eBook OR

[OR] [AmB] [E3] [CBS] [1] [ITo] Establish Impact Tolerances

Written by Moh Heng Goh | Jan 28, 2026 9:32:58 AM

CBS-1 Retail & Digital Banking

Establishing impact tolerances is a core requirement of operational resilience, ensuring that AmBank can continue to deliver its most important services within acceptable levels of disruption.

For CBS-1 Retail & Digital Banking, impact tolerances define the maximum level of disruption that can be tolerated before causing intolerable harm to customers, breaching regulatory obligations, or undermining trust in the financial system.

These tolerances are outcome-focused and are set irrespective of existing controls or recovery capabilities.

In line with operational resilience guidance, impact tolerances for CBS-1 are expressed across time (Maximum Tolerable Downtime – MTD) and data integrity (Maximum Tolerable Data Loss – MTDL), while explicitly considering customer detriment, regulatory consequences, and reputational damage.

The table below summarises the impact tolerances for each Sub-CBS supporting Retail & Digital Banking, together with current resilience status and improvement actions.

Table P4: Establish Impact Tolerance for CBS-1

Sub-CBS Code

Sub-CBS

Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD)

Maximum Tolerable Data Loss (MTDL)

Customer Impact

Regulatory Impact

Impact Type

Current Resilience Status

Action Required

1.1

Customer Onboarding & KYC

24 hours

0 data loss

Delayed account opening; customer dissatisfaction

Breach of AML/CFT onboarding timelines

Regulatory / Customer

Partially resilient

Strengthen digital KYC redundancy and manual fallback procedures

1.2

Digital Banking Platform Provisioning

2 hours

Near-zero (≤5 minutes)

Inability to access digital channels

Potential breach of service availability expectations

Customer / Reputational

Moderately resilient

Enhance platform failover and cloud resilience testing

1.3

Transaction Processing Services

1 hour

Zero data loss

Failed or duplicated transactions; financial loss

Serious breach of payment and banking regulations

Financial / Systemic

High resilience

Continuous real-time monitoring and stress testing

1.4

Digital Payments & Settlement

30 minutes

Zero data loss

Payment failures affecting daily living

Material regulatory breach (payment systems)

Systemic / Regulatory

High resilience

Maintain multi-clearing network connectivity and contingency routing

1.5

Loan & Credit Product Management

8 hours

≤15 minutes

Delays in loan approvals and disbursements

Customer fairness and conduct risk

Customer / Regulatory

Partially resilient

Improve workflow automation and data synchronisation

1.6

Deposit & Savings Product Management

4 hours

Zero data loss

Restricted access to funds; loss of confidence

Prudential and consumer protection breach

Financial / Reputational

Moderately resilient

Enhance core banking redundancy and reconciliation controls

1.7

Customer Support & Service Resolution

12 hours

≤30 minutes

Inability to resolve urgent issues

Increased complaints and supervisory scrutiny

Customer / Conduct

Partially resilient

Expand omnichannel support and crisis staffing plans

1.8

Compliance, Risk & Security Monitoring

2 hours

Zero data loss

Indirect impact through fraud or breaches

Severe regulatory and enforcement risk

Regulatory / Systemic

Moderately resilient

Implement 24/7 monitoring and automated alert escalation

1.9

Data Analytics & Personalisation

48 hours

≤1 hour

Reduced service quality; limited personalisation

Minimal direct regulatory impact

Reputational / Strategic

Tolerable

No immediate action; monitor dependency concentration

1.10

Back-office Support & Reconciliation

24 hours

Zero data loss

Delayed issue resolution and reporting

Reporting and audit non-compliance

Operational / Regulatory

Partially resilient

Strengthen reconciliation automation and cross-training

 

The impact tolerances defined for CBS-1 Retail & Digital Banking establish clear thresholds for how much disruption AmBank can tolerate before causing unacceptable harm to customers or breaching regulatory obligations.

By articulating tolerances across downtime, data loss, and impact severity, AmBank shifts the focus from traditional recovery metrics to customer and market outcomes, in line with modern operational resilience expectations.

These tolerances provide a critical foundation for subsequent resilience activities, including severe but plausible scenario testing, investment prioritisation, and remediation planning.

Where current resilience levels fall short of defined tolerances, targeted actions have been identified to strengthen AmBank’s ability to remain within impact limits during disruption.

Collectively, this ensures that Retail & Digital Banking services remain trustworthy, compliant, and reliable even under adverse conditions.

 

Operational Resilience Framework: A Case Study of AmBank Malaysia

eBook 3: Starting Your OR Implementation
CBS-1 Retail & Digital Banking
CBS-1 DP CBS-1 MD CBS-1 MPR CBS-1 ITo CBS-1 SuPS CBS-1 ST

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