For financial institutions like banks, any form of an outage is simply unacceptable. Thousand of consumers rely on the bank’s digital services and were left fuming as transactions and online banking matters could not work.

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According to a report by The Straits Times, the disruption began on Tuesday morning as stated by outage monitoring website Downdetector. While the bank was able to sort the problem, the outage occurred again the next day, resulting in almost 15 hours of outage.

In a video message to customers, DBS Singapore Country Head Shee Tse Koon provided an update on the disruption in the bank’s digital banking services. “We have since been working round the clock, together with our third-party engineering providers, to fix the problem.”

As one of Southeast Asia’s largest banks, DBS Bank is known for using new technologies in its financial systems. It recently announced that its digital asset ecosystem, anchored by the DBS Digital Exchange, has enjoyed strong business momentum since it went operational 24/7 in August this year. DBS also recorded over SGD 600 million in digital assets under custody as of the end of October, triple the amount recorded in the previous month.

(Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

The bank also announced that it will invest SGD300 million next year to grow the breadth and depth of its digital and Intelligent Banking capabilities powering all products and solutions for wealth and retail customers. The investment will go towards enhancing tech infrastructure and talent, embedding Intelligent Banking predictive technology in more financial solutions to better empower self-directed customers, and scaling the bank’s capabilities across both online and offline touchpoints across the region.

While the bank outage has been resolved, the reality is, outages can happen. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it will consider taking “supervisory action” on DBS for the disruption, Reuters reported.

“This is a serious disruption and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expects DBS to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the root causes and implement the necessary remedial measures,” Marcus Lim, an assistant managing director from the banking and insurance team at MAS, said in a statement.

 Dealing with bank outage

To understand more about the bank’s outage, Tech Wire Asia caught up with Kevin Reed, Acronis CISO, and Alex Ivanyuk, Acronis Technology Director. Both of them explained how the bank could have dealt with the issue.

“For a renowned bank, like DBS, to have some services down for more than 24 hours – with none of the services available at some point – is quite unacceptable. In my experience of technical firefights, the worst-case scenario is recognized fairly quickly. Given how long it takes to resolve this issue (still being resolved), they may be still trying to locate the problem,” said Kevin.

Since DBS hasn’t shared much info about what happened, Kevin thinks the issue could be with their authentication systems. It’s hard for him to tell, but a system upgrade or some external event could be causing a significant overload of the authentication platform, leading to its malfunctioning. Many users have reported the issue, the access is sporadic, signs of an overload. Many similar events happened in the past, DDoS attacks are often the cause of system overload and not responding to legitimate user requests.

Kevin also pointed out that in the 21st century, banks need to modernize their infrastructure with advanced technology, including cyber protection – having a capable tech team helps achieve just that and be on top of the problem.

“As per stated on their website: “maintenance for Services involving foreign exchange is scheduled daily from 5am-6am”. Running scheduled maintenance that can possibly cause downtime – it’s simply not done in our day. Many sites have figured out how to upgrade without disrupting the operations by now,” added Kevin.

For Alex, this is not the best example of crisis handling. Not only the bank services were down, but customer support functions also weren’t working, and there was no announcement on any public DBS channel until hours later.

“That being said, in my experience, no bank is much better at that – and DBS is not the first bank to face such issues. Banks are known to still use outdated, legacy systems – especially if they were founded long ago. Large US banks are known to use COBOL and mainframes, but they are not exactly technological power horses, to say the least,” noted Alex.

Alex also commented that it’s not just the banking industry that can have outages. Transportation, telecom to some extent, manufacturing, industrial (like plants, various controls, etc), even military – many of them still rely on legacy systems, which poses a problem internally (to employees) and externally (to customers). This also makes them exposed to cybersecurity threats.

The post DBS Bank suffers worst outage in a decade   appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

According to a Reuters report, Standard Chartered announced a 10-year fintech partnership with Atome Financial to help it grab a piece of the booming BNPL market in Asia, that has been thriving in the midst of the pandemic.

Apart from Atome, some of the biggest BNPL players in the Asia Pacific region include Hoolah, GrabPay, Akulaku, Fave, and several others. While there have been critics of BNPL, especially due to its lack of regulatory checks and requirements for granting installment payments, the services have been proven to be successful in the region during these uncertain financial times.

