About the Singapore Dollar
The Singapore dollar is the currency of Singapore, issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Under an agreement dating from 1967, it is interchangeable at par with the Brunei dollar.
Unlike most central banks, the Monetary Authority of Singapore does not use an interest rate to steer the economy. It manages the Singapore dollar against a basket of its trading partners' currencies, keeping it within a band whose width and slope it does not publish, and it adjusts that band to control inflation.
The Monetary Authority has published its monetary policy statement four times a year since 2024. Because the band is managed against a basket, the Singapore dollar tends to move less than many other Asian currencies.
Paying in SGD
- Account details
- Singapore does not use IBANs. An account is identified by a bank code, a branch code and the account number. Payments from abroad need the account number together with the bank's SWIFT/BIC code.
- FAST and PayNow
- Domestic Singapore dollar payments of up to S$200,000 go through FAST and arrive within seconds, 24 hours a day. With PayNow, a company can be paid using its UEN business registration number and an individual using a phone number.
- Large payments
- Payments above the FAST limit, and urgent interbank payments, settle through MEPS+, the Monetary Authority's real-time settlement system, during business hours.
Market news and analysis on the HUBFX blog.
