SINGAPORE, July 20 — Customers of Singapore’s largest banking group DBS Bank may experience problems in accessing selected banking services on the DBS network over the first weekend of August, according to an email sent out to the bank’s clients seen by TODAY.
In the note sent to its customers, the bank said: “Some DBS services will be down from 5 to 6 August 2017. But we are working hard to minimise disruption.”
On its notices and maintenance page on the bank’s website, it adds: “Some disruptions to DBS/POSB services can be expected due to the transfer of ANZ Singapore’s retail and wealth products.”
DBS announced last year it had agreed to acquire ANZ Banking Group’s wealth management and retail banking businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia for S$110 million (RM344.523 million).
“To minimise inconvenience to DBS/POSB customers, we have begun and will continue to proactively reach out to them via SMS, eDM, as well as our online and physical channels, so they can make alternative arrangements early. We therefore expect customer impact to be minimal,” said a DBS spokesperson.
“There will be no impact to key services such as internet, mobile and phone banking, ATMs and other self-service banking channels, and the customer call centre,” he added.
Some of the key service disruptions are:
On August 6, from 1pm to 4pm:
Debit card customers will only be able to use NETS for payment — Visa, MasterCard and China Union Pay payment will not be available. Credit cards can still be used. The bank’s mobile wallet DBS PayLah! will not be available during this time.
On August 6, from 8am to 4pm:
Customers will not be able to check their DBS Cashline, credit and debit card balances.
On August 5 and 6:
New account opening services will not be available online. Past records indicate that only a handful of such transactions are performed over weekends, so we do not foresee much customer impact.
If customers have queries, they will be able to contact the 24-hour DBS customer service hotline at 1800-111-1111.
“Since the announcement of the acquisition of ANZ’s Retail and Wealth business in five markets across Asia, DBS and ANZ have been working closely together to ensure a smooth and seamless transition. The integration is progressing well and remains on track for completion in all markets by early 2018,” said the bank.
Together, the acquired ANZ wealth management and retail banking units serve about 1.3 million customers, of which more than 100,000 are affluent or private wealth customers and 1.2 million are retail customers, said DBS.
As of February, DBS has over 7 million consumer banking/wealth management customers.
According to the bank’s annual report for the last financial year, its customers — individuals and corporates alike — are increasingly transacting online or via mobile, with over 3 million customers online and 2.2 million mobile banking users. DBS PayLah! has more than 450,000 users.
DBS Group’s net profit for the first quarter this year rose to a record S$1.21 billion, up 1 per cent from a year ago, and 33 per cent up from the previous quarter. — TODAY
