Singapore, 30 June 2020…The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said today that Wirecard entities in Singapore (“Wirecard”) have complied with MAS’ directions to hold customers’ funds in segregated accounts with banks in Singapore. MAS is closely monitoring the operations of Wirecard.
2 Wirecard’s primary business activities in Singapore are to process payments for merchants and help companies issue pre-paid cards. Wirecard has informed MAS that it is assessing its ability to continue providing its services in Singapore in light of the filing for insolvency in Germany by its parent company Wirecard AG. Credit card payments at merchants using Wirecard’s services, as well as usage of pre-paid cards issued by Wirecard, will be affected if it ceases operations here.
3 MAS has informed Wirecard of our expectations that they promptly notify customers in advance of any disruption to their services. There are alternative payment service providers available to merchants. Other forms of e-payments such as NETS, PayNow and SGQR continue to be available.
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Notes to Editor:
Wirecard entities in Singapore are not currently licensed by MAS. The Payment Services (Exemption for Specified Period) Regulations 2019, which were made under the Payment Services Act 2019 (“PS Act”), provides for a grace period ranging from 6 months to a year for entities providing certain regulated payment services to apply for the relevant licence. During this grace period, such entities may provide the regulated payment service without a licence and MAS may issue directions to such entities.
The PS Act, which regulates the provision of payment services in Singapore, came into force on 28 January 2020. Payment services regulated under the Act include both newly regulated payment services, such as merchant acquisition services, and services which were already regulated by previous legislation, such as money-changing and cross-border money transfer services.
All persons that provide payment services under the PS Act must be licensed by the MAS. We have begun accepting licence applications under the PS Act from 28 January 2020 onwards.