In forceAmended2020 Revised Edition

Contents

Moneylenders Act 2008 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Licensing of Moneylenders

5. No moneylending except under licence, etc.

In plain English

Only licensed, excluded or exempt moneylenders may run or claim to run a moneylending business in Singapore. This includes a business run from outside Singapore. The registrar may grant a licence with or without conditions, refuse it, or later change its conditions by written notice. A licence lasts 12 months or another prescribed period.

Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.

Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2018.

(1)

A person must not carry on or hold out in any way that the person is carrying on the business of moneylending in Singapore, whether as principal or as agent, unless the person —

(a)

is authorised to do so by a licence;

(b)

is an excluded moneylender; or

(c)

is an exempt moneylender.

(2)

For the purposes of subsection (1), a person who wholly or partly carries on, from a place outside Singapore, the business of moneylending in Singapore is taken to have carried on that business in Singapore.

(3)

The Minister may prescribe different classes or descriptions of licences for the purposes of this Act.

(4)

An application for the issue of a licence must be —

(a)

made in the form and manner determined by the Registrar; and

(b)

accompanied by the payment of a non-refundable application fee of a prescribed amount, which must be paid in the manner specified by the Registrar.

(5)

The Registrar may issue a licence with or without conditions, or may refuse to issue a licence.

(6)

Without affecting sections 7 and 8, the Registrar must not issue a licence —

(a)

where any information or statement furnished by the applicant that is material to the application for the issue of a licence under this section is incomplete, false or misleading;

(b)

where the applicant does not satisfy the requirements of the class or description of the licence applied for; or

(c)

where the applicant does not place with the Accountant‑General as security for the proper conduct of the applicant’s business of moneylending in Singapore, in the form determined by the Registrar, a deposit of such amount as the Minister may prescribe, for each place of business in respect of which the applicant is to be licensed.

(7)

Every licence comes into operation on the date specified in the licence, and is valid for a period of 12 months or any other prescribed period specified in the licence.

(8)

The Registrar may at any time, by written notice to the licensee, vary or revoke any of the existing conditions of the licence or impose new conditions.

Terms defined in s 2

excluded moneylender
Defined · s 2
“excluded moneylender” means —(a)any body corporate, incorporated or empowered by an Act of Parliament to lend money in accordance with that Act;(b)any person licensed, approved, registered or otherwise regulated by the Authority under any other written law, to the extent that the person is permitted or authorised to lend money or is not prohibited from lending money under that other written law;(c)any society registered as a credit society under the Co‑operative Societies Act 1979;(d)any pawnbroker licensed under the Pawnbrokers Act 2015;(e)any person who —(i)lends money solely to the person’s employees as a benefit of employment;(ii)lends money solely to accredited investors within the meaning of section 4A of the Securities and Futures Act 2001;(iii)lends money solely to —(A)corporations;(B)limited liability partnerships;(C)trustees or trustee-managers (as the case may be) of business trusts for the purposes of the business trusts;(D)trustees of real estate investment trusts for the purposes of the real estate investment trusts,or who carries on any combination of such activities or services; or(f)any person carrying on any business not having for its primary object the lending of money in the course of which and for the purposes of which the person lends money;
Open s 2
exempt moneylender
Defined · s 2
“exempt moneylender” means any moneylender who has been granted an exemption under section 91 or 92 from holding a licence;
Open s 2
licence
Defined · s 2
“licence” means a moneylender’s licence issued or renewed under this Act, and “licensee” is to be construed accordingly;
Open s 2
principal
Defined · s 2
“principal”, in relation to a loan, means the amount actually lent by a moneylender under the contract for the loan;
Open s 2
Registrar
Defined · s 2
“Registrar” means the Registrar of Moneylenders appointed under section 4 and includes a Deputy Registrar of Moneylenders and an Assistant Registrar of Moneylenders appointed under that section;
Open s 2

Report

Read on from s 6

Part 2A

Freezing of Proceeds of Unlicensed Moneylending

Read on from Part 2A

Part 3

Regulation of Business of Moneylending, Enforcement and Proceedings

Read on from Part 3

Part 3A

Collection, Use and Disclosure of Borrower Information and Data

Read on from Part 3A

Part 4

Miscellaneous

Read on from Part 4