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As the first major bank to unveil a significant foray within the sector in Asia, Standard Chartered is making an undisclosed equity investment in Atome Financial, which operates the Atome platform in markets including Southeast Asia, and Indonesian digital lending platform Kredit Pintar.

In a statement, the bank said the partnership will initially include BNPL services, targeted to roll out in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam in the next few months, and later expand to include digital lending products.

The US$500 million funding will enable Atome Financial to grow and connect a wider ecosystem of merchants to a larger customer base, improving product access and financial inclusion for consumers across the region. At the same time, the bank said Atome Financial’s customers will gain access to more innovative financial services, easily accessed via their mobile devices.

For Judy Hsu, CEO, Consumer, Private and Business Banking at Standard Chartered Bank, the bank’s successful digital ventures and partnerships enable them to continue to be fearlessly innovative in disrupting ourselves to better serve their clients. “This partnership with Atome Financial allows us to be part of the rapidly growing digital consumer finance ecosystem and provides convenient and relevant digital financial products to complement and enrich clients’ digital lives,” said Judy.

The bank’s deep knowledge of Asia’s markets coupled with Atome Financial’s experience in digital consumer finance will allow them to reach even more customers and drive greater financial participation of those underserved and underbanked.

Jefferson Chen, the Co-Founder, Group Chairman and CEO of Advance Intelligence Group, not to mention the CEO of Atome Financial, commented that  “By providing consumers with easier, simpler, and more convenient access to a full suite of digital-first financial services, we can accelerate broader financial inclusion across both developed and emerging markets in Asia.”

Jefferson added that the partnership with Standard Chartered will allow them to expand their merchant network and help retailers increase their customer base and basket sizes, contributing to economic growth across the region.

More banks may consider BNPL after Atome

Meanwhile, Kanv Pandit, Group Managing Director, APAC, Banking Solutions, FIS believes banks are actively looking for ways to tap into the rapidly growing BNPL market, or they risk being left out of a major new market opportunity.

As BNPL’s global e-commerce market share is expected to double to 4.2% by 2024, in Singapore it is the fastest growing online payment method, on track to represent 13% of all e-commerce sales within the same period. He added that Some banks choose to launch their own BNPL offerings, either through the extension of their own credit card offerings or directly to merchants, Citibank being an example.

“In the case of the SC-Atome tie-up, this is a good example of “banking-as-a-service” in play, where a bank offers their platform to the BNPL provider to deliver an expanded set of financial products to the consumer. With its own set of benefits, we can expect to see more of such tie-ups and investments,” explained Kanv.

Kanv also pointed out that banks are looking to take advantage of the current conducive regulatory environment that has allowed BNPL services to flourish. This will also enable banks to leapfrog the product gap they have via such partnerships.

“On the BNPL providers’ end, they are rapidly seeking opportunities to expand their portfolio and leverage strategic partners to differentiate themselves from other players, creating more revenue models and improving their risk models at the same time. Banks can also offer them valuable market insights, given the wealth of data they hold,” clarified Kanv.

The reality is, with BNPL seemingly the preferred method of payment by consumers, banks may eventually just have to follow suit and give in to their demands if they want to remain competitive in the industry and remain relevant.

The post Standard Chartered invests US$500 million in BNPL trailblazer Atome appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Today, more technologies are being implemented not just by banks but also by other financial players looking for a piece of the pie. The adoption of fintech in the Malaysian financial ecosystem is enabling organizations to unlock more potential, especially in regard to catering to growing consumer demands.

One of the most sought-after sectors in the industry is digital banking. The nation’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), recently closed applications for digital banking licenses. The response has been beyond impressive, with a large number of contenders vying for the five precious licenses on offer. The Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes study shows that Malaysia is experiencing a significant acceleration in digital adoption due to the pandemic in the past 18 months. What is more interesting is that the study showed that over 74% of Malaysians are aware of digital banking, and a majority (66%) are interested in using their services.

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According to the VMware Digital Frontiers 3.0 Study, the customer battleground for Malaysia banks and other financial services have now shifted online with 55% of Malaysians surveyed now preferring to engage with their banks via apps rather than visiting in-person at a branch, leading ahead of its Southeast Asian counterparts Singapore (51%), and Indonesia (53%), on par with the Philippines (55%), but slightly behind Thailand (72%).

