Pyvio gains Singapore licence for five payment services

By Grace Kim

Pyvio Network Technology Pte. Ltd. can offer five regulated payment services in Singapore under a Major Payment Institution licence that took effect on November 1, 2026. The Monetary Authority of Singapore granted the licence, and MAS’s Financial Institutions Directory lists the local entity as a Major Payment Institution.

The authorization covers five services. Pyvio described the licence as a “foundation” for starting regulated operations in Singapore and supporting wider regional expansion across Asia-Pacific.

What does the licence cover?

Pyvio listed the authorized activities as:

• Account issuance
• Domestic money transfer
• Cross-border money transfer
• Merchant acquisition
• E-money issuance

The five permissions place Pyvio’s Singapore entity in a broader regulatory category than standard payment institutions, which face specified transaction and float thresholds. Pyvio said the breadth supports a local operating base for regulated services, while the company has not said when those operations will begin.

Pyvio can operate all five services without those standard volume triggers.

How does major status change the rules?

Under Singapore’s Payment Services Act, a Major Payment Institution may provide licensed services without being subject to the transaction-volume and e-money-float thresholds for standard payment institutions, MAS said.

MAS’s licensing guidance sets the following thresholds. The first two exclude e-money account issuance and money changing:

• S$3 million ($2.3 million) in monthly transactions for any one service.
• S$6 million in monthly transactions for two or more services.
• S$5 million in daily outstanding e-money.

The first two tests track monthly transaction volume; the third tracks daily e-money balances outstanding. The change in status does not reduce the core supervisory burden. MAS says Major Payment Institutions remain subject to requirements covering capital, security deposits, compliance, technology risk management and audits.

Pyvio gains room to scale, but not a route around MAS oversight.

What is Pyvio’s Singapore strategy?

Pyvio said its Singapore business will use the licence to offer cross-border payment services to companies operating across Asia-Pacific.

Li Kai, Pyvio’s chief executive, said Singapore serves as a “link between Asia-Pacific and international markets.” He said the company would build its regional operations around the Singapore entity. The company has identified Singapore as a regional operating base.

Pyvio already had cross-border capabilities before the licence took effect. In 2024, the company partnered with Currencycloud, which Visa owns, to provide collection and payout capabilities for Chinese e-commerce businesses. Pyvio said the arrangement included access to more than 30 currencies and payments to more than 180 countries.

Currencycloud’s role is distinct from the licence. The 2024 partnership supplied collection and payout capabilities for Chinese e-commerce businesses; the Nov. 1 approval sets the licensed scope for Pyvio’s own Singapore entity.

MAS’s directory records Pyvio’s Singapore office at 71 Robinson Road. The regulator’s listing confirms the licence category. Pyvio, rather than MAS, disclosed the range of authorized services and the regional expansion plans.

Currencycloud supplies the existing international reach; the Singapore licence supplies the local regulatory base.

What remains unanswered?

Pyvio has not said when it will launch the Singapore services, how many customers it targets or what transaction volume it expects. It also disclosed no investment or hiring figures. The absence of those metrics leaves the commercial scale of the Nov. 1 approval undefined.

The disclosure gap leaves no basis in the announcement for sizing the Singapore build-out, its expected transaction volume or its hiring plan. Those omissions prevent a direct comparison between the licence’s scope and the scale of Pyvio’s existing cross-border business.

The Nov. 1 licence lets Pyvio operate five services without the standard transaction and float thresholds; without disclosing a launch date, customer goals, transaction-volume forecast, investment figures or hiring plan, the scale of its Singapore operation remains unproven.