Payments
Payments licensees and approved holders offer a range of payment services in Singapore. Payment systems facilitate the transfer of funds between or among participants. Find out about the designation, licensing, regulations and guidance for these entities.
Designation and Licensing
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:
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The PS(O)A and MCRBA will be repealed upon the commencement of the new PS Act, which will apply to payments services licensees.
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The PS(O)A will be repealed upon the commencement of the new Payment Services Act 2019, which will apply to designated payment systems.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.
Regulations and Guidance
MAS is governed by the MAS Act, which confers on it powers to issue legal instruments for regulation and supervision of financial institutions.
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Resources
Payment and Settlement Systems External Publications - Access publications from external providers, including the BIS and EMEAP.
H2 2018 Retail Payment Statistics (374 KB) - Access statistics for selected payment systems in Singapore
What's New
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Consultation Paper on Proposed Payment Services Notices and Guidelines
This consultation sets out MAS’ proposed notices and guidelines applicable to entities regulated under the Payment Services Act 2019, to effect the objectives of the Act.
- Consultation number:
- P012-2019
- Start date:
- 05 July 2019
- Closing date:
- 05 August 2019
- Status:
- Open
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Effective Practices to Detect and Mitigate the Risk from Misuse of Legal Persons
Sets out MAS’ supervisory expectations of financial institutions’ (“FIs”) controls to address the misuse of legal persons risks and typologies observed.
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Notice 3007 Prohibition Against Lending
For all holders of a remittance licence that they must not carry on a business of granting any credit facility to any individual in Singapore, with effect from 10 September 2019.
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Consultation Paper on the Proposed Payment Services Notices on Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism
A consultation paper on new Notices to payment services providers on the prevention of money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, which applies to 3 classes of licensees – Money-Changing licence, Standard Payment Institution licence, and Major Payment Institution licence.
- Consultation number:
- P010-2019
- Start date:
- 06 June 2019
- Closing date:
- 05 July 2019
- Status:
- Open
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Payment Services Act
The Payment Services (PS) Act is a forward looking and flexible framework for the regulation of payment systems and payment service providers in Singapore. It provides for regulatory certainty and consumer safeguards, while encouraging innovation and growth of payment services and FinTech. Parliament passed the PS Act...