Maybank Singapore (Maybank) has rolled out the Money Lock feature, in support of the industry’s move to place an additional safeguard layer to protect customers’ funds.

This enables customers to “lock” their savings to protect their funds from being transferred digitally if scammers gain unauthorised access to their phones and accounts.

Customers can set aside their desired amount (in local and foreign currencies) from their savings and current accounts with Money Lock via the bank’s banking channels – Maybank2u online banking and Maybank2u SG (Lite) app, or visit Maybank branches and selected ATMs. Their “locked” funds in Money Lock will continue to accrue interest based on prevailing rates.

Adam Tan, Maybank’s head of community financial services, said: “With the rise in scams and more sophisticated scam ruses, we need to continually step up our anti-scam banking measures such as the Money Lock feature to safeguard our customers’ hard-earned savings against scammers. As customers can decide the amount to be set aside to ensure cash liquidity for emergency needs, they will have the additional peace of mind that their monies cannot be transferred out of their accounts digitally through the Money Lock.”

Tan added: “We have implemented various security measures such as restricting customers from accessing our online banking apps when we detect potential malware risks, and enabling the “Kill Switch” function for customers to freeze their online banking access if they suspect they have been scammed. We also train our frontline staff to spot red flags, and we have successfully prevented customers from losing close to over $1 million since last year through our scam interventions to date.”

Customers will need to make in-person withdrawals at Maybank branches and selected ATMs to unlock their funds as an additional security measure.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker