Singapore has ruled out case-by-case approvals for PayNow nicknames, citing the risk of impersonation scams.
The position was set out in a written parliamentary reply on 7 July 2026 by Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The reply addressed whether some PayNow retail users could use nicknames where automated display names may be easy for scammers to guess.
Gan said the Association of Banks in Singapore discontinued the feature because scammers had used nicknames to impersonate legitimate entities and trusted individuals.
In some cases, fraudsters changed the nicknames of accounts they had taken control of to mislead victims into transferring money.
He added that allowing exceptions would undermine the purpose of the change, as PayNow participating institutions would not be able to properly assess whether such requests were legitimate.
This could result in nicknames being approved and later used for impersonation scams.
ABS adopted the current PayNow name display format after industry and consumer consultations.
The format is intended to give payers enough information to transact with confidence while preserving a reasonable level of privacy for payees.
MAS and ABS will continue to review user feedback for future improvements.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by freepik via Magnific
