DBS Phasing Out Physical Tokens for 2FA from 1 April 2021

I’m sure most of us are familiar with this device, even some don’t really use it.

Yup, that’s the super (in)convenient token that people like the author keeps misplacing.

And pretty much just didn’t use in place of the way more convenient physical token.

In fact, DBS probably knows this and is also on its way to shifting away from using their physical counterpart too.

DBS Phasing Out Physical Tokens for 2FA from 1 April 2021

DBS will start to phase out physical tokens starting from 1 April.

Which, despite the date, isn’t actually an April Fool’s prank.

On the bank’s website, they also state that physical tokens will stop being issued from 1 Feb onwards.

Which honestly just makes things more convenient.

The physical token actually has a battery limit that runs out after a few years, whereas the digital one is just tied to your phone, which will never run out of battery because no phone = no you.

And both pretty much function the same way too, so going digital means you don’t need to replace a token every time it dies.

Preference For The Digital Token

On 20 Jan, DBS said that most of their digital banking users have already started using the digital token.

Though there’s no exact number of how many people still use the physical one, DBS head of consumer banking, Jeremy Soo, says that the feedback to the digital token was very positive.

He says that DBS aims to make services more convenient without compromising their security.

“Digital tokens save customers the hassle of carrying around a physical token, and of being unable to access our online or mobile services should customers accidentally misplace them.”

They’ve even uploaded a really easy to follow guide on their YouTube account on how to set a digital token up.

Which can literally be done in about a minute or so.

You can head on over here for more details regarding the digital token.

However, there is one kind of physical token that we should all be getting by the end of the year.

Which is everyone’s favourite TraceTogether token.

Like the DBS one, it also has a non-physical, app version that you can use which isn’t hard at all! Check out our video on how exactly TraceTogether works (and please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos!):

And if you’re a student, no need to chiong for the token anyway, since schools will be giving them out to you.

Though you should rush to set up your DBS digital token if you haven’t already.

Featured Image: Travel_Adventure / Shutterstock.com & dbs.com.sg