PSA: Payment Services Act 2019
The Payment Services Act 2019 (Act 2 of 2019) is Singapore's statute for licensing payment service providers, under the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It creates three licences, money-changing, standard payment institution, and major payment institution, covering services from e-money and remittance to merchant acquisition and digital payment tokens.
At a glance
| Official title | Payment Services Act 20191 |
|---|---|
| English title | Payment Services Act 2019 |
| Citation | Act 2 of 2019 (2020 Rev. Ed.) |
| Jurisdiction | Singapore |
| Type | act |
| In force from | 2020-01-28 |
| Status | in force |
Full text
Official full text: Payment Services Act 2019 (PDF, en)1 · 721 KB · file checked 2026-09-24 · consolidated version of 2025-03-09
Official page: sso.agc.gov.sg1
Summary
The Payment Services Act 2019 sets Singapore's licensing regime for payment service providers under the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The First Schedule lists seven payment services: account issuance, domestic and cross-border money transfer, e-money issuance, merchant acquisition, money-changing, and digital payment token (DPT) services. Providers need a licence. Which one depends on scale: a money-changing licence, a standard payment institution licence, or a major payment institution licence, unless an exemption applies. The Act also sets conduct-of-business rules, requires customer money to be safeguarded, imposes security requirements, and runs an approval regime for controllers and officers. Regulators keep audit powers and can act on unlicensed activity or false information. Designated payment systems and their operators fall under the same Act, and transitional provisions carry over licences and exemptions from the two laws it replaced: the Money-Changing and Remittance Businesses Act and the Payment Systems (Oversight) Act.
Summary written by the Atlas from the official text; the law itself prevails.
Main articles
- s.5: Provide payment services without a licence, and the penalty is a fine, up to 3 years in prison, or both.
- s.6: Three licence types: money-changing, standard payment institution, and major payment institution.
- s.11: A licence can lapse, be revoked, or be suspended, not least for failing the fit-and-proper test.
- s.14: A licensee keeps a permanent place of business or registered office in Singapore, and has to flag any change of address.
- s.28: Division 3 governs a change of control: who may hold a controlling stake in a licensee, and on what terms.
- s.34: Appointing a chief executive, a director or a partner at a licensee needs the Authority's sign-off first.
Licences it governs
Regulators that apply it
Sources
- sso.agc.gov.sg: PSA2019 · retrieved 2026-09-24
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