Finance News

Story: Singapore Cements Payments Hub Dominance as Cross-Border Links Multiply

By Sakamoto Nashi

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Singapore's payments revolution keeps accelerating. The city-state pretty much nailed domestic digital adoption and now it's going hard after cross-border opportunities, banking…

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A fresh PwC Singapore and Singapore FinTech Association report called "Payments' State of Play 2026" shows just how far things have come.

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Domestic market's getting saturated though.

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Cross-border payments and new financial tools will drive the next wave of growth, according to Wong Wanyi, FinTech Leader at PwC Singapore.

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PayNow already links up with Thailand's PromptPay and Malaysia's DuitNow, letting people send money using just mobile numbers.

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The remittance market looks promising too. Numbers should jump from $8.05 billion in 2022 to $13.

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Stablecoins are becoming serious payment tools under MAS regulatory oversight. GrabPay's integration with OKX Pay and StraitsX shows how stablecoins can work for everyday…

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The report talks about a "layered utility approach" for stablecoins. Companies test retail payments, treasury functions, and tokenised products all at once.

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Singapore's FX market ties into all this payments activity. Daily trading volumes reached $1.485 trillion in April 2025, up 60% from 2022.

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Fraud keeps getting worse though. Scam losses hit SGD 1.1 billion in 2024, with crypto scams making up a big chunk.

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AI-driven fraud detection, programmable money, and embedded finance will shape what comes next.

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Interoperability and consumer protection still need attention as regional payment links expand.

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MAS dropped new guidelines on January 15, 2026, targeting transparency and security for digital payment platforms.

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DBS Bank launched a stablecoin pilot program in February 2026, integrating digital currencies into payment systems for retail and corporate clients.

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Grab Financial Group announced a Ripple partnership on February 3, 2026, for cross-border payments using blockchain tech.

The Currency Analytics

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