Singapore's regulatory authorities have introduced a new bill that will affect e-wallets and digital currencies in the country's parliament.
The Payment Services Law, the payment providers not regulated by the Money Transfer and Transfer of Funds Act and the Payment Systems Control Act, will be regulated by the Central Bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) .
This came in the wake of the increasing use of digital currencies and the recognition that the current legislation did not adequately cover them .
In addition to digital currency regulation , other activities included in the Payment Services Bill include both domestic and international remittances and foreign exchange transactions .
The statement of the Monetary Authority of Singapore:
" Payment services organized under the draft law are: a) account issuing service; b) local money transfer service; c) cross-border money transfer service; Digital; g) money changing service ".
To provide the listed payment services, service providers will be required to obtain licenses consistent with the risks posed by the payment services provided. Payment services will be classified as primary payment institutions, standard payment institutions or money changers. The difference between a major payment institution and a standard payment institution is transaction volume. The latter is limited to transaction amounts not exceeding $ 3 million per month and e-currencies are not more than $ 5 million .
Among other requirements, applicants for the above licenses will be required to be companies (either incorporated abroad or in Singapore) who have a permanent place of business in the Southeast Asian country or at least a registered office .
With regard to the grace period provided to ensure compliance, the central bank system will be more stringent with payment services dealing in digital currencies . While other payment service providers will have up to 12 months of commitment once the bill is signed into law, the providers of digital payment codes will have only six months to ensure compliance .
The Monetary Authority of Singapore hopes that the bill covers more providers of payment services while providing regulatory clarity for the sector :
" The new framework will extend the scope of regulation to include domestic remittances, merchant acquisition, buying and selling of virtual currencies, requiring only authorization of payment activities facing customers or merchants, processing funds or obtaining transactions, and developing related regulatory concerns ."
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