SINGAPORE – From March 7, DBS digital banking users will need to wait 12 hours before they can add a new transfer recipient, increase daily transfer limits for local and overseas transactions, or update contact details.
Currently, these transactions can be completed instantly.
The cooling period is part of the bank’s efforts to bolster account security against increasingly sophisticated scams, said DBS in an e-mail sent to its customers on Feb 20.
The measure is meant to be a critical security safeguard, giving users time to detect and stop unauthorised account activity.
“For instance, a scammer attempts to add a new transfer recipient or increase your transfer limits. Transfers to new recipients or transactions above your existing limits will only be allowed after the 12-hour cooling period has ended,” said the bank.
“During this time, alerts will be sent to your bank-registered contact details so you can review the request and report it immediately if it was not made by you.”
OCBC Bank and UOB have implemented similar cooling-off periods to regulate high-risk activities.
Currently, banks have a 12-hour cooling period for activating a digital token, which is required by the authorities under the Shared Responsibility Framework established in 2024.
Under the framework, banks and payment services providers are also expected to send real-time alerts to consumers for high-risk activities – including changing account contact details, increasing transaction limits and adding a new payee – or when there is a login to an e-wallet on a new device.
In the past year, DBS has introduced other anti-scam measures, such as a feature that allows users to control who can add their cards to mobile phone wallets.
With this feature, users must switch on the “mobile wallets” toggle in their banking app before adding their card details to their device for contactless payment. The toggle automatically switches off after 10 minutes, giving users a limited window to complete the set-up.
In June, DBS rolled out real-time fraud surveillance, which blocks or places a 24-hour hold on transactions exceeding 50 per cent of an account’s balance for accounts with $50,000 or more.
This move is outlined under the Shared Responsibility Framework, aiming to substantially reduce cases of customers having large sums of money rapidly drained from their accounts without their knowledge.
At OCBC, the 12-hour cooling period for adding a new payee, raising transfer limits, and updating one’s contact details has been implemented for its apps since 2022.
UOB customers who wish to raise their daily transfer limits have also been subjected to a 12-hour cooling period since December 2024. Transfers to new recipients are also subjected to the same delay.
Close to half a billion dollars was lost to scams in the first half of 2025, with almost 20,000 cases reported in Singapore.
The most common ruse in the first six months of 2025 was phishing scams, with 3,779 cases reported, based on mid-year scam statistics released by the police on Aug 30.
The amount lost to such scams was $30.4 million – a jump of 134 per cent from the $13 million lost in the first six months of 2024.
The police said phishing scams mostly involved unauthorised card transactions, in which victims unknowingly submitted their card details and authentication codes to scammers to complete seemingly legitimate purchases.