BANK Negara Malaysia (BNM) takes seriously the disruption of online banking services that can cause massive inconvenience to customers.
Deputy Finance Minister Lim HuiYing warned today (June 26) that under the Financial Services Act 2013 and the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013, the central bank can impose supervisory and enforcement actions against errant banking institutions.
This includes non-compliant with any provision of relevant policy documents such as failure to prevent critical systems from facing unplanned downtime that affects service access to customers or to the extent that a disruption exceeds the maximum tolerable downtime period.
“With regard to the incidents of online service disruptions that have occurred recently, BNM has taken immediate action to instruct the banking institutions involved to determine the main cause of the disruption and then set appropriate corrective and preventive measures to prevent a recurrence of the same issue,” Lim told the Dewan Rakyat.
She was replying to a question by Ayer Hitam MP Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong who wanted to know what the Finance Ministry is doing to address frequent disruptions of online banking services and to what extent the government is prepared to impose penalties for the poor performance of banking services that frequently cause inconvenience to consumers.
Earlier, Lim who is also the Tanjong MP noted that all banking institutions are required to comply with the requirements set out in the policy document on Risk Management in Technology (RMiT) issued by BNM.
“The policy document has established the requirements of technology risk management by financial institutions, including ensuring the delivery of financial services efficiently and securely to guarantee public confidence in the financial system,” she pointed out.
“Additionally, banks have also been instructed to communicate with affected customers including responding immediately to any complaints and inquiries caused by the disruption. BNM is also monitoring the matter closely to ensure that affected banking institutions restore their banking services as promptly as possible.”
Depending on the assessment of the main cause and the impact of the disturbance presented, Lim said BNM will make appropriate follow-up action as provided under the relevant acts, including imposing supervisory actions and penalties on violations of legal provisions under BNM’s supervision.
“BNM will continue to monitor and ensure that the full standards are adhered to as stipulated in the policy document,” she added. – June 26, 2024
