Mr Gupta, CEO of DBS Bank, said at a Feb. 7 media briefing on the bank’s quarterly results that it has spent $25 million so far on a $80 million commitment to improving its technology and resilience. It is promising to see A CEO, taking accountability for the Site Reliability Failures and prioritizing the actions of improving the resilience.
DBS employees had their worst days in 2023 as the outages affected various services, including digital banking and ATMs, causing significant disruption to customers. From a site reliability perspective, it’s important to analyze the root cause of outages to prevent them from happening again. While specific details have not been publicly disclosed, I understood from the media that software issues and data center issues are the main causes for this. They issued a statement that it was not due to a cyber attack.
Prevention could include deploying stronger monitoring systems, performing rigorous stress testing, DR testing, and adopting best practices for incident response.
Accountability
Due to these outages, Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, took regulatory action against DBS Bank. The bank was banned from making non-essential IT changes for six months and was required to maintain higher capital levels. The bank also cut the salaries of its senior executives, including a 30% reduction for its CEO. These actions can be seen as the bank’s attempt to demonstrate accountability and address concerns about its IT infrastructure.
Wrap-up
Singapore, along with other Asian countries, has been a pioneer in the development of digital payments. The nation’s payment system is highly advanced, and QR codes, telephone numbers, and account transfers are all commonly used for transactions. Many Singaporeans now forgo carrying cash and instead rely on these digital services to pay for their bills. That day, I was at a clinic when my digital payment was declined.
It is important to take into account the broader context of these events, such as the growing reliance on digital banking and the increasing expectations of your customers for an uninterrupted service. The effectiveness of your SRE procedures will be critical to preventing future outages and restoring customer trust.
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