Safe Haven

Fintech buying in Singapore lives or dies on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS): licensing, local payment rails, and how customer data is handled under the PDPA decide whether a slick demo survives onboarding and audit. Use this checklist before you shortlist or sign.

How to evaluate a fintech provider in Singapore

• Confirm the licensing position first: check the MAS Financial Institutions Directory yourself, and pin down whether the vendor holds its own Payment Services Act licence (standard or major payment institution, money-changing, or digital payment token scope), white-labels another institution's licence, or operates inside the MAS regulatory sandbox.
• Treat security frameworks as the floor, not the finish: ask for the actual ISO 27001 / SOC 2 Type II audit, auditor, and date, plus PCI-DSS if card data is in scope, and for regulated work ask how controls map to the MAS Technology Risk Management (TRM) Guidelines and Notice 655 / cyber-hygiene rules rather than a generic checklist.
• Verify they speak Singapore's payment rails natively: get PayNow proxy resolution, SGQR, and FAST integration confirmed in writing, with settlement timing, reconciliation, and chargeback handling spelled out — 'we support PayNow' can mean anything from full proxy resolution to a static QR.
• Match the vendor to your sub-type and demand references in it: payments, regtech (KYC/AML and transaction monitoring), wealthtech, insurtech, and lending are different disciplines, so strength in card acquiring does not imply strength in automated onboarding or credit decisioning.
• Lock down the data and cost model before signing: under the PDPA you stay accountable for customer data the vendor processes, so require purpose limitation, breach-notification timelines, and sub-processor and overseas-transfer controls — and get written unit economics (per-transaction or percentage fees, platform costs, settlement and FX spreads) rather than one headline number.

Verify for Safe Haven

• Confirm key details directly with the vendor — this listing isn't vendor-managed yet.
• Ask for two recent Singapore client references you can speak with.
• Ask for a written scope of services before comparing quotes.
• Request evidence of relevant certifications and their current validity.

Questions to ask

• Under which MAS licence or arrangement do you operate, and can I verify it on the MAS Financial Institutions Directory today?
• Can you confirm in writing your PayNow, SGQR, and FAST integration, including settlement timing, reconciliation, and chargeback handling?
• How do your security controls map to the MAS TRM Guidelines, and who is your most recent ISO 27001 / SOC 2 Type II auditor and audit date?
• Can you share two Singapore clients in my fintech sub-type and size that I can speak to?