Payoneer Singapore Acquires Payment License to Help Small Businesses Transact Globally

Payoneer Singapore has been granted a payment license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s principal financial regulator.

With the MAS license, the subsidiary of Payoneer Global can now expand and offer a number of new services, including account issuance, cross-border money transfer, domestic money transfer, e-money issuance, and merchant acquisition. Additionally, businesses are now able to engage in higher-value transactions.

“Singapore holds a crucial position in our plans for regional market expansion,” Nagesh Devata, SVP of Asia-Pacific at Payoneer, said in a Tuesday (Aug. 15) press release. “The recognition received from MAS demonstrates that Payoneer’s product technology, risk management, compliance framework, and business models have gained approval from one of the most authoritative regulatory bodies in the local context.”

Payoneer Singapore’s efforts tie into the broader mission of its parent company, which helps small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in 190 countries transact, do business, and grow globally.

Earlier this month, executives at the business-to-business (B2B) financial services company told investors that international markets are critical to SMB growth, pointing to a survey of 1,000 global SMBs which expect to see nearly two-thirds of their revenue and half of their vendors coming from outside their domestic markets by 2025.

“These businesses must manage accounts receivable and payable flows across multiple countries, currencies and jurisdictions,” CEO John Caplan said on the Q2 earnings call. “Only Payoneer offers them the ability to do so in one centrally managed account and enable them to transact globally.”

One of the key “take rate geographies” where Payoneer witnessed significant growth is China, where the firm generated over 50% year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth in Q2. Other markets in Asia-Pacific (APAC), South Asia, Middle East, Africa (SAMEA) and Latin America also saw B2B accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) grow 29% YoY.

Overall, the B2B payment and commerce platform — which has 2,000 employees worldwide, according to its website — generated record quarterly revenue of $206.7 million in Q2, up 40% YoY, with 4% of customers using its virtual commercial cards in Q2, up 100% versus YoY.