The Paypers

Furthermore, the organisation added that these entities have to return all customers' funds by October 14 2020. Wirecard, a Germany-based digital payments company, filed for bankruptcy in June 2020 after disclosing that EUR 1.9 billion of cash, supposed to be in bank accounts in the Philippines, did not exist.

Singapore is home to Wirecard’s Asia-Pacific headquarters at Pasir Panjang. In 2019, the police raided Wirecard’s office here after an employee alleged that a member of the company’s finance team engaged in accounting breaches. MAS noted that Wirecard SG told the authority that it was unable to continue providing payment processing services to a significant number of merchants.

Hence, MAS assessed that it was in the interest of the public for Wirecard SG to cease its payments services and promptly return all customers' funds. It added that credit card payments at merchants using Wirecard SG's services, as well as the usage of pre-paid cards issued by the firm, would be affected. Other forms of e-payments such as Nets, PayNow, and SGQR will continue to be available.

Wirecard to cease payment services in Singapore, MAS directive