Singapore Payment Services Act 2026: MAS Licensing Update

The Payment Services Act 2019 (PSA) is the licensing regime for payment businesses supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It was widened by the Payment Services (Amendment) Act 2021, whose main provisions took effect on 4 April 2024, and since 30 June 2025 a separate regime under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 covers Singapore firms that provide digital token services only to customers abroad. This briefing was reviewed on 30 September 2026 against MAS publications and law-firm summaries of the commencement notices.

The seven regulated payment services

The PSA regulates seven payment services: account issuance, domestic money transfer, cross-border money transfer, merchant acquisition, e-money issuance, digital payment token (DPT) services and money-changing. A business that provides any of them in Singapore needs a licence unless an exemption applies.

Licence classes and thresholds

There are three licence classes.

Money-changing licence. For businesses that only change money.

Standard Payment Institution (SPI). For businesses that stay below the Major Payment Institution thresholds.

Major Payment Institution (MPI). Required once a business crosses any of these thresholds:

• more than S$3 million of monthly transactions in any one payment service (other than e-money issuance and money-changing);
• more than S$6 million of monthly transactions across two or more of those services;
• more than S$5 million of daily outstanding e-money.

A business licensed as an SPI is expected to monitor these thresholds itself and apply for an MPI licence before it exceeds them.

Minimum capital requirement for a PSA licence

The base capital requirement is S$100,000 for a Standard Payment Institution and S$250,000 for a Major Payment Institution (for a foreign company, net head office funds of the same amount). MPIs also post a security deposit with MAS and safeguard relevant customer money, for example through a trust account with a safeguarding institution or an undertaking or guarantee from a bank. A licensee keeps a permanent place of business in Singapore and at least one executive director who is a Singapore citizen or permanent resident.

What the 2024 amendments changed

From 4 April 2024 the Payment Services (Amendment) Act 2021 brought into scope:

• custody of digital payment tokens, and facilitating the transmission or exchange of DPTs even where the provider never holds the customer's money or tokens;
• cross-border money transfer arranged between two other countries, even where the money is never accepted or received in Singapore.

The amended regulations on safeguarding DPT customers' assets took effect six months later: customer assets are segregated from the provider's own, held on trust for customers, and backed by proper books and controls. MAS announced these protections on 3 July 2023 together with a restriction on lending and staking retail customers' tokens.

Digital token services offered only abroad (DTSP regime)

Since 30 June 2025, Part 9 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 requires a licence for Singapore-incorporated companies, and for individuals or partnerships operating from Singapore, that provide digital token services only to customers outside Singapore. There was no transition period, and MAS said it would generally not issue these licences; affected businesses were expected to stop operating from Singapore.

Planning a PSA application

• Map each product to one of the seven payment services before choosing between SPI and MPI. Volume projections decide the licence class.
• Prepare the AML/CFT policy, the risk assessment and the compliance officer before filing; MAS reviews them as part of the application.
• For DPT services, plan the custody and segregation set-up before filing, since the trust and segregation rules apply from day one of licensed operation.
• A Singapore entity is the usual starting point: see our Singapore Pte. Ltd. guide.

Where to go next: payment institution licensing in Singapore, Singapore licensing overview, Singapore company for fintech and Singapore banking.

Reviewed on 30 September 2026. MAS updates its notices, guidelines and licensing forms regularly; confirm current requirements at mas.gov.sg before you file. INNOVA advises on PSA applications and AML/CFT programmes; the licence is applied for and held by the client.