Wirecard Ordered By MAS: Stop Singapore-Based Payment Services
Ali Raza by Ali Raza
October 1, 2020
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has made an announcement today. This announcement was in regards to its ordering of all Wirecard entities within Singapore (Wirecard SG) to terminate their payment services within Singapore at large. The company has to the 14th of October, 2020, to return all the funds of its customers.
Things Were Rigged From The Start
The AMS has been keeping a close eye on the impact the insolvency of Wirecard AG had on Wirecard SG’s ability to continue providing various payment services within Singapore. In recent months, MAS has been closely engaging with Wirecard SG in order to safeguard the interests of the customers of Wirecard SG.
This includes mandating that Wirecard SG keep the funds of its customers in Singapore-based banks, as well as allowing assistance to customers that feel the need to switch over to another, alternative service provider.
Incapable Of Providing Services
Wirecard had deemed it fit to inform MAS that it would be incapable of providing payment processing services to a large array of its merchants. As such, the regulator has concluded that the best course of action for the public’s best interest, is that Wirecard SG cease all of its payment services.
Alongside this, Wirecard SG is mandated to return all of its customer funds, as well. With this move, the greatest amount of certainty is given to customers, in regard to what is the appropriate course of action. This includes seeking out alternative payment service providers, in the process.
With Wirecard SG having its payment services ceased within Singapore, this will affect an array of services. Examples of affected services are the usage of pre-paid cards issued by Wirecard SG, as well as credit card payments at merchants making use of Wirecard SG’s services. It should be noted, however, that other forms of e-payments will be available, examples being PayNow, NETS, and SGQR.
MAS has encouraged customers that have yet to make alternative arrangements, to do so promptly.
A Troubling Year
Wirecard AG, the original branch of Wirecard, was forced to file for insolvency in one of the largest financial scandals of the year. The company had faked an array of figures within it, in order to attract more customers, with some of the top figures in its senior executives being on the run with stolen funds.
It seems that the ripple-effect of that fiasco is yet to die down. One of the first effects of this, was that an array of crypto-card services were forced to go offline due to its reliance on Wirecard for these services. It wasn’t long, however, before these crypto-card services found other providers, and the world simply kept on turning.