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Payments Regulation in Asia
PUBLIC REPORTING OF CARD FEES
Costs of various payment rails in Singapore are not widely reported. The MAS provides semi-annual retail payment statistics in 6-month intervals. 178 These statistics include ACH system reporting, Card-Present and Card-Not-Present, E-money, and ATM volume and transaction counts as well as average transaction size. 179 From a cost specific standpoint, DBS, a nationally owned bank reported merchant discount rates (MDR) for Visa, Mastercard, JCB, and Union Pay transactions for retail merchants and service-based merchants at 2.5% and 3.0% respectively. The ecommerce rate for both retail and service-based merchants was 3.0% 180 in 2017. NETS, the local scheme for QR codes, has reported a transaction fee of .08%. Outside of informal, ad hoc commentary from MAS, there is little public cost reporting for various payment systems within Singapore. 181
ANALYSIS OF PUBLICLY AVAILABLE CARD FEES
To gauge card fees paid in Singapore would require more up to date MDR data considering the fast developments of the payments landscape of Singapore. While the local debit and QR operator NETS has in the past provided pricing data, that data is no longer available. Individual articles have published the older rates including 2.5% MDR for retail merchants at POS and 3% MDR for service-based merchants at POS as well as the 3% uniform ecommerce rates. Former Managing Director Menon has stated achievements of the Fast and Secure Transfer (FAST) and PayNow platforms operating at zero cost to consumers and businesses to move money in real time . 182
178
https://www.mas.gov.sg/statistics/payment-statistics/semi-annual-retail-payment-statistics
179
https://www.mas.gov.sg/statistics/payment-statistics/semi-annual-retail-payment-statistics
180 https://www.dbs.com.sg/iwov-resources/forms/sgsme/en/day-to-day/accounts/business-account/mer- chant-services-pricing.pdf 181 https://wise.com/sg/blog/credit-card-merchant-fees-singapore 182 https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/speeches/2023/shaping-the-financial-ecosystem-of-the-future
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