In a parliamentary reply by its chairman, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the Government does not support allowing registered PayNow retail users to adopt nicknames on a case by case basis. The response aligns with the Association of Banks in Singapore's decision to discontinue the PayNow nickname feature after scammers used nicknames on compromised accounts to impersonate legitimate entities and trusted individuals and induce victims to transfer funds. The reply said exceptions would undermine the purpose of the current policy because PayNow participating institutions cannot reliably assess whether nickname requests are legitimate and could end up approving names later used in impersonation scams. The current PayNow name display format was adopted after industry and consumer consultations to give payers enough information to transact with confidence while preserving a reasonable level of privacy for payees. The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks in Singapore said they will continue reviewing feedback for future improvements.
Monetary Authority of Singapore2026-07-07
Monetary Authority of Singapore backs current PayNow display name policy and rejects case by case nicknames
In a parliamentary reply, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it does not support restoring PayNow nicknames on a case by case basis. It said the feature was removed because scammers used nicknames on compromised accounts to impersonate trusted parties, and banks cannot reliably vet exception requests. MAS and the Association of Banks in Singapore will continue to review feedback on possible future improvements.