Qoo10 ordered to suspend payments in Singapore

It was unable to prove it can meet its payment obligations to merchants on time, MAS said.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has directed Qoo10 to suspend payments following reports of processing delays.

The suspension does not prohibit Qoo10 from operating its e-commerce platform. Qoo10 will be permitted to make payments to satisfy outstanding claims by such merchants but may not take on new payment obligations.

It may need to engage a third-party payment service provider for transactions, MAS said.

“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 stated in a press release.

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

Qoo10 was reportedly asked to address these complaints, but not everything was resolved.

MAS said that it engaged with the management of Qoo10 about the delays and expressed serious concerns. 

“MAS 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,” the central bank said.

MAS said that it carefully considered the potential disruption the suspension could cause to Qoo10.

“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,” MAS said.

Under the Payment Services Act 2019, existing payment service providers were exempted and could continue these services pending the review of their licence applications by MAS. 

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