Singapore: Fintech / payments news updates

MAS establishes international advisory panel for cyber and technology resilience

On 25 September 2024, MAS announced the establishment of a Cyber and Technology Resilience Experts (CTREX) panel. The CTREX panel includes members from Microsoft, Amazon and Google Cloud. The CTREX panel replaces MAS’ Cyber Security Advisory Panel, with an expanded mandate to cover technology resilience which, together with cybersecurity, significantly underpins the operational resilience of the financial sector.

MAS stated that it looks forward to tapping on the CTREX panel to provide global perspectives to MAS and the industry on building important capabilities in technology resilience and managing of cyber risks.

MAS directs e-commerce platform to suspend provision of covered payment services

On 23 September 2024, MAS announced that it directed Qoo10 Pte Ltd (Qoo10) to suspend the provision of all payment services covered under the Payment Services Act 2019 (covered payment services) in Singapore from 23 September 2024. Between April and August 2024, MAS and other government agencies received several customer complaints against Qoo10 for delays in processing payments to these customers, who are merchants on Qoo10’s e-commerce platform. Qoo10 was asked to address these complaints, and while some were resolved, others remained outstanding. In early September 2024, Qoo10 informed MAS that a significant number of merchants will face payment delays.

To date, Qoo10 has been unable to provide sufficient assurance that it had the resources and systems to meet its payment obligations to merchants in a timely manner. MAS has thus directed Qoo10 to suspend its covered payment services in Singapore from 23 September 2024.

This suspension does not prohibit Qoo10 from operating its e-commerce platform, but it may need to engage a third-party payment service provider for transactions on this platform. MAS will review the suspension when Qoo10 is able to satisfy MAS of its ability to resolve the payment delays and safeguard the interest of its customers in Singapore on an ongoing basis.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (Minister) responds to parliamentary question on risks relating to Worldcoin’s operations in Singapore

On 9 September 2024, members of parliament asked in relation to Worldcoin’s Singapore operations:

(a) whether there are regulations in place relating to the sale of Worldcoin accounts;

(b) what are the implications of such accounts being sold to a third party;

(c) whether there is a risk of these accounts being used for money laundering or fraudulent transactions;

(d) whether MAS has assessed the risks of Worldcoin’s operations in Singapore, including issues relating to data privacy, scams and cryptocurrencies; and

(e) how will measures be enhanced to deter criminal activities relating to Worldcoin in Singapore.

The Minister responded that:

(a) the Payment Services Act 2019 (PS Act) prohibits persons who are unlicensed or not exempted from providing a payment service under the PS Act. Based on information provided to MAS, Worldcoin does not perform a payment service under the PS Act. However, persons who buy or sell Worldcoin accounts and tokens as a business may be providing a payment service;

(b) the Police are investigating seven subjects for their suspected involvement in offering the services of buying or selling of Worldcoin accounts and tokens, which constitute offences under the PS Act. The Police have also issued a press release on 7 August 2024 to advise members of the public against giving away or selling their Worldcoin accounts, which may then be misused for criminal activities such as money laundering and terrorism financing; and

(c) on data privacy, the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC), under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), governs the collection, use, disclosure and care of personal data by organisations in Singapore. Organisations that handle such data, including biometric data, must ensure they put in place the necessary data protection and security arrangements to address the risks involved, when designing and operating their systems and processes; and

(d) that consumers should beware of inducements to transfer access of their digital payment token wallet or World ID as these accounts could be misused by third parties. The Minister cautioned consumers against doing so.