At the same time, regulations like the Risk Management in Technology (RMiT) policy were created to ensure Malaysian banks and financial institutions properly manage their cyber-risk exposure by establishing the necessary risk frameworks, governance structures, policies, and procedures. With the perpetually increasing use of technology in the financial services industry, BNM saw it necessary to put in place this framework to minimize operational disruptions and maintain confidence in the system from outside threats.

The headquarters of Bank Negara Malaysia. (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP)

With more Malaysians happy to interact digitally with financial services firms, harnessing frontier technologies to deliver superior digital offerings and consumer experiences is now becoming a priority for them.

Creating a personalized digital experience today not only keeps consumers coming back but also builds the trust of consumers. For financial service organizations, this means rethinking their core processes and operations that will empower superior digital experiences for their consumers. This includes a high level of security and protection of data, ease of use across all devices, and faster speed of service.

For Devan Parinpanayagam, Country Manager at VMware Malaysia, financial services organizations must create a trusted digital foundation to leverage frontier technologies to accelerate innovation and deliver digital experiences that will excite Malaysians. This way they can establish a viable ecosystem that is also financially inclusive for all, and bolster Malaysia’s growth as we steer and move towards becoming the “Heart of Digital ASEAN”.

“As Malaysia primes the ground for digital banks, this will be an opportune time for financial services firms to harness next-generation technologies such as Cloud and shape new direction and growth for the industry. With trust and customer-led digital experiences emerging as the key drivers for growth, VMware will remain committed as a trusted partner in enabling Malaysia’s financial services firms with digital innovations so they can respond, adapt and accelerate businesses’ growth, as well as build a more cohesive and inclusive ecosystem.”

Compared to other ASEAN nations, Malaysian consumers are also embracing newer technologies more than ever before. The use of artificial intelligence in financial services seems to be creating a greater trust among consumers with a third of survey respondents saying they would allow an app to help make investment decisions over an individual that works for the bank.

Trusting AI in finance

AI in finance continues to innovate solutions and help provide better and faster decisions. Today, loan approvals, transactions, and even fraud detection can be completed in seconds with sufficient data in the AI model. To ensure they meet all regulatory compliance, banks are also building their fintech models and updating their data management systems to be able to cater to increasing consumer demands.

More banks now realize they need to embrace fintech or be left behind. As Malaysia accelerates towards the digital future ahead, digital engagement models will continue to be readily embraced within the nation’s financial ecosystem as demonstrated in the study where it was found that Malaysians are relying on their smart devices more, with 63% of respondents stating that their mobile phones are now more important than their wallets when conducting financial transactions.

Next-generation technologies in banking like facial recognition are also becoming a trusted security interface for Malaysian consumers. While more than half of Malaysians surveyed are comfortable with financial services organizations having access to their data, trust is still is a priority when picking a provider. True enough, there is plenty of room for improvement for financial services organizations to not only deliver superior digital consumer experiences but also secure digital experiences that will not compromise consumers’ privacy.

Thus, progressing forward and embracing the full potential of what the tech innovations may offer, Malaysian banks and other local financial organizations should continue to focus on three main areas, as outlined by VMware.

These include:

• Building a multi-cloud future with app-driven innovations in a consistent and secure environment. Unlike other industries, financial services face more regulations in the journey to the cloud. While the private cloud is preferred due to its security, the flexibility of the public cloud allows them to try more applications as well. Having a multi-cloud future allows them to leverage the capabilities of various cloud services while still maintaining their security posture.
• Enabling future-ready workforce solutions is also key in enabling a seamless and secure workforce. As remote working continues, even in the financial industry, securing employees and their workloads is vital. Providing them the right digital experience to work on also enables greater outcomes.
• Lastly, financial service organizations must look towards an intrinsic cybersecurity approach. This provides them an additional layer of robust protection for mission-critical operations and infrastructures to fast-track business innovation and resilience.

For Malaysian banks and other financial service organizations, they would now need to see how they can build on the trust that has been granted to them by Malaysian consumers and make the right decisions when it comes to dealing with customer data and technology.

