Singapore, 20 January 2012… MAS welcomes ABS' announcement of the new measures that banks will be implementing to enhance the security of the retail payment infrastructure.

2   Mr Wan Aik Chye, Director, Specialist Risk Department, MAS, said, ”Banks should implement the new measures as soon as they can, and ahead of the industry’s timeline where possible.  We expect banks to have in place robust fraud detection systems to track customer accounts for unusual spending patterns and suspicious transactions.  Banks should also consider adopting additional security enhancements such as transaction alerts for any movement of funds from a customer’s account. MAS holds banks directly responsible for the safety and soundness of the services and systems they provide to their customers and will continue to work with the industry to enhance the security of payment systems."

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