Sygnum gets in-principle approval from MAS for major payment institution licence

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has given Singtel-backed fintech startup Sygnum the green light to operate as a major payment institution.

The approval paves the way for it to expand its Singapore offering to include a regulated crypto brokerage service.

On Tuesday (Jun 13), the digital asset tech company said it has received in-principle approval from the financial regulator for its major payment institution licence application. Major payment institutions may provide payment services without being subject to the specified thresholds.

The brokerage platform to be activated will feature a fiat-digital asset gateway and trade execution for a range of cryptocurrencies. Users can expect to see live balance updates, and experience fast trade settlements, deep liquidity, and competitive spreads, it said.

Sygnum added that the licence will expand the range of its regulated activities, following the three-part capital markets services licence extension granted last year. 

The capital markets licence – which opens the door to companies that want to advise on corporate finance, among others – allowed Sygnum Singapore to launch its corporate finance advisory, capital market products, as well as asset and security token custodial services, it noted.

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The latest in-principle approval would thus strengthen Sygnum’s market position in Singapore and South-east Asia, said Gerald Goh, the company’s co-founder and Singapore chief executive officer.

He said Singapore has a “progressive, robust regulatory framework that provides investors the clarity and confidence to invest in digital assets – and future finance – with complete trust”.

Singapore’s granting of the country’s first capital markets services licence back in 2019 had allowed Sygnum Singapore to take an early mover market position, the company said.

Sygnum calls itself “the world’s first digital asset bank”. It has a stated mission of empowering professional and institutional investors, banks, corporates and distributed ledger technology foundations to invest in the digital asset economy with “complete trust”.

Apart from Singapore, Sygnum is also licensed in Switzerland, and regulated in Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg.