Apaylater Financials (Atome), an Asia-focused buy now, pay later platform, has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to operate as a major payment institution (MPI) under the country’s Payment Services Act 2019.

Once granted, the MPI licence will allow the company to perform regulated payment services, such as account issuance, domestic and cross-border money transfers, as well as merchant acquisition services.

The MAS announcement "underlines our commitment to building a long-term, healthy and sustainable business in Singapore and ensuring the best experience for our merchants, institution partners as well as end consumers”, says Atome chief executive officer David Chen.

Atome received two awards at the recent Singapore FinTech Festival Global Fintech Awards 2022 – Fintech Employer of the Year and Asean Fintech Leader.