SINGAPORE: Investigations into the disruption of DBS services on Mar 19 revealed that an erroneous step when performing a system change was the cause, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong on Wednesday (Apr 8).
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will follow up with DBS to "strengthen its change management process", added Mr Gan, who is also the Minister for Trade and Industry.
He was responding to questions from Alex Yeo (PAP-Potong Pasir) about the bank's digital banking services disruption on Mar 19.
Mr Yeo had asked whether the root cause of the disruption had been identified, whether it was similar to previous incidents and how it was being addressed.
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He also asked how MAS will take action to ensure that banks strengthen the resilience and reliability of their digital banking services.
In his written reply, Mr Gan, who was responding on behalf of Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, said MAS has set a clear expectation for banks to limit the unscheduled downtime for critical systems to four hours for any rolling period of 12 months.
"This expectation holds banks to high standards of system resiliency while recognising that operational disruptions can sometimes happen due to the complexity of systems.
"When there is a system outage, banks are expected to recover services swiftly and safely," Mr Gan said.
An error message seen on the DBS app at 1.08pm on Mar 19, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Raj Nadarajan)
DBS faced a system issue and suffered a service disruption lasting about one hour - from 12.03pm to 1.19pm, said Mr Gan.
"The disruption prevented customers from viewing their deposit balances and some customers from making payments through digital channels.
"ATMs, credit cards and NETS debit cards had continued to be accessible," Mr Gan added.
DBS said in a Facebook post on Mar 19 that its customers were "facing difficulties" accessing some of its digital services.
It added at the time that while it was "working to fully recover services", customers could make payments using their DBS/POSB cards.
It also reassured customers that their money and deposits "remain safe".
It then posted an updated at on Facebook at almost 2pm after services returned to normal.
CNA has contacted DBS for more information.
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will follow up with DBS to "strengthen its change management process", added Mr Gan, who is also the Minister for Trade and Industry.
He was responding to questions from Alex Yeo (PAP-Potong Pasir) about the bank's digital banking services disruption on Mar 19.
Mr Yeo had asked whether the root cause of the disruption had been identified, whether it was similar to previous incidents and how it was being addressed.
CNA Games
Show More Show Less
He also asked how MAS will take action to ensure that banks strengthen the resilience and reliability of their digital banking services.
In his written reply, Mr Gan, who was responding on behalf of Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, said MAS has set a clear expectation for banks to limit the unscheduled downtime for critical systems to four hours for any rolling period of 12 months.
"This expectation holds banks to high standards of system resiliency while recognising that operational disruptions can sometimes happen due to the complexity of systems.
"When there is a system outage, banks are expected to recover services swiftly and safely," Mr Gan said.
An error message seen on the DBS app at 1.08pm on Mar 19, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Raj Nadarajan)
DBS faced a system issue and suffered a service disruption lasting about one hour - from 12.03pm to 1.19pm, said Mr Gan.
"The disruption prevented customers from viewing their deposit balances and some customers from making payments through digital channels.
"ATMs, credit cards and NETS debit cards had continued to be accessible," Mr Gan added.
DBS said in a Facebook post on Mar 19 that its customers were "facing difficulties" accessing some of its digital services.
It added at the time that while it was "working to fully recover services", customers could make payments using their DBS/POSB cards.
It also reassured customers that their money and deposits "remain safe".
It then posted an updated at on Facebook at almost 2pm after services returned to normal.
CNA has contacted DBS for more information.
Continue reading...