Singapore to monitor the development of the payment system industry in Singapore and make informed policy decisions. MAS may designate a payment system under the PS(O)A if it is considered a systemically important payment system or a system-wide important payment system, or where it is otherwise in the public interest to do so.

In addition, MAS may designate important payment systems under the Payment and Settlement Systems (Finality and Netting) Act (FNA) to ensure that these systems continue to function smoothly during times of disruption. Specifically, the FNA ensures the finality and irrevocability of transactions made through these systems by “carving out” the relevant insolvency rules.

The PS(O)A will be repealed upon the commencement of the new Payment Services Act 2019, which will apply to designated payment systems.  

Find out about the various payment systems supervised by MAS.

MAS is governed by the MAS Act, which confers on it powers to issue legal instruments for regulation and supervision of financial institutions.

View all regulations

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Payment and Settlement Systems External Publications - Access publications from external providers, including the BIS and EMEAP.

H1 2019 Retail Payment Statistics (372.1 KB) - Access statistics for selected payment systems in Singapore

FAQs on the Payment Services Act - Access the FAQs on the Payment Services Act