The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced Monday that it has directed e-commerce platform Qoo10 Pte Ltd (Qoo10) to suspend the provision of all payment services cin Singapore from Tuesday.

MAS said in a statement that this suspension does not prohibit Qoo10 from operating its e-commerce platform, but it may need to engage a third-party payment service provider for transactions on this platform.

MAS will review the suspension when Qoo10 is able to satisfy MAS of its ability to resolve the payment delays and safeguard the interest of its customers in Singapore on an ongoing basis.

According to the statement, when the Payment Services Act 2019 (PS Act) was introduced, existing payment service providers were exempted and could continue these services pending the review of their license applications by MAS. This is so that these services are not disrupted pending licensing.

Qoo10 is not licensed by MAS, but was exempted and could continue conducting payment services while its license application is being reviewed.

Between April and August 2024, MAS and other government agencies received several customer complaints against Qoo10 for delays in processing payments to these customers, who are merchants on Qoo10’s e-commerce platform.

Qoo10 was asked to address these complaints, and while some were resolved, others remained outstanding.

In early September 2024, Qoo10 informed MAS that a significant number of merchants will face payment delays.

MAS engaged with the management of Qoo10 about these delays and expressed our serious concerns.

MAS also provided opportunities to Qoo10 to remedy these concerns and required the company to take steps to satisfy MAS that it would be able to meet its obligations to merchants on an ongoing basis, including engaging a third-party payment service provider to offer the covered services.

To date, Qoo10 has been unable to provide sufficient assurance that it had the resources and systems to meet its payment obligations to merchants in a timely manner.

MAS has thus directed Qoo10 to suspend its covered payment services in Singapore from 23 September 2024.

MAS has had to carefully consider the potential disruption the suspension could cause to Qoo10’s e-commerce platform or other services that are integrated with the covered payments services.

However, permitting Qoo10 to continue providing covered payments services would expose more merchants using Qoo10’s covered payment services to risks of larger outstanding obligations and potential losses.

Qoo10 will be permitted to make payments to satisfy outstanding claims by such merchants, but may not take on new payment obligations.

“Merchants facing payment delays should raise their concerns with Qoo10. If the concerns remain unresolved, there are established processes in place to assist merchants in resolving commercial disputes, inclusive of debt recovery,” MAS said.

For example, MAS said they can consider filing a civil claim with the courts.

“Merchants who face cash flow difficulties because of the payment delays may contact any of the participating Financial Institutions listed on Enterprise Singapore’s website to apply for the Enterprise Financing Scheme (Working Capital Loan),” it added.

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