MAS delays banks' implementation of e-payment user protection guidelines to June 30

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Thursday said that it will give banks and credit card issuers more time to adopt the e-payments user protection guidelines, which were first issued last September and originally scheduled to kick in on Jan 31, 2019.

The effective start date has been delayed to June 30, 2019.

The guidelines aim to set standards in terms of the duties of financial institutions and users for secure e-payment transactions. They seek to simplify error resolution processes when a user sends money to the wrong recipient, and apportion liability between financial institutions and users for unauthorised transactions.

"The banks have requested MAS for more time to implement the guidelines, owing to the scale and complexity of system changes needed to implement the transaction notification standards for all products and customers as set out in the guidelines," MAS said.

MAS said that after the guidelines come into force, a more comprehensive notification alert process and framework for unauthorised transactions will be in place.

In the meantime, it encourages consumers to enable notification alerts for transactions such as debit/credit cards payments, funds transfer and cash withdrawals where their bank is able to provide them. 

"Consumers should monitor these notification alerts closely, and report unauthorised transactions immediately for their banks to follow up. Consumers should also continue practicing good cyber hygiene when using e-payments," it said.