The additional capital requirement on DBS Bank is now a multiplier of 1.8 times to its risk weighted assets for operational risk, an increase from a multiplier of 1.5 times that MAS applied in February 2022 following earlier disruption in November 2021. All told, this translates to approximately S$1.6 billion in total additional regulatory capital. The central bank has instructed DBS to conduct a thorough investigation to establish the root cause of the disruptions, including an assessment of the adequacy of management oversight, staff competencies, operational processes, system resiliency, and architecture design for its digital banking services. MAS has also required DBS Bank to take immediate steps to improve the resiliency and recoverability of its existing system, including enhanced monitoring, more comprehensive testing and additional system redundancies, in order to minimise disruption of its services to its customers. Ho Hern Shin, deputy MD (Financial Supervision), MAS, says: “DBS Bank has fallen short of MAS’ expectations for banks to deliver reliable services to their customers. The repeated inconvenience caused to the public is unacceptable. The additional capital requirement imposed at this time underscores the seriousness with which MAS treats this matter. DBS Bank must spare no effort in dealing with the underlying issues leading to these disruptions.” DBS CEO Piyush Gupta, says the bank is comitted to implementing recommendations from its ongoing investigation into the root causes of the problems. “We apologise for the digital disruptions that have recently occurred," he says. "Our customers rightly expect more of us, and we are committed to doing better."