The post Malaysian banks embracing more technologies to build consumer trust appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

In the Asia Pacific, there are still over one billion people that do not have access to formal financial services. Look closer to Southeast Asia (SEA) and the low levels of financial inclusion make a stark difference, with nearly three-quarters of the population either ‘under-banked’ or ‘unbanked’. These days, however, cloud banking has been the impetus with innovative cloud-based financial products offered by fintech and banks changing the face of financial services across the region.

For context, the Philippines ranks among the lowest in Asia for financial inclusion, with only 34% adults holding a bank account. As for Indonesia, financial inclusion in Indonesia remains low with less than half (49%) of Indonesian adults are ‘banked’. The country however saw e-money transactions increase by 173% in the year ending January 2020, indicating a keen appetite for digital financial services.

On the other hand, high-performing Asian countries including Malaysia and Thailand have relatively high rates of financial inclusion, at 85% and 82% respectively, whereas Singapore has close to 100% of its population banked. Among the key drivers of financial inclusion across Southeast Asia has been rapid change and technological innovation in the financial services sector.

Technology innovations transforming the financial services landscape in SEA include new forms of online payment, such as eWallets and other new digital banking products that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and cloud technology to provide a personalized customer experience, all via a smartphone.

Why cloud banking?

Experts reckon that cloud banking technology is more agile, significantly cheaper to implement, and enables rapid speed to market – with new products launched in weeks, rather than the years that traditional core banking technology requires. Such benefits allow banks to service customers much more cost-effectively, which in turn empowers them to offer services at a reduced cost. 

It also means banks that use cloud banking are able to appeal to a wider customer base, particularly those population segments that have been traditionally excluded from formal financial services (the previously mentioned ‘unbanked’ population). Especially by removing the requirement for consumers to visit a branch to sign up and making products available via smartphone apps and online, providers will be able to bridge the gap between formal financial services and customers who have long been wary of financial institutions, particularly Millennials and Gen-Z consumers.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), advanced banking technology will be required for inclusive banks to harness these new opportunities for financial inclusion. Of particular importance is cloud computing and the Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model.

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“Cloud and SaaS present an alternative way of running a bank’s IT infrastructure. Core banking and/or the digital front office operates on a public or private cloud rather than on physical infrastructure in the bank’s premises. Banks pay a subscription to access the solutions. Both Cloud and SaaS carry lower infrastructure costs, they allow products to be created, delivered and changed faster, and they offer immense resilience, scalability, and security. Cloud-based SaaS platforms are also continuously updated, meaning banks benefit from the latest innovations,” WEF said.

Though in the past, banks were reluctant to move to the cloud because of concerns over security and privacy, regulators have also been skeptical because of the potential posed by the cloud for aggregated risk. However, these issues have been addressed in recent years. Cloud is now seen as just as secure, if not more so, than on-premise. It is also equally as resilient.

Today’s advances in digital technology are a once-in-a-generation opportunity for banking. As the IMF suggests, this includes the chance for inclusive banks to extend financial inclusion on an epic scale. It’s a challenging environment for inclusive banks, but technologies like Cloud and SaaS are there to help them make a huge difference.

The post How cloud banking bring greater financial inclusion across SEA appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

“There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.”

Harry S Truman – 33rd president of the United States of America.

BUSINESS owners, CEOs and IT professionals alike, with their eyes on the company’s bottom line, are keen to realize the gains to be made by deploying the latest technological wonder they’ve been sold. If it’s cutting edge, it’s good. If it’s ‘bleeding edge’, so much the better.

But many of the tech tools, methods, and concepts we’re sold these days as the latest & greatest, have been around a lot longer than you might expect.

The path which leads to the brave new technological world, in many cases, is already well-trodden.

1. XaaS and the cloud

Everything-as-a-service (XaaS) is the latest version of cloud-based services to become a buzz phrase. The idea is simple – buy, hire, lease or rent the computing services required, rather than invest in owned infrastructure.

Services are delivered from a single point elsewhere (often, a well-distributed series of points presented as single) in order that the end users don’t have to deploy their own software, hardware or specialized tech of some description.

The central point offers, as an example, “support [to] back office functions such as payroll and customer billing…[via an] interactive user interface…supporting hundreds of users simultaneously along with batch processing”.

Sound familiar? The above quote is taken from the Wikipedia entry about the history of the mainframe computing model, and describes the situation as existed in the 1960s and 1970s!

