DBS' digital banking disruption caused by 'human error', according to preliminary investigations

The disruptions to DBS Bank's digital banking services in May this year were caused by "human error" in coding the programme that was used for system maintenance, according to preliminary investigations by the bank.

This was reported by senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in response to a parliamentary question this week and was targeting disruptions that happened on 5 May this year where DBS customers were unable to access internet and mobile banking, electronic payment, and ATM services.

While DBS fully restored affected services after six and a half hours, MAS has stated publicly that it regards this second disruption within a period of two months as unacceptable, and that DBS had fallen short of MAS’ expectations for banks to deliver reliable services to their customers, said Shanmugaratnam. 

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"DBS’ preliminary investigations showed that the disruption was due to human error in coding the programme that was used for system maintenance," he said. "The error led to a significant reduction in system capacity, which in turn affected the system’s ability to process internet and mobile banking, electronic payment, and ATM transactions."

According to DBS, the cause of the incident was unrelated to the earlier March 2023 disruptions, which was caused by inherent software bugs. 

In March, just days after banking application DBS PayLah users faced delays in receiving their cashback for a SG$3 meal subsidy initiative, the service went down once again. DBS users found themselves unable to log onto DBS' digital systems after access was disrupted with the bank later saying that access was intermittent. Services were restored by 5.45pm according to an update by the bank at 7.30pm.

However, shortly after, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) released a statement saying that the disruption was "unacceptable" particularly as it was coming a year after a similar incident in November 2021.

"DBS has fallen short of MAS’ expectations to maintain high system availability and ensure its IT systems are recovered expeditiously," the statement read. MAS has also instructed DBS to conduct a thorough investigation to establish the root cause of the disruption and to submit its investigation findings to MAS. "MAS will take the commensurate supervisory actions after gathering the necessary facts," it said. 

Following the March 2023 incident, DBS convened a Special Board Committee to oversee the root cause investigation and a comprehensive review of the bank’s IT resilience, said Shanmugaratnam. MAS has since required the Special Board Committee to extend its review to cover the latest incident and to use qualified independent third parties for the review after the May 2023 disruptions. More details on the disruptions will be provided by the bank publicly when the review is completed, said Shanmugaratnam.

"The imposition of capital requirements on DBS reflects the seriousness with which MAS views the recent disruptions and the impact that they have had on customers. MAS may vary the size of the additional capital requirement imposed on the bank and take other regulatory actions depending on the outcome of ongoing reviews," he added. 

Shanmugaratnam's statements come after DBS bank users experienced difficulties accessing banking and payment services on 5 May due to a "higher volume traffic" on its digibank, according to the bank who were responding to frustrated users on its Facebook page who were unable to access mobile banking services.

It later posted a statement on its Facebook page confirming that some retail customers faced difficulties accessing its banking and payment services, including DBS/POSB digibank Online and Mobile, DBS Vickers mTrading, DBS PayLah! and ATMs.

"Our digital systems returned to normal within 45 minutes at 1.30pm. Most of our ATMs are also up and running," it said. "Please be assured that our systems are uncompromised, and your monies and deposits remain safe," it continued. 

We apologise for the digital disruptions that have recently occurred. Our customers rightly expect more of us, and we are committed to doing better.

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