Banks Wasted 1 hour to make a payment
I wasted one hour to make a payment to my employee for their salary for this month. 

DBS has a ridiculous system under the online platform for business customers. It is called Ideal 3.

I created the records to make payment for my employees. I have to submit the payment records and go through the approval process. It takes the following steps:

a) DBS send a SMS to me with a 8 digit PIN called the challenge
b) I have to unlock their device with a code and and enter the challenge to get another 8 digit number
c) I have to enter the converted number into the transaction

I have gone through this troublesome process for the most three years, and got used to it. 

The payment transaction that I made today was rejected. The error message was that I had entered an invalid code. 
 
I went through the troublesome process a second time. It failed again.

I called their business hotline for help. Like most organizations in Singapore, DBS has a "terrible call center" system. I had trouble to get to a staff.

The staff guided me to use a digit token, in case the physical token was not working. 

I went through the entire process again. The digital token also failed. 

The staff said that she had to re-synchronized the key in the physical token and the digital token with the key in their banking system. It took some time to fix, while I had to hold on to the line. 

When she was ready, I went through the process again. Finally, it went through. I wasted one hour of my time to make a simple transaction. 

What happened? I had the same token that was used for several years. Somehow, DBS changed the key in their system, so my physical token and digital token was not synchronized with their banking system. They had to reset their system to synchronize the tokens.

The real problem is that the concept of sending a "challenge" to be converted into another number using the token is unnecessary. There are already adequate safeguards to ensure that the transaction is fraud proof. 

To enter the system, I have to give my company code, staff code, password, and a token access key. To approve the transaction, I should only be required to give the token access key again. There is no need for the bank to send a challenge to be converted into another number with the device. 

I had told DBS about this ridiculous system when they introduced it several years ago. They refused to listen. I suspect that they are implementing a protocol mandated by the regulator, MAS.

I do not know how many time and money is wasted by people in Singapore  all these years with a troublesome and ridiculous process.

What a ridiculous process. What a ridiculous bank. What a ridiculous country. 

Tan Kin Lian


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