photoS: ST, REUTERS, AdobeStock. Photo illustration: gareth chung, bt
The following is a timeline of key milestones under Gupta:
November
Gupta joins DBS
photo: LIM SIN THAI, ST
naturalised Singapore citizen in 2009, took the industry by surprise. There had been speculation that DBS would pick a local. Others had thought the bank would promote someone from within. Nevertheless, his appointment brought certainty to the bank, which had several challenges at the time. Gupta’s predecessor, Richard Stanley, died of leukaemia 11 months into the job. The bank also suffered losses on collateralised debt obligations under Stanley’s predecessor, Jackson Tai. Efforts to expand into emerging economies had also stalled.
Gupta’s early revamps of DBS
Under his watch, DBS added more staff to branches, cut unnecessary work for bank tellers, and installed more ATMs in the busiest locations.
DBS sees rise in lending to consumer and business clients
MAY
November
DBS launches DBS PayLah!
larger fintech companies, and used more cloud technology.
DBS sees payoff from digital investment
It also pushed to expand into overseas markets. Gupta announced the launch of India’s first mobile-only bank in April, with plans to add five million retail customers in the country over the next three to five years and take in deposits of about S$10 billion. The bank gained more than 800,000 customers within the first nine months of its launch. He also said DBS was open to expanding mobile-only banking to other Asian markets, especially as more countries such as China and Indonesia look into electronic onboarding processes.
photo: DBS BANK
photo: LIM SIN THAI, ST
DBS ramps up access to digital banking services
IMAGE: AdobeStock
In May, DBS joined a Series C fundraising round for Carousell. The retail platform raised raising US$85 million in total. The bank can plug into Carousell’s network to solve payment pain points, said Gupta. The bank also entered the chat commerce space in October, launching a chatbot that enabled allowed customers to order meals through Facebook Messenger, and pay with DBS payment channels such as PayLah!.
DBS launches crypto
trading platform
services at its launch.
The launch of the DBS Digital Asset Ecosystem capitalised on investors’ growing appetite for digital assets. Gupta said that if his bet was right, the world would move towards tokenised assets.
DBS works on fixing disruption woes
DBS suffers worst online banking service disruption in a decade
Buoyed by higher interest rates, the bank posted a record net profit of S$8.2 billion in FY2022. However, it continued to be plagued by service disruptions.
In May, DBS set up a special board committee to look into the cause of the disruption to its digital banking services the same month. Gupta apologised for the disruption and said that the incident was “sobering” for the bank. MAS also instructed DBS, along with Citibank, to conduct a “thorough investigation” into their recent disruption of online services, after a technical issue at an Equinix data centre in Singapore led to the disruption of both banks’ services in October. The banks were unable to fully recover their systems within the required four-hour timeframe, MAS noted.
DBS shares hit all-time high, announces successor to Gupta
Bloomberg survey of five analysts.
On Aug 6, DBS posted a net profit of S$2.79 billion for the three months ended Jun 30, up 6 per cent from S$2.63 billion in the year-ago period.
The earnings beat the S$2.7 billion consensus forecast in a Bloomberg survey of four analysts.
On Aug 7, the board announced that Tan will succeed Gupta as CEO when he retires in 2025.
AUGUST
photo: DBS BANK
photo: DBS BANK
IMAGE: AdobeStock
2010
2014
2016
2018
2020
2021
2023
2024
2025
DBS chief executive officer Piyush Gupta, who has been with the bank since 2009, will retire at the next annual general meeting on Friday (Mar 28). He will be succeeded by deputy CEO Tan Su Shan, who will become DBS’ first female CEO and the first to be appointed from within the ranks of the bank.
Over the last 15 years, DBS has transformed under Gupta’s leadership. The bank simplified its management structure, expanded into regional lenders and digitalised its services. However, its service was affected in recent years by a spate of online banking disruptions.
Gupta’s 15-year stint as DBS CEO ends on Mar 28, with Tan Su Shan taking over as the bank’s first female CEO and the first to be appointed from within the ranks of the bank.
Handover to Tan Su Shan
MARCH 28
photo: STEPHANIE YEOW, st
photo: BENJAMIN SEETOR, ST
photo: KEVIN LIM st
2009
The following is a timeline of key milestones under Gupta:
November
DBS shares hit all-time high, announces successor to Gupta
Shares of DBS reached an all-time peak of S$36 on May 2, while its market capitalisation crossed the S$100 billion mark, the first time a Singapore-listed company has done so.
