What are stored value facilities?
The Singapore Stored Value Facilities (SVF) are corporate structures used for holding and managing online accounts, virtual currencies, prepaid debit cards as well as online payment processing. It is comparable to E-money institutions in Europe.
Stored value facilities (SVF) are prepaid instruments that can be used for the payment of goods or services up to the amount that has been stored in the instrument.
There are two types of SVF, namely single-purpose and multipurpose SVF.
Regulation
The Payment Systems (Oversight) Act (PS(O)A) and its related regulations govern the issuance and management of SVFs.
Single Purpose SVF (stored value facility)
A single-purpose SVF can only be used for the payment of goods and services provided by the issuer of the SVF, and not by any third party. An example of single-purpose SVF is the prepaid telephone card, which can only be used to pay for telephone services provided by the issuer.
Multipurpose SVF (stored value facility)
A multipurpose SVF can be used for the purchase of goods and services provided by the issuer as well as third parties. The ez-link card and Nets Cash Card are examples of multi-purpose SVF.
Are all SVFs approved by MAS?
MAS only approves widely accepted SVF (WA SVF), which are multi-purpose SVF with a total outstanding stored value of $30 million or more. The entity that holds the money collected from users of the WA SVF has to be approved by MAS. For SVF with total outstanding stored values below $30 million, MAS' approval is not required and any entity can issue such SVF. Single-purpose SVF schemes also do not require MAS' approval.
Next Steps
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