DBS faces supervisory action after worst online outage

DBS Bank experienced outages to its online banking due to problems with its access control servers. The outage disrupted its online banking services from 23 to 24 November, impacting customers’ access to digital banking services and PayNow. Access control servers are part of a bank’s security system. They handle both log-in and payment verification using means such as biometrics, authentication tokens and one-time passwords.

This is the second extensive disruption to DBS’ digital services in over a decade and the worst it has seen since 2010, when a major systems failure took down all consumer and business banking services. The bank often touts its digital banking capability and credentials. It was recently named world’s best digital bank in 2021 by Euromoney.

“We have since been working round the clock, together with our third-party engineering providers, to fix the problem,” said DBS Singapore country head Shee Tse Koon in a video message to customers. Shee assured that cash deposits belonging to DBS and POSB customers are safe, and transactions can still be made in person at bank branches or through phone banking. DBS has extended banking services at all its branches by two hours, and DBS relationship managers and call centre customer service officers are also on standby to assist with customers’ urgent banking requests.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it will consider taking supervisory action. “This is a serious disruption and MAS expects DBS to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the root causes and implement the necessary remedial measures,” said MAS assistant managing director of banking and insurance Marcus Lim. Under MAS regulations, financial institutions must ensure that the total unscheduled downtime for critical systems affecting services for customers does not exceed four hours within any 12-month period. Banks must also inform MAS of any incidents affecting critical systems within an hour.