(Yicai) Nov. 3 -- Recent restrictions imposed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore on DBS Bank after a series of system failures will not impact the Singaporean bank’s normal operations in China, DBS Bank China said.

Customers can continue to use DBS Bank China's products and services as usual, it said on its WeChat account. Rumors circulating on social media claiming that “Suddenly! Southeast Asia’s largest bank suspended! unable to pay, log in and withdraw cash” are false.

DBS Bank will be suspended from making non-essential IT system changes for the next six months to allow it to focus on restoring the resilience of its digital banking system, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Nov. 1. During this period, DBS will not be allowed to acquire new business ventures nor reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore.

“We have imposed this six-month pause on the bank to give it the space to take the actions needed to maintain customer trust,” said Ho Hern Shin, deputy board manager of the regulator. “DBS must put in place immediate measures to ensure service reliability while it continues to invest in the longer-term efforts to bolster its operational resilience.”

DBS Bank’s banking services crashed on March 29, May 5, Sept. 26, Oct. 14 and 20 this year. The lender apologized for these incidents in an announcement on the Singapore Exchange on Nov. 1, and said it will develop a roadmap to improve the resilience of its information systems.

Editor: Kim Taylor