Local fintech company Fomo Pay has obtained licences from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to operate three new regulated activities.

Starting from yesterday, merchants are able to leverage Fomo Pay's services to accept and process payment transactions.

Fomo Pay is also able to carry out local money transfer services in Singapore for its clients, as well as facilitate transactions with digital payment tokens - including cryptocurrency and the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

CBDCs are digital currencies that are backed by central banks. They have been gaining attention for their potential to improve cross-border payments.

With the new licences, Fomo Pay is now able to conduct four out of seven key regulated activities under the Payment Services Act licensing framework. Previously, the company had bagged a cross-border transfer services licence from MAS.

Fomo Pay was founded in 2015 and started by connecting online and offline merchants to digital payment methods such as e-wallets and credit cards, to name a few.

Today, it services more than 10,000 merchants spanning the retail, telecommunications, tourism and hospitality, food and beverage, education and e-commerce industries.

Fomo Pay chief executive and founder Louis Liu said the company will continue to invest in the research and development of blockchain technology and the CBDC experiment, as it looks towards implementing and contributing towards efficient payment systems for the next generation.

THE BUSINESS TIMES