TBA: Transfer glitch refunds shortened to 1 day
Rapid growth in mobile banking seeing snags
The Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) has agreed to shorten the period for unmatched fund transfer returns in the event of mobile app glitches to one day from a few days.
The one-day fund returns were a result of a meeting between the Bank of Thailand and the TBA a few weeks ago, said TBA chairman Predee Daochai.
Fund transfer transactions through mobile banking have dramatically surged after banks waived off transaction fees over digital channels in late March.
Typically, transactions peak at the middle and at the end of each month.
Users of the national e-payments system, PromptPay, experienced delays in cash transfers for about eight hours on Dec 31. The disruption was caused by computer glitches related to changing calender formatting for the new year.
An average of 250 PromptPay transactions take place per second.
In a related development, Mr Predee said banks will continue to make investments in mobile banking infrastructure for new feature adoptions and cybersecurity systems to improve convenience and safety for customers.
Banks will also need to further expand capacity for mobile banking services to prepare for strong growth of the digital service.
“Banks and ITMX [National Interbank Transaction and Exchange] have prepared for digital transaction growth, but we cannot forecast how high transactions numbers will be during peak periods,” Mr Predee said. “Therefore, we need to expand capacity more existing projections, which needs more investment.”
He also said that no financial losses were reported after data for 123,000 customers at Krungthai Bank and Kasikornbank’s was stolen a few weeks ago as both banks managed to address the cyber-attack immediately.
The TBA data-sharing system under Thailand Banking Sector Computer Emergency Response Team (TB-CERT) will also help protect the industry from cyber-risks.
Apart from the banking industry, TB-CERT will also expand cyber-risk alerts and prevention systems to other businesses to improve the country’s overall cybersecurity system.
Mr Predee said cybersecurity was not formally discussed at the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking) meeting yesterday, but he acknowledged that business leaders are paying attention to the threat.
Kalin Sarasin, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said small- and mediumsized enterprises are more concerned about cybersecurity systems than large corporate companies, especially with regards to computer virus prevention.
Federation of Thai Industries chairman Suphan Mongkolsuthree said the industrial sector is focused on cyber-risks, particularly to business databases, but the industrial sector is typically not the target of cyberattacks or cybercrimes.