Stage two: submission

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Applications are submitted electronically through the MAS licensing portal, with the applicant's Corppass credentials, using the prescribed form for a payment institution licence and the supplementary form for DPT services.¹ The application fee is payable on submission and is not refunded if the application is withdrawn or refused. The fee is set per payment service in the Schedule to the Payment Services Regulations 2019.²

MAS performs a completeness check within the first weeks. An application that lacks a required document, that names a director who has not completed the questionnaire or that omits the independent assessment arrangements is returned. The time to resubmit is lost. The completeness check is mechanical, but the substantive review does not begin until it is passed. Applicants who treat the submission as a draft to be improved during the review misjudge the process. MAS's reviewers assess what is submitted, so an application that is amended in substance after submission restarts parts of the review.

Notes

MAS, application forms for a standard or major payment institution licence, including the supplementary information required for digital payment token services, available on the MAS website and submitted through the MAS licensing portal. ↩
Payment Services Regulations 2019 (S 810/2019), reg. 5, providing that the fees specified in the Schedule are payable to MAS, as read on Singapore Statutes Online. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

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SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

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