Mortgage & Lending in Singapore

Key dates

2026-10-29

MAS published the policy statement announcing the extension of motor vehicle financing restrictions to individual-owned PHCs.

2026-10-30 Deadline

New restrictions take effect for individual-owned PHC purchases where the sales agreement is signed on or after this date; where there is no sales agreement, they apply if the COE is obtained on or after this date.

Suggested considerations

• Compliance teams at affected lenders should update eligibility, LTV and tenure controls so that individual-owned PHCs are treated as private cars for transactions falling within the effective-date tests.
• Firms should confirm that the LTV calculation uses the full purchase price, including relevant taxes and the COE price where applicable, and that the OMV threshold is applied at $20,000.
• Lenders and finance providers should review onboarding and documentation controls to distinguish individual or sole-proprietor ownership from business-owned PHC ownership and to evidence the sales-agreement or COE date.
• Providers should assess pending applications, approvals, hire-purchase agreements and conditional sales near the 30 October 2026 transition point, including whether any transaction was restructured to avoid the new restrictions.
• Car dealers and platform operators should consider updating customer disclosures, application workflows and referral arrangements so that individual buyers are not presented with financing terms inconsistent with the new limits.
• Firms should review dealer, leasing and in-house financing products for potential regulatory perimeter or circumvention risk, particularly because the Government has indicated that it may apply equivalent restrictions to additional arrangements.
• Compliance teams may wish to monitor MAS and Government follow-up, including implementation guidance and any measures affecting in-house loans or platform-operated financing channels.
• Firms should consider controls and customer communications addressing unregulated leasing, lease-to-own or other arrangements that may be marketed as alternatives to regulated motor vehicle financing.

What changed

For an individual-owned PHC with an OMV of $20,000 or below, the maximum LTV is 70% of the purchase price, including relevant taxes and the COE price where applicable. For an OMV above $20,000, the maximum LTV is 60%; financing tenure is capped at seven years in both cases. The restrictions apply to motor vehicle loans provided by financial institutions and licensed or exempt moneylenders, and to hire-purchase and conditional sale agreements.

Key dates

2026-10-07

MAS published the written parliamentary reply and stated that approximately 4,000 households could face cash shortfalls under the severe stress scenario.

Suggested considerations

• Compliance and consumer-credit teams may wish to confirm that mortgage portfolios have documented processes for identifying deteriorating repayment performance and other early indicators of financial stress.
• Banks should consider reviewing whether frontline and collections staff consistently contact borrowers early, assess individual circumstances, and record the rationale for any restructuring, refinancing, forbearance, or other assistance offered.
• Mortgage lenders may wish to test whether vulnerable segments identified by the MAS stress test, including lower-income middle-aged HDB borrowers and borrowers with sizeable private-housing loan balances, are adequately represented in portfolio monitoring and scenario analysis.
• Firms should consider maintaining clear customer communications directing borrowers who anticipate repayment difficulty to contact the lender before arrears arise.
• Banks and relevant agencies may wish to review referral arrangements with HDB, Credit Counselling Singapore, and appropriate social-service agencies, including escalation and hand-off procedures.
• Risk committees may wish to retain evidence that severe interest-rate, income-reduction, unemployment, and liquidity-buffer scenarios are considered in mortgage portfolio risk management, while distinguishing scenario-based vulnerabilities from actual current borrower distress.
• Firms should avoid describing the approximately 4,000-household figure as a forecast of current arrears or as an individually identified list of affected customers.

What changed

No binding regulatory requirement, threshold, reporting obligation, or enforcement measure was introduced by this parliamentary reply. MAS confirmed that financial institutions monitor repayment performance and engage borrowers showing signs of financial stress, with assistance tailored to individual circumstances. HDB-financed borrowers may approach HDB for restructuring discussions, bank-financed borrowers may approach their banks, and borrowers already experiencing debt repayment difficulties may seek counselling and debt-management guidance from Credit Counselling Singapore.

Key dates

23 August 2018

– Initial version of CMI 27/2018 “Controls and Disclosures to be Implemented by Licensed Securities-Based Crowdfunding Operators” published by MAS

08 October 2018

– MAS publishes FAQs on Lending-based Crowdfunding, clarifying licensing and prospectus requirements and interacting with SCF-related guidance

05 March 2021

– Updated version of CMI 27/2018 and Annex A / A1 / A2 for issuer default notification uploaded, refining default reporting and controls expected of SCF operators

21 January 2025

– Revision of Guidelines on Criteria for the Grant of a Capital Markets Services Licence (SFA 04-G01), which interact with licensing expectations for SCF operators

14 July 2026

– Last revised date of circular CMI 27/2018, signalling the most recent MAS expectations on controls and disclosures for licensed SCF operators

Suggested considerations

• Review existing issuer due diligence policies and procedures and update them to align with MAS’s expectations on structured checks, documentation, and investor disclosure of due diligence scope for all SCF offers.
• Implement a formal policy prohibiting the use of new loans to repay existing overdue loans, except where legitimate reasons exist; define those reasons, approval thresholds and documentation requirements for exceptions.
• Enhance lending workflows to ensure that, when new loans are extended to borrowers with outstanding loans, the platform system automatically collates and presents total outstanding exposure and the rationale for the new loan to investors in pre-investment disclosures.
• Develop and approve a detailed issuer default management framework that defines escalation triggers, recovery options, decision criteria, investor communication templates, and record-keeping requirements.
• Update investor terms and conditions and consent mechanisms so that investors explicitly agree to any potential recovery-related costs, with clear fee schedules and scenarios disclosed before costs are incurred.

What changed

• - Licensed SCF operators must implement structured due diligence checks on issuers, including clear policies on information to be obtained, risk assessment criteria and documentation standards, and...
• Lending-based SCF operators are generally prohibited from allowing a borrower to take up a new loan to repay an existing overdue loan, unless there are legitimate, documented reasons to extend a new...
• Where a lending-based SCF operator does extend a new loan to a borrower with outstanding loans, it must disclose the borrower’s total outstanding loans and the reasons for extending the new loan so...
• SCF operators must establish formal policies and procedures for issuer default management, documenting circumstances under which the operator will pursue various recovery options (e.g.
• Operators must disclose to investors the different recovery options and associated costs and must seek and obtain investors’ consent before incurring any recovery-related costs that will be borne by...