[BCM] [Boost] [E3] [PD] [CBF] [1] Customer Transactions and Payment Processing

Safeguarding Digital Finance: Boost Bank's Approach to Business Continuity Management

[Plan Development] [Critical Business Function] [1]

Business Continuity Recovery Procedure

CBF 1: Customer Transactions and Payment Processing

Delivering uninterrupted customer transactions and payment processing is essential to Boost Bank Malaysia’s operational integrity and customer trust.

As a Critical Business Function (CBF), any disruption to this capability can have significant financial, reputational, and regulatory repercussions.

This Business Continuity Recovery Procedure outlines the structured and time-sensitive approach Boost Bank must follow to ensure the timely resumption and complete restoration of this function during and after an incident, emergency, or disaster.

The procedures documented herein align with industry best practices and guidelines from the BCM Institute.

They serve to guide Boost Bank’s business continuity, operations, IT, and crisis response teams through precise, actionable steps for preparedness (Pre-Crisis), immediate response (within T+24 Hours—resumption), and full recovery (after T+24 Hours—recovery).

This plan provides a comprehensive framework for resilience by detailing recovery time objectives (RTO), alternate strategies, supporting systems, and essential dependencies.

BCM Procedure

Customer Transactions and Payment Processing

WHAT: Description and Importance

Customer Transactions and Payment Processing are the core of Boost Bank’s digital financial operations. This function covers real-time fund transfers, bill payments, mobile wallet transactions, card transactions, QR payments, and merchant settlements.

Its continuity ensures customer trust, regulatory compliance, and uninterrupted financial services in a competitive digital banking landscape.

PRE-CRISIS (READINESS)

Objective: To ensure Boost Bank is fully prepared to maintain or quickly resume customer transactions and payment processing during a disruption.

HOW: Proactive Steps

A. Governance & Documentation

• Maintain Updated BIA and RA:
  Ensure the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and Risk Assessment (RA) for this function are reviewed and validated every six months. Based on operational changes, update all dependencies, vendors, systems, RTOs, and MBCOs.
  
  
• BCP/DRP Alignment:
  Review and align the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) with the IT Disaster Recovery Plan (IT DRP) to ensure consistency in Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and responsibilities across business and IT units.
  
  
• BCM Policy Compliance:
  Verify compliance with Boost Bank’s internal BCM policies and Bank Negara Malaysia’s guidelines on operational resilience.
  
  
• Version Control:
  Apply version control and maintain historical records of BCP updates for audit and traceability purposes.

B. Staff Preparedness

• Team Identification and Role Clarity:
  Identify all personnel critical to the recovery of this function, assign clear roles, and document alternate contacts with 24/7 reachability.
  
  
• Training and Awareness:
  Conduct bi-annual BCM training for all team members involved in this process, including recovery procedures, communication protocols, and incident handling.
  
  
• Tabletop and Simulation Drills:
  Run at least two scenario-based tabletop exercises annually that simulate disruptions to transaction processing (e.g., major app outage, payment gateway failure).
  
  
• Cross-Training and Shadowing:
  Implement cross-training programs to ensure key roles (e.g., Payment Ops Manager, DR Lead) have trained backups, thereby reducing single points of failure.

C. Technology & Data Protection

• Daily Data Backup Protocols:
  Ensure that daily backups of all customer transaction data are scheduled, encrypted, and stored off-site or in the cloud. Validate integrity via weekly test restores.
  
  
• System Redundancy:
  Confirm that all critical applications (e.g., mobile banking backend, QR payment engine, real-time transfer services) are configured for high availability (HA) and failover readiness.
  
  
• Performance Monitoring:
  Utilise real-time monitoring tools to track system health and detect anomalies promptly. Define thresholds for automatic alerts and escalation.
  
  
• Disaster Recovery Testing:
  Conduct semi-annual DR tests simulating production failover for payment systems. Include payment gateway switchovers and mock transaction flow verifications.

D. Vendor and Third-Party Preparedness

• Vendor Business Continuity Assurance:
  Request BCM documentation, DR test results, and recovery capabilities from all critical vendors (e.g., payment processors and cloud service providers).
  
  
• SLA Alignment with BCP Objectives:
  Ensure all third-party SLAs include RTO/RPO requirements that align with Boost Bank’s MBCOs and BCP strategies.
  
  
• Contingency Clauses in Contracts:
  In vendor contracts, include force majeure and disaster clauses to protect continuity and service obligations during crises.
  
  
• Communication Protocols with Vendors:
  Develop and test communication trees to rapidly contact vendor support and escalation points during disruptions.

