AEI Legal is part of the inaugural Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) x Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) Payment Regulatory Evaluation Program (PREP), designed to help connect the payments industry with specialised legal service providers.

As a technology law-focused firm, we are delighted to be part of such a forward-thinking initiative. Singapore’s new Payment Services Act is the springboard to many opportunities.

If you are a payments service provider with questions, we’d love to talk to you.

On 14 January 2019, Singapore’s Parliament passed the Payment Services Act, which regulates payment services & places regulatory oversight with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The Act comprises 2 regulatory frameworks.

The designation regime enables MAS to designate significant payment systems for financial stability and efficiency & competition reasons.

The licensing regime covers 7 types of services: account issuance, domestic money transfers, cross-border money transfers, merchant acquisition, e-money issuance, digital payment token dealing and exchanges, and money-changing. There will be 3 tiers of licences: money-changing licences, standard payment institutions which may provide services up to a specified transaction flow or e-money float threshold, and major payment institutions, who will be subject to more regulation due to the higher associated risk.

This will make Singapore one of the first financial services regulators in the world to introduce a regulatory framework for digital payment token services.