Back in the dark ages of a pre-Instagram world, users would communicate via a client machine (today, read: web browser) to a central data processing mainframe (today, read: Amazon Web Services), and would be charged for the privilege of leveraging computer power.

But, back to the present! Payments for XaaS today are made by means of…

2. E-commerce

To make payments, we use bank transfer or set up some kind of recurring payments, perhaps using a credit or debit card.

Our pockets have miniature computers in them that use apps, written in powerful languages such as Swift 2 or Corona, to interact with our banks and bank-like institutions (PayPal et al) to check balances, move funds and even withdraw cash.

But what few people realize is that the computers that control deposit and checking accounts, clear the moved funds, run credit & debit card networks (including Samsung Pay and those supporting NFC, ApplePay, and Google Wallet), all run on software that’s maintained by experts who leave work at the end of the day keen to visit their grandchildren!

Why are the developers propping up the world’s entire banking system so old? 95 percent of the world’s banking infrastructure was written in common business-oriented language (COBOL), developed nigh on 60 years ago, and hasn’t been replaced. Many COBOL developers find their retirements are being postponed by lucrative offers from financial institutions, keen to keep systems running.

Still cool after all these years #mainframe #COBOL pic.twitter.com/rkczbpeIHW

— Sam Knutson (@samknutson) September 13, 2017

While some banks are replacing their COBOL systems, such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this is costly – for that bank, the transition took around five years and cost AUD1 billion.

As aging systems falter and remedial action is decided upon, communications fly, on a variety of media, such as…

3. Messaging, team collaboration, social media

Any organization searching for a tech product which “brings all your team’s communication together, giving everyone a shared workspace where conversations are organized and accessible”, should perhaps begin by reading Daniel Stenberg‘s excellent article covering the history of Internet Relay Chat.

In brief, by using a client-server model as existing in 1988, strands of messages were sent to multiple attached recipients. Now, add a few petaflops of processing power, and what’s effectively a large database, and those messages can now be broadcast across the globe in social media such as Twitter et al.

SEE ALSO: Most successful tech founders do not have tech degrees – study

With email’s capabilities stretching its design parameters (rich content on a fastidiously plain-text system), and SMS’s (SHORT message service) limitations patently clear, we now turn to SnapChat or iMessage, eXo PLatform, Fleep or Rocket.Chat.

Instead of emailing each other the latest versions of the Excel sheets we’re working on, we’ll often message one another or the hastily convened IoT working party (via IRC’s offspring)  and refer to a centrally held document that’s stored in a…

4. Document management system (DMS)

As the business world moves quickly, it’s important to many in the enterprise that they can access, edit, and post to, company and personal documents from wherever they are.

The paperless office can effectively be realized by today’s enterprise if desired, and technology allows the dream to be a reality.

Centrally stored ‘gold masters’ and read-write locks allowing accurate version control, systems provide us with a full history of who changed what, and when.

Workforces, split into groups created and changed on-the-fly, get access according to privileges, and these privileges can be granular down to the level of a single user or single document.

Paper forms can be replaced, filled and stored electronically and approved on an automated basis by assigned supervisors or managers.

This description, is not of course, of the latest DMS, rather it’s a topology that’s over 30 years old, consisting of:

• a directory structure available on a network
• UNIX privileges on files and enclosing folders
• individually identified users, in software-based user groups
• where relevant, a version control system (VCS or even RCS) tracking document versions
• a simple web interface presenting forms to POST to server

Unix #make one of the earliest program still rocks specifically for large code base #programming #unix

— Pradeep Pant |प्रदीप (@ppant) April 21, 2017

In conclusion, the next time you’re listening to excited marketers extolling the virtues of the latest product, bear in mind that the concept may well be ancient and its delivery built on methods, code and protocols many decades old.

The post Your ‘cutting-edge’ tech is drawing a pension appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

(Photo credit: Shutterstock)

The gang would request to withdraw large amounts of cash, but only take a portion of the notes, making the machine think none were taken.

The gang would then make a claim for the money to be put back into their account by their bank.

An expert told the BBC that such attempts in the UK would be futile.

“Theoretically it’s possible,” said Graham Mott, a spokesman for Link, the UK’s cash machine network.

“But it will be spotted and will be investigated.”

