‘Money lock’ activated for about 38,000 Singapore bank accounts, protecting over S$3.2 billion in savings

THE “money lock” feature offered by local banks – which lets customers set aside funds so they cannot be transferred – has been activated on about 38,000 accounts in Singapore, with over S$3.2 billion of savings set aside, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday (Jan 10) in a written parliamentary answer.

Launched by local banks in November, the feature helps to mitigate losses if a customer’s digital access to bank accounts is compromised.

Wong was replying to Member of Parliament Saktiandi Supaat, who asked for data on the take-up rate of the feature.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is working with other major retail banks to introduce the money lock feature as well, said Wong.

Saktiandi also asked whether the MAS is working with financial institutions to explore new technologies and measures to protect local consumers from digital banking scams, especially for transactions involving foreign bank accounts and against scammers accessing local bank accounts from abroad.

To that, Wong replied that the MAS is working with financial institutions, industry players and other government agencies to combat increasingly sophisticated scam tactics.

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“MAS will continue to work with financial institutions to assess additional measures for higher-risk transactions, including those relating to transfers to overseas payees, and access of bank accounts from overseas locations,” said Wong.

“These and other measures will be rolled out, if assessed to be effective.”