E. Communication Preparedness

• Stakeholder Directory:
  Maintain a secure, offline-accessible contact directory of all internal stakeholders (e.g., IT, compliance, legal, and CMT) and external partners (e.g., clearinghouses, regulators, and payment service providers).
  
  
• Pre-approved Message Templates:
  Create pre-drafted messages for various incident scenarios to expedite internal and customer communications during an event.
  
  
• Media and Public Relations Preparedness:
  Ensure coordination between BCM and Communications teams for press releases and media inquiries. Pre-assign a media spokesperson and train them on crisis messaging.
  
  
• Employee Notification Systems:
  Test and maintain multi-channel employee notification systems (e.g., SMS, email, WhatsApp) for quick updates during incidents.
  

WITHIN T+24 HOURS (RESUMPTION)

Objective: To restore the capability to process customer transactions and payments at a minimal acceptable level within 24 hours of a disruption to meet the defined RTO and MBCO

HOW: Immediate Recovery Steps Post-Disruption

A. Activation of Business Continuity Plan

• Trigger the BC Plan:
  Upon detection of a disruption affecting customer transactions and payment systems, the BCM Coordinator or Crisis Management Team (CMT) activates the Business Continuity Plan.
  
  
• Notify Key Stakeholders:
  Notify internal stakeholders, including Executive Management, the IT Disaster Recovery (ITDR) Lead, and Business Function Heads. If necessary, escalate to Bank Negara Malaysia.
  
  
• Initial Situation Assessment (T+0 to T+1 Hour):
  Conduct a rapid assessment to:
  • Confirm the scope of the disruption (systems, processes, people, vendors)
  • Determine estimated downtime
  • Identify impacted customer-facing and backend systems

B. Resumption at Alternate Site or Remote Operations

• Activate Alternate Work Area/Remote Access:
  • Enable alternate physical or remote workspaces for the Payment Operations team.
  • Ensure staff can access critical applications (e.g., transaction processing platform, payment gateway portals, core banking systems) via secure VPN or backup channels.
  
  
• Redeploy Essential Personnel:
  Mobilise pre-identified essential staff to the alternate site or virtual workspace as per the resource plan. If primary personnel are unavailable, engage cross-trained backups.

C. Restore Critical IT Systems & Applications

• Engage the IT DR Team for System Failover:
  • Initiate failover to DR environments for critical systems such as:
    • Core banking and payment systems
    • eWallet/QR transaction systems
    • Interbank transfer platforms (e.g., DuitNow, FPX)
    
    
  • Ensure prioritisation according to RTO and business impact.
  
  
• Data Recovery and Verification:
  • Recover the last known good backup from designated backup systems.
  • Verify data integrity for in-process customer transactions and reconcile any incomplete payments to ensure accuracy.
  
  
• Connectivity & Interfaces Restoration:
  • Restore essential third-party interfaces (e.g., payment gateways, clearinghouses).
  • Test API functionality and data synchronisation with external systems.

D. Resume Partial or Manual Operations (If Automation Fails)

• Implement Manual Processing Procedures:
  • Resume priority transactions manually (e.g., disbursements, salary credits, urgent fund transfers) based on manual workarounds.
  • Use approved offline templates, forms, or spreadsheets for transaction capture.
  
  
• Daily Limit Adjustments:
  Temporarily revise daily transaction or payment limits to control risk exposure during manual processing.
  
  
• Customer Verification Measures:
  Implement additional identity and transaction verification for manually processed requests to prevent fraud.

E. Communication and Customer Management

• Internal Team Briefing:
  Conduct short hourly meetings with recovery teams to monitor progress, resolve blockers, and coordinate efforts.
  
  
• Customer Notifications:
  • Issue timely status updates to customers via mobile app banners, email, SMS, or website.
  • Inform customers of expected timelines for service restoration and any alternate channels available.
  
  
• Frontline Staff Briefing:
  Equip Customer Service and Branch teams with FAQs, talking points, and escalation contacts to ensure consistent handling of customer queries.

F. External Vendor Coordination

• Engage Critical Vendors:
  Work with outsourced payment service providers, data centre vendors, and software partners to expedite recovery timelines and resolve dependencies.
  
  
• Monitor SLA Performance:
  Ensure vendors are performing within their committed Service Level Agreement (SLA) terms and escalate any issues that arise as necessary.

G. Logging and Documentation

• Incident Log Initiation:
  Begin a formal incident log capturing:
  • Timeline of events
  • Actions taken
  • Decisions made
  • Communications sent
  • Recovery progress
  
  
• Preliminary Root Cause Analysis (RCA):
  Initiate collection of technical logs, alerts, and error messages to support later RCA and corrective actions.

This structured response ensures that within 24 hours of disruption, Boost Bank can restore its ability to process critical customer transactions at a minimum service level, mitigate operational impact, and maintain regulatory and reputational trust.