Investigators said the Indian gang would use a cash machine to make withdrawals of 10,000 rupees (US$ 183), but would only take 9,900 rupees from the pile of dispensed money.

The remaining 100 rupees – the last note – would then be taken back in by the machine.

Considerable losses

They are said to have stolen about 10 million rupees using this method – just under US$ 193,000 – from banks in the south-west Indian state of Kerala.

The gang, which local police believe was just one of several profiting from the scam, would travel to various towns to avoid being detected.

However, the Federal Bank of India eventually detected considerable losses and asked police to investigate.

Five men were arrested as a result – although local media said there were still two major gangs operating.

Mr Mott said similar scams had been attempted in the UK, often spurred on by groups of friends believing they were sharing a “secret” technique.

“You tend to get people trying to give it a go. As with other forms of fraud, it tends to be a bit cyclical,” he told BBC News.

“The bank will investigate it as they would any first-party fraud.

“It’s a criminal offence – we identify repeat cards doing this kind of claim.”

This article originally appeared on BBC News, and was republished with permission.

The post Gang Arrested for 10M Rupee Cash Machine Fraud in India appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The growing threat of online hacking puts millions of accounts at risk. Hackers love to target large corporations mainly for the challenge of the breach. The identity theft and credit card database haul are the cherries on top of the successful breach bragging rights. (Image: Shutterstock)

Global Payments said they noticed the breach in early March, and they immediately hired information technology forensics people to find out how much of their processing system was compromised and they informed the US federal authorities as well.

The company promptly notified appropriate industry parties to allow them to minimize potential cardholder impact. The company is continuing its investigation into this matter.

Although the company has not disclosed further details, estimates say around 50,000 accounts may have been affected. Global Payments Chairman and CEO Paul Garcia highlighted his company’s security system prevented further loss of account information to the hackers.

It is reassuring that our security processes detected an intrusion. It is crucial to understand that this incident does not involve our merchants or their relationships with their customers.

As one of the leading payments processing company in the world, Global Payments acts as the middle man for banks and merchants. When your card gets swiped on a point-of-sale machine (POS), a payment processing company (such as Global Payments) forwards the transaction request to Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover, who then contact the issuing bank for approvals.

The post Hackers Breach Global Payments Network appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The EMV card, a global standard for payment cards, made more secure because account information is stored on the chip. (Image: Gemalto)

Following the recent incident, the Association of Banks in Singapore announced, in January 2012, that the industry will adopt the EMV standard in ATM cards to address the risk of card skimming. Its implementation will require infrastructure changes to the ATM networks, and will take two years for completion.

EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa. It is a global standard for payment cards based on chip card technology.

While waiting for the new changes, Singapore banks are securing customer accounts by disabling overseas withdrawals — unless the customer requests for access when they travel. Customers now get SMS alerts for cash withdrawals that reach a pre-defined limit. DBS Bank replaced all the ATM cards affected in the skimming incident, and this will be a standard response in future incidents. Customers who are at risk of exposure to skimming will also get new cards.

MAS encouraged Singapore banks to beef up their surveillance and security systems, and to implement all the necessary changes as soon as possible. MAS acknowledged the severity of the problem and said it lookd at several options before deciding on EMV.

The industry has also evaluated various options, including biometrics to upgrade the overall security architecture of ATM systems… The timeline to move away from magnetic stripe is in line with those in other developed jurisdictions such as Australia and countries in the European Union.

DBS bank enacted new security measures last January, such as disabling of ATM card usage overseas, SMS alerts for suspicious overseas transactions and SMS alerts for local withdrawals and payments above a certain threshold. DBS also sent out new cards for customers affected by the January and February skimming incidents, as well as to customers who were at risk.

Three suspects were taken in for investigation last January, but no other suspects were reported for the February incident which saw $23,000 (US$ 18,348) taken from DBS customer accounts. DBS announced that a third ATM machine was compromised along with the two ATMs in Bugis, as reported earlier.

The EMV chip is already included in most of the ATM cards issued in Singapore, and merchants use the EMV system for payments. ATM technology has lagged in this area because majority of the machines in the island state still access account information from the magnetic strip at the back of every card.

While waiting for the ATMs to get upgraded, the onus is on every account holder to be vigilant.

The post Singapore To Tighten Banking Security appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.