He will retire on Mar 28

 

DBS chief executive officer Piyush Gupta will be handing over the reins to deputy CEO Tan Su Shan on Mar 28, as he retires after 15 years at the helm.

 

In the bank&rsquo s annual report released on Mar 6, Gupta reflects on his time at DBS, particularly on its digital transformation.

 

&ldquo Of these, effecting culture change was arguably the most challenging but also the most game-changing. &rdquo

 

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta

Read his full letter here:

 

In less than a month, I will be retiring from DBS after 15 years at the helm. Looking back, this has without a doubt been the most fulfilling part of my entire career. When I joined the bank in November 2009, the industry was in the throes of the global financial crisis. DBS had an impressive pedigree and many strengths, including a solid deposit franchise in Singapore and a meaningful Asia network, but also untapped potential.

 

At the start, we set out to build the &ldquo Asian bank of choice for the new Asia&rdquo some years later, as fintechs threatened to encroach into our space, we further redefined banking by leveraging technology. In the process, we put DBS on the map with multiple global Best Bank accolades.

 

Reflecting on what made DBS&rsquo digital transformation successful, a few things come to mind. First, the transformation was pervasive &ndash we transformed everything from the technological architecture in the backend to customer interfaces at the front end. Second, we moved away from product siloes to thinking about customer journeys. Third, we changed the bank&rsquo s culture such that the workforce increasingly embraced innovation, experimentation and some degree of risk taking. Fourth, we put in place a system to measure progress.

 

Of these, effecting culture change was arguably the most challenging but also the most game-changing. While conventional wisdom is that it is difficult for a legacy company to transform at scale &ndash with some companies preferring to keep the old and new organisations separate &ndash we were committed to taking all our employees along in the journey.

 

More than that, instead of trying to change culture by diktat, we established a common vision and equipped our people with the frameworks and tools to embrace a new way of working &ndash creating &ldquo culture by design&rdquo . By adopting a ground-up approach, we were able to have a thousand flowers bloom. I saw clearly what Peter Drucker, the famed management guru, meant when he said, &ldquo Culture eats strategy for breakfast.&rdquo Today, DBS is more entrepreneurial, daring, agile and adaptable than before. 

 

I am confident that Su Shan will take the bank to the next level by building on the strengths that set us apart:

 

Being purposeful and collaborative. With its roots as the Development Bank of Singapore, DBS has the ethos of wanting to do real things for real people deeply embedded in its DNA. Such a desire to make a difference for customers and society is quite unusual in today&rsquo s world. It allows everyone to work together for a common good instead of putting individual agendas first. By creating an environment that fosters trust, it also supports a greater degree of risk-taking and, in turn, the agility we have as a company.

 

Leveraging technology. I believe we have largely accomplished the goal we had set for ourselves in 2014, of creating a different kind of bank and redefining our category. However, in the next three to four years, we have to take another big leap forward. While we have shifted a lot of applications to the new tech stack, there are still several more to be moved. There is also the need to simplify and standardise our architecture and processes to the next level.

 

Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), especially GenAI. AI is already proving to be game-changing in improving our ability to predict customer behaviours and response patterns. We have over 1,500 models running across more than 370 use cases in the bank. That is clearly a leadership position in our industry. But the big tech firms have a hundred times more models and use cases, so we have a lot of scope to improve further.

 

Additionally, from the various use cases we piloted in the past 12 months, it is clear that GenAI will have a profound impact on the nature of work and jobs. We have to fully embrace the possibilities, which should lead to a fundamental rethink of our operating models and even the creation of new business models. 

 

Harnessing Managing through Journeys (MtJs). Competitive advantage in the future will come from how we work, not just what we do. With the exponential speed at which technology is evolving, it is difficult to predict what the future will hold. We implemented MtJs to foster working in horizontal organisations, be totally data-driven, and have the nimbleness to experiment and innovate at the coalface. We have made good progress in MtJs, and I am confident that if we keep it our way of life, we will continue to win. 

 

I would like to express my immense gratitude to the board, group management committee and my 41,000 colleagues for the incredible journey &ndash it was only together that we were able to accomplish what we did. I shall miss the camaraderie and the magic that happens when a purpose-driven company is motivated by a common goal: to enrich the lives of individual customers and transform businesses. It has truly been a privilege, and I am secure in the belief that under Su Shan&rsquo s leadership, the bank will go from strength to strength.

Effecting culture change was &lsquo arguably the most challenging but also the most game-changing&rsquo , he says

DBS paid tribute to its outgoing chief executive and banking veteran Piyush Gupta as he prepares to retire this month after helming the bank for 15 years. 

 

As Gupta steps down at the conclusion of DBS&rsquo 26th annual general meeting on Mar 28, deputy group CEO Tan Su Shan will replace him as the bank&rsquo s new CEO. 

 

&ldquo Under his stewardship, DBS has evolved into one of Singapore&rsquo s most iconic institutions and a global financial powerhouse, with a (return on equity &ndash or ROE) that places us among the top-performing banks globally,&rdquo said DBS chairman Peter Seah in the bank&rsquo s annual report released on Thursday (Mar 6).

 

The lender&rsquo s ROE more than doubled to 18 per cent in 2024, from around 8 to 9 per cent when he first took over in 2009.

 

Seah said the bank&rsquo s strong performance reflects the structural changes Piyush has implemented over the past decade, especially the digital transformation and growth of high-ROE businesses such as wealth management, transaction services and treasury customer sales.

 

&ldquo He has built an enduring legacy through his visionary leadership, establishing the cornerstone for DBS to reach new heights in the years ahead,&rdquo said Seah.

 

Of Tan, Seah pointed to her track record and strong business acumen, adding: &ldquo We take pride that she is a homegrown talent, reflecting our commitment to developing a local talent pipeline.&rdquo

 

Reflecting on his time as CEO, Gupta recalls how the banking industry was in the &ldquo throes of the global financial crisis&rdquo when he joined DBS in 2009. 

 

Over the years, several factors made DBS&rsquo digital transformation successful, he said, noting that the bank transformed everything &ndash from the technological architecture at the back-end to customer interfaces at the front-end.

 

Of these measures, effecting culture change was &ldquo arguably the most challenging but also the most game-changing&rdquo , said the outgoing CEO.  

 

&ldquo While conventional wisdom is that it is difficult for a legacy company to transform at scale &ndash with some companies preferring to keep the old and new organisations separate &ndash we were committed to taking all our employees along in the journey,&rdquo Gupta said. 

 

&ldquo Instead of trying to change culture by diktat, we established a common vision and equipped our people with the frameworks and tools to embrace a new way of working &ndash creating &lsquo culture by design&rsquo ,&rdquo he added. &ldquo I saw clearly what Peter Drucker, the famed management guru, meant when he said, &lsquo Culture eats strategy for breakfast.&rsquo &rdquo

 

DBS&rsquo incoming CEO, Tan, previously said she intends to focus on growing businesses that provide a high ROE when she rises to the helm. 

 

The 57-year-old said in the annual report: &ldquo We will continue to face uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and geopolitical landscape, with potential policy shifts that could disrupt supply chains and cause market volatility.

 

&ldquo We are proactively addressing these challenges. Internally, we have implemented rigorous stress tests across various risk parameters, as well as leveraged technology to automate processes and improve our agility in responding to changing conditions.&rdquo