Singapore legislation
Section 5
Section 5
No moneylending except under licence, etc.
(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 —
is authorised to do so by a licence;
is an excluded moneylender; or
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 —
made in the form and manner determined by the Registrar; and
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 —
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;
where the applicant does not satisfy the requirements of the class or description of the licence applied for; or
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.