“While the total amount of “Buy Now Pay Later” (BNPL) transactions in Singapore increased to S$440 million last year compared to S$114 million in 2020, it is still “much less than 1 per cent” of total credit and debit card payments last year. Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam noted this in his written reply to a question by Nee Soon Member of Parliament (MP) Derrick Goh in Parliament on Monday (12 September). Goh had asked for the current total value of BNPL loans in Singapore and the growth rate of these loans in the past 12 months. He also enquired whether an industry code for effective industry self-regulation will be developed and whether the government will consider requiring BNPL providers to report such loans to the Credit Bureau for financial players to properly assess consumers’ credit worthiness.”

“At least five Indian banks, including the State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, are in discussions with Singapore’s DBS Bank to start a real-time remittance system using UPI as the backbone, reported The Economic Times on Wednesday. The banks are in discussions to start a common remittance platform with the city-state in collaboration with Singapore’s PayNow funds’ transfer service, reported ET quoting people familiar with the matter. This will make the international funds’ transfer process real-time, instead of taking more than one day.”

“Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have agreed to initiate cooperation on cross-border Quick Response (QR) code-based payment linkage between Indonesia and Singapore to encourage payment connectivity in ASEAN.”Bank Indonesia believes that the initiative marks an important milestone in strengthening bilateral financial cooperation between Singapore and Indonesia,” Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo remarked here on Monday.He said that the initiative to encourage the digitalization of cross-border payments was also a priority of Indonesia’s 2022 G20 Presidency and the ASEAN Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in April 2022.The initiative is in line with the G20’s attempts to overcome potential obstacles in global cross-border payment activities and support post-pandemic economic growth.”

“The Mojaloop Foundation today announced the launch of its Mojaloop Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Center of Excellence (COE) in Singapore to advance financial inclusion in emerging markets. In addition, the Mojaloop Foundation announced the appointment of Nick Drury, a seasoned executive with nearly 25 years of experience innovating payments technology to drive inclusion, as the Mojaloop CBDC COE Director. Nick will oversee the operations and strategic growth of the COE and its initiatives, such as hackathons, workshops, and pilot projects. Through these efforts, the COE will examine how Mojaloop open source software can leverage CBDCs to reduce the costs and inefficiencies of fast payment platforms and cross-border payments.”

“E-commerce giant Amazon has announced that it will impose a 0.5 per cent surcharge on Visa credit card transactions on its Singapore website, Amazon.sg, from Sept 15. An Amazon spokesman told The Straits Times that Singapore is the first country where this surcharge will be imposed, but added that the high cost of accepting card payments is a global problem. The surcharge will apply to most purchases made on Amazon.sg, such as apparel and consumer electronics sold by third parties, or Amazon itself, from Singapore or overseas.”

“Many officials in Singapore , though, aren’t convinced Gen Z consumers like Lee are spending wisely. The growing popularity of BNPL services among young Singaporeans is unnerving regulators and politicians who fear BNPL apps prey on 20-somethings who may be financially naive. “Young adults without sufficient financial awareness can have access to credit lines before they have the necessary earning capacity,” said Cheryl Chan, a Member of Parliament from the ruling People’s Action Party, in an email. “This is an unhealthy trend.” Among those sounding the alarm is the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state’s central bank, which has launched a media campaign warning the payment methods may lead to debt and consumer credit risk.”

“Singapore sees more investments pouring into financial technology firms this year as the city-state seeks to become a regional hub for capital raising in areas from payments to robo-advisory, according to a top central bank official. Such investments have risen from around $20 million in 2014 to a record $1.1 billion last year, and more is expected this year, Sopnendu Mohanty, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s chief fintech officer, said in an interview…Mohanty has been involved with efforts like Partior , the joint venture between JPMorgan Chase & Co., Temasek Holdings Pte. and DBS Group Holdings Ltd., that’s a new blockchain-based platform for payments, trade and foreign-exchange settlement. He is also keen to expand a cross-border payments infrastructure, that has kicked off with Thailand allowing people in both countries to almost immediately move money via their mobile phones through government-backed systems.”

“Rapyd, a London-based startup fintech, announced the launch of a Singapore payments platform that will help enable cashless transactions for businesses and consumers.  The firm, which received a remittance license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore last month, said it will roll out a comprehensive payments platform that will allow a range of bank transfers, conversion of cash to digital payments and expand the use of e-wallets like GrabPay and OCBC Pay Anyone.”

“Singapore continues to lead in digital payment services adoption across Southeast Asia with 52% of Singaporeans already using such services, according to Google and Temasek’s e-Conomy SEA 2018 report. It was followed by Indonesia and Malaysia at 46% and 45%, respectively.”

“Over 19,000 QR codes will be replaced with SGQR codes from this month. Currently, several QR codes can be displayed at one retailer to support various e-payment schemes, which can confuse consumers. At the same time, the Government said it would open the interbank payment gates to fintech firms by 2019. Allowing non-bank players to get direct access to the national Fast and Secure Transfers (FAST) transaction system is expected to lead to greater innovation and better cashless payments services for consumers.”

“Fresh from announcing the Digital Readiness Blueprint to help every Singaporean navigate a digital future of cashless payments and other innovations last Saturday, the Government laid out its own targets in the Digital Government Blueprint. For instance, the SingPass Mobile app to be implemented later this year will enable users to access government services without the need for physical tokens or SMS passwords, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean at the start of the Smart Nation Innovations Week at the Marina Bay Sands. The app will allow Singaporeans to “pay our bills or sign documents online, apply for public housing”, and even “buy or sell a house or a car”, said Mr Teo.”