How do you check if a company is MAS licensed? Search the MAS Financial Institutions Directory by institution name or license type to confirm the licenses it holds and the activities it is permitted to carry out; then cross-check the MAS Investor Alert List and the list of entities that are no longer exempt, to rule out entities mistaken for being regulated or that have lost their exemption. Businesses should take this step before working with any trading platform, custodian or payment institution.
How Do You Use the MAS Financial Institutions Directory?
The first step is to search the MAS Financial Institutions Directory by institution name, license type or activity, confirm the licenses the counterparty holds and its permitted activities, and verify its identity using the official contact details listed in the directory.
What Is the MAS Investor Alert List?
The second step is to cross-check the MAS Investor Alert List and the list of entities that are no longer exempt, to rule out entities that may be mistaken for being regulated or that have lost their exemption; not appearing on the Investor Alert List does not mean an entity is regulated.
What Else Should You Verify After Finding a License?
First, check that the license type matches the business. Singapore’s Payment Services Act provides for three classes of license: money-changing, Standard Payment Institution and Major Payment Institution, with Standard Payment Institutions subject to transaction volume caps; in 2024, MAS also expanded Digital Payment Token Service to cover custody services. Where a partnership involves custody or transfers, confirm that the counterparty’s permitted activities actually cover them; the scope of the license is explained in an overview of the DPT license in Singapore.
Second, check that the name and legal entity match. Confirm that the legal entity signing the contract with you and sending or receiving payments is the licensed institution listed in the directory, and not another company in the same group. MoneySense also cautions that MAS only regulates institutions with a presence in Singapore, and that dealing with unregulated entities means losing the corresponding protections.
Third, review regularly. License status can change, so it is advisable to check once before adding the counterparty’s address to a whitelist, then recheck periodically during the partnership. Building license checks into routine processes is explained in how to check whether a VASP is licensed.
Conclusion
When checking an MAS license, the Financial Institutions Directory is the authoritative source: confirm the license type, permitted activities and legal entity, then use the Investor Alert List and the list of entities no longer exempt for supplementary screening, and recheck regularly during the partnership. Other requirements for working with third-party service providers are set out in the MAS Outsourcing Guidelines.
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