AFTER T+24 HOURS (RECOVERY)

Objective: To restore all systems, processes, and services related to customer transactions and payment processing to full functionality and business-as-usual (BAU) performance after the initial resumption.

This includes validation, root cause mitigation, performance stabilisation, and customer reconciliation.

HOW: Detailed Recovery Steps Beyond 24 Hours

A. Stabilise Systems and Resume Full Operations

• Transition from DR to Primary Systems (if applicable):
  • Re-establish services in the primary data centre once stability is confirmed.
  • Ensure zero data loss and consistent replication from disaster recovery (DR) systems to primary environments before the switchback.
  
  
• Comprehensive System Health Checks:
  • Conduct complete diagnostics and validation of restored systems, including:
    • Core banking systems
    • Transaction switching platforms
    • ePayment interfaces (DuitNow, FPX, QRPay)
    • Reconciliation and settlement engines
    
    
  • Address system performance bottlenecks and latency issues.
  
  
• Reinstate Full Automation:
  • Resume all automated transaction processing, including:
    • Auto-crediting/debiting
    • Scheduled fund transfers
    • Recurring payments
    
    
  • Deactivate interim manual workarounds once stability is confirmed.

B. Complete Transaction Reconciliation and Customer Resolution

• Reconcile In-Flight Transactions:
  • Compare logs from payment gateways, core systems, and backup data to identify:
    • Failed or duplicated payments
    • Stuck or delayed transactions
    
    
  • Correct discrepancies in batch or individually as required.
  
  
• Reverse or Adjust Erroneous Entries:
  • Process refunds, chargebacks, or reversals for duplicate or failed transactions.
  • Notify impacted customers with proof of action taken.
  
  
• Customer Complaint Closure:
  • Work with Customer Service to:
    • Resolve open complaints or queries
    • Compensate customers per policy for SLA breaches or financial loss (if any)
    • Provide service recovery gestures where reputational damage occurred

C. Communications and Stakeholder Management

• Internal Debrief Sessions:
  • Conduct structured debriefs with:
    • BCM Team
    • IT DR & Cybersecurity
    • Payment Operations and Compliance
    
    
  • Discuss what went well, what failed, and the immediate lessons learned.
  
  
• Update Stakeholders:
  • Send formal updates to:
    • Executive management
    • Risk and compliance teams
    • Bank Negara Malaysia (if previously notified)
    • Other impacted partners or vendors
    
    
• Customer Communication Closure:
  • Announce full-service restoration via official digital channels (email, SMS, app banners, website).
  • Thank customers for their patience and outline steps taken to prevent recurrence.

D. Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Corrective Actions

• Conduct Full RCA:
  • Identify the root technical or process-level cause of the disruption.
  • Use data from system logs, monitoring dashboards, vendor feedback, and manual overrides.
  
  
• Document Lessons Learned:
  • Capture what recovery strategies worked or failed, and update playbooks accordingly.
  • Identify training needs, additional resources, or policy changes required.
  
  
• Initiate Remediation Plans:
  • Apply technical fixes, patch updates, or vendor service-level agreement (SLA) changes.
  • Adjust infrastructure, redundancy, or monitoring protocols according to the findings.

E. BCM Documentation and Review

• Update BCP & DRP Documents:
  • Modify BCP procedures, contacts, recovery runbooks, and alternate site plans based on actual incident experience.
    
    
• Update Vital Records & Interdependency Tables:
  • Ensure the accuracy of critical records and dependencies surfaced during recovery.
• Review Recovery Metrics:
  • Evaluate performance against:
    • Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
    • Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
    • Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPD)
    
    
  • Flag gaps for regulatory reporting or internal audit review.

F. Return to Business-As-Usual (BAU)

• Handover to BAU Operations:
  • Once all services are stable, formally transition activities back to the original business unit and IT owners.
  • Resume standard change control, release management, and operations cadence.
    
    
• Stand Down BCM Teams:
  • Officially close the incident and stand down the BCM, DR, and crisis teams.
    
    
• Schedule Recovery Readiness Review:
  • Set a date for post-incident recovery testing or simulation to validate improvements.

Summing Up ...

This complete recovery approach ensures that Boost Bank Malaysia can systematically restore its “Customer Transactions and Payment Processing” function to its normal, pre-disruption state.

The structured actions address operational, technical, reputational, and regulatory dimensions, thereby cementing customer trust and institutional resilience.

More Information About Business Continuity Management Courses

To learn more about the course and schedule, click the buttons below for the  BCM-300 Business Continuity Management Implementer [BCM-3] and the BCM-5000 Business Continuity Management Expert Implementer [BCM-5].

 

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