Monetary Authority of Singapore plans payments council
“Simple, seamless, and secure for all Singaporeans”
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) says it will establish a Payments Council with the plan to create an “e-payment society” for the city state.
The new council will comprise 20 people from banks, payment service providers, businesses, and trade associations. Members are appointed for a two-year term.
MAS says the setting up of the council is part of a series of initiatives it is taking towards “realising the vision of an e-payments society in Singapore”.
These initiatives include the development of solutions like PayNow (requires only a mobile and identity card numbers to enrol); supporting the introduction and roll-out of unified point-of-sale terminals at merchants; and introducing new legislation to safeguard consumer interests and help payment solutions.
Ravi Menon, managing director at MAS and the new Payments Council chair, says: “Our mission is to make e-payments simple, seamless, and secure for all Singaporeans.”
The council will formally bring together the providers and users of payment services in Singapore. It will do the usual stuff – encourage collaboration within the industry, promote interoperability among solutions, develop strategies to drive adoption, and advise and make recommendations to MAS on policies.
In addition, MAS has issued its summary of responses to the feedback on the public consultation on the Payments Council. MAS says most respondents welcomed its formation – and this feedback can be found on its website. A detailed response to the feedback will be published in November 2017.
Staying alive
MAS is usually up to something in the fintech world.
Last month, it called for a second reading of a Bill that it says will ensure a sound and resilient financial system for the city-state.
In June, it laid down some guidelines and asked for opinions on providing robo-advisory services.
While in May, MAS and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) started working together to establish and develop their ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN).
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Deadline for submitting the nominations is 25 August 2017.
