Bank of Maldives (BML) has introduced authenticator applications to generate one-time-passwords (OTPs) for all internet and mobile banking transactions.
Customers will be able to download authenticator applications such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator to generate unique OTPs to authorize transactions. Following app activation, the authenticators can be listed as OTP options on the internet or mobile banking applications for online transactions.
BML has also confirmed that email will be removed from default OTP channel, effective from 20th December. However, customers wishing to keep email as an option can enable it after a verification process.
Speaking about this change, the bank’s current CEO Karl Stumke said, “Email accounts are often compromised in scam cases and as a result, OTPs sent to emails are accessed by scammers to make unauthorized transactions from customer accounts. With the introduction of authenticator apps, our customers now have an additional layer of security in their banking transactions, even if an email account has been compromised”.
Stumke also noted that scams were evolving over time, but ensured that the bank will continue its efforts to protect customers’ critical data.