Bank has got its priorities wrong!

I read the letter from D. Soon of Kluang Scam victim seeing red over bank’s lack of urgency with a deep sense of deja vu, and am moved to comment on his justifiable frustrations with Maybank. The writer has been duped by an Internet scam, and is urgently seeking the bank's action to prevent or minimise "collateral damage", ie false charges to his credit card. The fact that he was apparently given the run around with all sorts of internal banking requirements to prove his identity and to stop the fake transactions is testimony that the Bank has got all its priorities wrong. I have had a similar experience before, but I use a bank whose policies are progressive and enlightened, and I managed to resolve my problems with just one call to the Call Centre. Let me explain. When a customer calls in to report some loss or scam, it is the bank's most important responsibility to prove that the caller is the genuine owner of the card. That can be done fairly easily as there are now standardised procedures used by all banks.( pin number, old i.c number, mother's maiden name, secret question etc). Once the identity is established to be authentic, the bank must as far as it can accept the customer's requests, even if it is to stop any payments already made. The bank does not have to worry, as it will then be the responsibility of the customer to resolve the issue with the merchants, be it a fake or a genuine case, why the payment has been stopped. This is similar to action taken by a customer to stop a cheque payment. Why, when it comes to a credit card payment, this bank has to make the customer go through the rigours of proving himself, as if HE is the crook? In the age of the Internet and global communications, speed is the essence, for crooks to operate, and as well as for us to protect ourselves.

I really hope our Bank Negara would get the banks to streamline their procedures of their Call centres, so that we achieve an international benchmark in our banking operations and financial services.