Singapore’s banking system exposure to China’s property sector is not large, said the senior minister and minister in charge of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The exposure of Singapore's financial institutions and companies to China Evergrande was a topic of discussion in parliament this week, but Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the banking sector’s loan exposures to the troubled property developer itself are «insignificant.»
Direct exposures to China’s property sector are less than 1 percent of non-bank loans, Shanmugaratnam said, adding that bank exposures to Singapore property developers with operations in China are a further 2.5 percent of loans to non-bank customers.
DBS group chief executive Piyush Gupta previously said that the bank had no exposure to the China Evergrande.
BNPL «Not Yet Widely Used»
In a written reply on the prevalence of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) schemes, the minister said they «do not pose significant risk to household indebtedness» and that they are not yet widely used relative to other payment methods.
Industry estimates put the total value of BNPL transactions in 2020 at around $114 million, which is a «very small fraction» of the $92 billion in credit and debit card payments over the same period.
MAS currently weighing a regulatory framework to guide the evolution of BNPL schemes as they become more widely used in Singapore.
