DBS to impose 12-hour cooling period for raising daily transfer limits, adding new recipients
DBS said the move is designed to give customers time to detect and stop unauthorised activity on their accounts.
A DBS company signage is seen on the bank's headquarters at the central business district in Singapore on Mar 14, 2025. (File photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
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SINGAPORE: From Mar 7, DBS digital banking users will need to wait for 12 hours before they can increase their transfer limits or add a new payee, as part of security measures to combat "increasingly sophisticated" scams, the bank said on Friday (Feb 20).
In an email to its customers, DBS said that 12-hour cooling periods will be introduced for adding a new recipient, increasing daily local and overseas transfer limits and updating contact details such as emails and mobile numbers.
The new measures are in addition to the existing 12-hour cooling period for the activation of digital security tokens, DBS said.
This move is a "critical safeguard" designed to give customers time to detect and stop unauthorised activity on their accounts, said Singapore's biggest bank.
After the new measures kick in, "transfers to new recipients or transactions above your existing limits will only be allowed after the 12-hour cooling period has ended", said DBS.
"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."
Other banking activities, such as transferring funds to existing payees within current transfer limits, can still be performed.
OCBC Bank and UOB have implemented cooling periods of similar lengths for their internet banking and digital app users in recent years.
More than S$450 million was lost to scams in the first half of 2025, according to statistics from the Singapore Police Force, with 19,665 cases reported in that time period.
Phishing scams were the most common scam type, making up 19.2 per cent of total scam cases.
Last year, major retail banks, including DBS, OCBC and UOB, implemented a safeguard that allows them to hold or reject transfers from accounts with balances of at least S$50,000 if withdrawals over 24 hours amount to more than half of the total funds.
