PETALING JAYA, Sept 27 — MBSB Bank Bhd will abide by the latest security measures announced by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to safeguard against financial scams, especially via online transactions.

MBSB Bank chief executive officer Datuk Nor Azam M. Taib said although there may be some concerns within financial institutions, it must be done to help curb scams and protect customers.

"There are no two ways about it, we will follow what is required by BNM,” he told reporters after presenting certificates to 23 participants who completed the Growth Entrepreneurship Assistance Programme (GRAP) today.

On Monday, BNM said financial institutions will need to migrate from SMS one-time passwords (OTPs) to more secure forms of authentication for online activities or transactions, and further tighten fraud detection rules and triggers for blocking suspected scam transactions.

It will also need to observe a cooling-off period for the first-time enrolment of online banking services or secure devices, restrict customers to one mobile or secure device for authentication as well as issues security advisories to the financial industry highlighting the latest modus operandi of scammers and other security measures.

Meanwhile, on the bank’s outlook for this year, Nor Azam is positive that it will perform better given the improvement in its first and second quarter financial results.

"Our third quarter is doing much better than the first half of the year, and we think the fourth quarter will too.

"However, for next year, we are not sure how long growth will be sustained, because as a small economy, we (Malaysia) will depend on our surrounding environment, which may not be that stable,” he said.

On the GRAP initiative, Nor Azam said the bank is planning to train participants to a higher level, such as marketing their products on e-commerce platforms and helping expand their business capabilities.

The participants who received GRAP participation certificates were residents of PPR Desa Rejang in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, with 80 per cent of them being single mothers.

The participants went through a seven-month training programme, from February to August 2022, covering subjects like sales and marketing, emotional well-being, product development, creative mind, accounting methods and record management.

The GRAP programme was in collaboration with Islamic Relief Malaysia.

Nor Azam said on average, participants managed to record an increase in a monthly income of more than 95 per cent, with 84 per cent operating food businesses and the rest were involved in sewing activities and "drop shipping”, a form of retail business where the operator accepts orders without ready stock. — Bernama