Tag: Monetary Authority of Singapore

DBS Bank Services Repeatedly Disrupted, MAS Imposes Additional Capital Requirements Again

DBS Bank services have been experiencing frequent issues lately. Following a large-scale service disruption in March, another disruption occurred today (5th), affecting ATMs, online banking, and other services. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the implementation of another round of additional capital requirements for DBS Bank later that evening.

MAS stated that the new round of additional capital requirements, combined with the requirements implemented in February of the previous year, means that DBS Bank will need to face a total of approximately SGD 1.6 billion in additional capital requirements.

Since DBS Bank’s services were disrupted in November 2021, MAS had proposed in February 2022 to raise the additional capital requirements to 1.5 times the bank’s operational risk assets. Now, it has been raised to 1.8 times.

In an announcement, MAS said that after the service disruption in March, DBS Bank had established a special committee to review the bank’s information technology. This review was conducted by independent third-party experts.

MAS subsequently instructed the bank to conduct a comprehensive review, including assessing the management of digital banking services, employee capabilities, operational processes, system resilience, and the architectural design of digital banking services. Now, MAS also requires the bank to include today’s service disruption event in the scope of the review.

“MAS also requires DBS Bank to take immediate measures to enhance the resilience and recovery capabilities of the existing system, including strengthening monitoring and more comprehensive testing, to minimize the impact on customer service.”

Ho Hern Shin, Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision) of MAS, said in a statement, “DBS Bank has failed to meet the MAS’s expectations for banks to provide reliable services to customers, and causing inconvenience to the public repeatedly is unacceptable.”

“This additional capital requirement highlights the seriousness with which MAS views this issue, and DBS Bank must spare no effort to address the root causes of these disruptions.”

DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta apologized for the recent digital service disruption events.

“Our customers rightfully have higher expectations of us, and we are committed to doing better. After the event on March 29th, the bank established a special board committee, and independent external experts conducted a comprehensive review of our technological recovery capabilities. We will treat this review as the top priority and promptly implement all recommendations.”

Singapore’s MAS Lambasts DBS for Unforgivable Online Banking Disruptions, Vows Stringent Supervisory Actions

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) fiercely criticizes the recent disruption of DBS’s online banking services as “intolerable” and vows to take “supervisory actions.”

DBS “Falls Woefully Short of MAS’ Expectations” Singapore’s central bank and financial regulatory authority sternly stated on Mar. 29 that it places great importance on the reliability of banks’ critical IT systems, and that DBS has woefully fallen short of MAS’s expectations to ensure the availability of its systems at a high level and to recover its IT systems expeditiously.

This disruption comes just a year after a similar incident in November 2021, MAS pointedly noted.

“MAS has been closely monitoring DBS to ensure a swift recovery of its digital services and timely communications to customers regarding the disruption,” MAS said.

MAS Promises Supervisory Actions After DBS Investigation MAS remarked that the bank has since resumed normal digital banking services and is keeping a watchful eye on the situation.

Nonetheless, MAS has instructed DBS to conduct a comprehensive investigation to ascertain the root cause of the disruption and submit its findings to the regulator.

MAS asserted it “will take commensurate supervisory actions after gathering the necessary facts.”

Background DBS Bank’s online banking services faced disruptions starting from Wednesday (Mar. 29) morning.

Numerous customers using DBS and POSB online banking apps, as well as PayLah! users, were unable to access the services.

Users were alerted that the bank was “experiencing heavy traffic” to its services and were advised to log in later.

DBS provided an update on Facebook at 12:49 pm stating that access to digital services was “intermittent,” and later announced that their digital services had returned to normal as of 5:45 pm.

“We Deeply Regret the Inconvenience Caused”: DBS In a statement on Mar. 29, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta expressed the bank’s disappointment that many of their customers were unable to access DBS digital banking services.

He added, “We hold ourselves to higher standards, and it is our utmost priority to scrutinize the events of today. We acknowledge the gravity of the situation, appreciate our customers’ understanding, and deeply regret the inconvenience caused.”

DBS Bank’s Digital Service Disruption: A Wake-up Call for the Financial Industry

With DBS Bank’s digital services experiencing disruptions barely over a year after a similar incident in November 2021, we are compelled to question: Is financial technology bringing convenience at the cost of increased uncertainty?

The picture is only poetic

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expressed dissatisfaction with the recent disruption, stating that DBS has fallen short of meeting regulatory expectations for maintaining high system availability. Clearly, as a major bank, DBS must ensure that while financial technology provides convenience, its services remain stable and reliable. This incident highlights the various challenges faced by financial technology in the process of continuous innovation.

MAS has instructed DBS to conduct a thorough investigation into the service disruption and submit a report. This indicates the financial regulator’s strong emphasis on the stability of banking services and implies that DBS may need to put in more effort to improve its services. Notably, MAS’s response to the incident was swift, demonstrating the regulator’s vigilance and concern for the development of the financial market.

DBS Bank’s CEO, Piyush Gupta, expressed disappointment over customers’ inability to access digital banking services. He emphasized that DBS would review the events thoroughly and reflect deeply on the situation. Although the incident has impacted the bank’s reputation, we can also see DBS’s recognition of the problem and determination to improve.

In conclusion, the disruption of DBS’s digital services serves as a reminder that the path of financial technology development is not always smooth sailing. Financial institutions and regulators must work together to ensure that, while pursuing technological innovation, they also provide stable and reliable services to customers.