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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the recent disruption of DBS's online banking services is "unacceptable" and that it will take "supervisory actions".

DBS has "fallen short of MAS' expectations"

Singapore's central bank and financial regulatory authority said on Mar. 29 that it takes seriously the reliability of banks' critical IT systems, and that DBS has 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 came only a year after a similar incident in November 2021, MAS noted.

"MAS has been in close contact with DBS to ensure expedited recovery of its digital services and timely communications to customers on the disruption," MAS said.

MAS to take supervisory actions after DBS investigation

MAS noted that the bank has since resumed normal digital banking services and is monitoring the situation.

Nevertheless, MAS has instructed DBS to conduct a thorough investigation to establish the root cause of the disruption and submit its investigation findings to the regulator.

MAS said it "will take the commensurate supervisory actions after gathering the necessary facts."

Background

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

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

Users received alerts that the bank was "experiencing heavy traffic" to its services and were advised to log in later.

DBS provided an update on Facebook at 12.49pm that access to digital services was "intermittent", and later announced that their digital services had returned to normal as of 5:45pm.

"We deeply regret the inconvenience caused": DBS

In a statement on Mar. 29, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said the bank is disappointed 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 review the events of today. We acknowledge the gravity of the situation, appreciate our customers' understanding, and deeply regret the inconvenience caused."

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Top image via DBS on Facebook / courtesy of Nigel Chua.