The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that it will not extend the freeze imposed on DBS Bank Ltd that ran from 1 November 2023 to 30 April 2024, while DBS Bank’s 1.8x asset-weighted multiple for operational risk will be maintained.
The six-month hiatus in DBS Bank’s non-core operations was to ensure that the bank would focus strongly on restoring the resilience of its digital banking services. While full implementation of the recovery plan is still ongoing, MAS notes that DBS Bank has made substantial progress in addressing deficiencies identified from service disruptions experienced by its customers in 2023. Improvements have been made to technology risk governance, system resilience, change management and incident management.
DBS Bank’s recovery will continue with some longer-term measures still in the works, such as the continued simplification and strengthening of the bank’s systems architecture. DBS Bank is committed to prioritizing resources and devoting management attention to completing the outstanding remedial measures.
MAS says it will closely monitor DBS Bank’s progress on the remaining deliverables and the effectiveness of the measures being implemented. In the event of a service disruption, MAS expects DBS Bank to immediately restore its services and communicate with its customers in a clear and timely manner.
Its 1.8x multiplier will be lifted once MAS is satisfied that DBS Bank has demonstrated the ability to maintain service availability and reliability and handle any disruptions effectively.