The Silicon Review ^Asia

The initiative has come forth in view of the recent spate of SMS-phishing scams targeting bank customers

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) have jointly said that they will be introducing additional measures to bolster the security of digital banking. The initiative has come forth in view of the recent spate of SMS-phishing scams targeting bank customers.

The aforementioned authorities expect that all banks in Singapore place the recommended new measures to prevent and detect scams. These measures will further also help banks handle such incidents better. MAS and ABS are currently evaluating longer-term preventive measures for implementation.

Mr Wee Ee Cheong, Chairman of The Association of Banks in Singapore said, “As an industry, we have always focused on the need to ensure robust security measures while meeting customers’ expectations for convenient and swift services. Together with the MAS and ecosystem players, the banking industry will continue to strengthen consumer protection measures.  We also ask that the public stay vigilant given that scams continue to evolve and are executed quickly. We remain committed to upholding the confidence with which customers can transact online safely, while still maintaining a high level of service.”

In the next two weeks, banks in Singapore will work for the removal of clickable links in emails or SMSs sent to retail customers, threshold for funds transfer transaction notifications to customers to be set by default at $100 or lower, and delay of at least 12 hours before activation of a new soft token on a mobile device, amongst other things.