Page 14 - Building a Treasury Centre for Sustainable Growth

LEGAL & REGULATORY REGIMES SUPPORT

CASH MANAGEMENT AND RISK HEDGING TOOLS

#1 Singapore is the largest FX centre in Asia Pacific

Legal and regulatory considerations
Payment services

▪ Payment systems and payment services providers are regulated under the
Payment Services Act 2019 by MAS, the Singapore central bank. The Payment
Services Act which came into force in January 2020 sets out a forward-looking
and flexible framework that facilitates innovation in payment services and
mitigates risks across the payments value chain. MAS supervises critical
payment systems by a designation regime under the Payment Services Act to
ensure stability, fair competition and market efficiency in the financial system
of Singapore.

Dealing in exchange-traded and OTC derivatives contracts

▪ A person who carries on business in dealing in capital markets products must be
licensed as a capital markets services holder under the Securities and Futures
Act (SFA), unless exempted. Capital markets products include securities, units
in a collective investment schemes, exchange-traded as well as over-the-
counter (OTC) derivatives contracts, and spot foreign exchange contracts for
the purpose of leveraged foreign exchange trading.

Mandatory reporting obligations of OTC derivatives contracts

▪ Financial institutions and persons with significant derivatives activities may
be subject to the requirements to report prescribed information of specified
derivatives contracts to a licensed trade repository or licensed foreign trade
repository. Specified derivatives contracts include interest rate, credit, foreign
exchange, commodity and equity derivatives contracts which are traded or
booked in Singapore. This reporting obligation applies only to OTC derivatives
activity and does not apply to inter-branch transactions. Intra-group
transactions are however subject to the reporting obligation.

12 Building a Treasury Centre for Sustainable Growth