SINGAPORE - At a POSB branch in Yishun, staff repeatedly foiled a daughter’s attempt to gain access to her elderly father’s savings account, which had less than $5,000 in it.

A few months ago, the woman went to the branch alone, claiming that her father was becoming forgetful and she needed access to help him withdraw money.

She wanted to be added as the joint account holder for her father’s account.

Ms Ivy Koh, 59, branch service manager at POSB Yishun West branch, said: “We told her we need to talk to her father as he is the account holder, and we need his consent.”

Days later, the daughter returned with her father and another relative. 

Ms Koh said: “When we asked if he consented to adding his daughter to his account, he kept quiet. He looked uncomfortable and avoided eye contact with us. His daughter kept staring at him.”

Ms Koh told the senior that in a joint-alternate account, his daughter could withdraw his money without his consent as just one account holder is needed to perform any transaction. 

Sensing his discomfort, the staff laid two slips of paper before him: one marked yes, the other no.  

They asked him to point to his preference, and several times, he chose “no”.

So the bank rejected the daughter’s request, and that was when tempers flared. 

“The relative started shouting at us, asking us why we were treating them like criminals,” Ms Koh recalled. 

Shortly after that visit, the daughter returned with her father to make the same request.  The senior again kept quiet when asked if he wanted to add his daughter to his account.

So the bank stood firm and did not accede to the daughter’s plea.

“We told the daughter she needed to get a court order in order to manage her father’s finances,” she said.

This last visit took place a few months ago in 2025.

Said Ms Koh: “She has not come back again or gone to other branches. We have put out an alert to our colleagues at other branches.”

Ms Jacqueline Lim, DBS Bank Singapore’s chief operating officer of consumer banking group, said DBS/POSB has trained front-line staff to identify and support vulnerable or at-risk customers, and it stepped up such training in late 2024 amid the growing number of scam cases.

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For example, it held five specialised sessions between April and June to further train staff to manage clients, such as those facing cognitive decline or pressure from their loved ones.

Its efforts come as the Association of Banks in Singapore and the major banks are developing industry guidelines to better protect elderly clients from being abused financially by their loved ones, such as their children or other family members.

Ms Koh, who has worked at DBS/POSB for 42 years, has seen her fair share of family disputes at the front lines of banking.

She said: “You can’t tell for sure if it’s abuse, but you can tell if something is not right.

“It can be scary when family members start shouting at us. But we remind ourselves: It’s better to be safe than sorry. We want to protect our customers’ dignity and to ensure their true wishes are heard.”