The shares hit a high after DBS reported a net profit of S$2.95 billion for the first quarter ended March 2024, up 15 per cent year on year. It beat the S$2.5 billion consensus forecast in a
Gupta joins DBS
Gupta joined DBS as CEO after 27 years at Citi. He had served as Citi’s CEO for South-east Asia-Pacific, covering its operations in Asean, Australia, New Zealand and Guam.
The appointment of Gupta, who is India-born and became a
Gupta’s early revamps
of DBS Gupta joins DBS out six months into his appointment, Gupta made numerous changes to DBS. At the management level, he simplified the structure across the group, clarifying respective roles to reduce potential for conflict or wastage of resources. He also sold DBS’ stake in a struggling joint venture in India. Gupta also made it a priority to fix the lender’s consumer banking business, particularly the POSB network, which had lost market share to rivals.
Under his watch, DBS added more staff to branches, cut unnecessary work for bank tellers, and installed more ATMs in the busiest locations.
photo: ST
DBS sees rise in lending to consumer and business clients DBS’ loan books in Singapore rose that year, with lending to consumer and business clients growing. In both segments, DBS took more than a fifth of the market. Its Internet banking platform posted 20,000 new users joining each month. Gupta said that month that Asia offered DBS “the best opportunities”. At the time, most of the bank’s revenue came from Singapore and Hong Kong. Just 11 per cent came from South and South-east Asia, compared to 62 per cent from Singapore and 27 per cent from Greater China. He focused on capturing the wealth management market and servicing small and medium-sized enterprises for regional growth.
November
DBS launches DBS PayLah! In May, the lender launched DBS PayLah!, enabling customers to use their mobile phones for fund transfers and payments. The bank set aside S$200 million then to invest in digital banking over the next three years. It also cleaned up backend infrastructure to keep pace with
DBS sees payoff from digital investment Financial magazine Euromoney named DBS the world’s best digital bank, and Asia’s best bank. The two awards marked the first time a Singapore and Asian bank received a global accolade from the magazine.
It also pushed to expand into overseas markets. Gupta announced the launch of India’s first mobile-only bank in April, with plans to add five million retail customers in the country over the next three to five years and take in deposits of about S$10 billion. The bank gained more than 800,000 customers within the first nine months of its launch. He also said DBS was open to expanding mobile-only banking to other Asian markets, especially as more countries such as China and Indonesia look into electronic onboarding processes.
photo: DBS BANK
IMAGE: AdobeStock
IMAGE: AdobeStock
photo: st
photo: st
photo: ST
photo: DBS BANK
photo: DBS BANK
DBS launches crypto
trading platform In December, it launched its DBS Digital Exchange, a members-only exchange for institutional and accredited investors. The exchange included a crypto trading platform which facilitated spot exchanges from fiat to cryptocurrencies, and vice versa. The exchange also included a platform to issue and trade tokenised digital assets, as well as to provide digital custodial services at its launch.
photo: ST
DBS ramps up access to digital banking services Gupta noted that banking’s future was in embedding banking services in “ecosystems”, rather than the pipeline business – where banks push services to customers. He added that non-banking entities such as tech companies, with their social media know-how, were banks’ biggest competition.
In May, DBS joined a Series C fundraising round for Carousell. The retail platform raised raising US$85 million in total. The bank can plug into Carousell’s network to solve payment pain points, said Gupta. The bank also entered made its first foray into the chat commerce space in October, launching a chatbot that enabled allowed customers to order meals through Facebook Messenger, and pay with DBS payment channels such as PayLah!.
The launch of the Digital Exchange capitalised on investors’ growing appetite for digital assets. Gupta said that if his bet was right, the world would move towards tokenised assets.
DBS works on fixing disruption woes
DBS suffers worst online banking service disruption in a decade In November, DBS suffered a two-day outage, during which customers were unable to access the bank’s app and website. It attributed the issue to a problem with its access control servers, which handle login and payment verification through means such as biometrics, authentication tokens and one-time passwords. The outage was its worst in a decade. In February 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed an additional capital requirement on the bank for the disruption, requiring it to apply a multiplier of 1.5 times to its risk-weighted assets for operational risk.
Buoyed by higher interest rates, the bank posted a record net profit of S$8.2 billion in FY2022. However, it continued to be plagued by service disruptions.
In May, DBS set up a special board committee to look into the cause of the disruption to its digital banking services the same month. Gupta apologised for the disruption and said that the incident was “sobering” for the bank. MAS also instructed DBS, along with Citibank, to conduct a “thorough investigation” into their recent disruption of online services, after a technical issue at an Equinix data centre in Singapore led to the disruption of both banks’ services in October. The banks were unable to fully recover their systems within the required four-hour timeframe, MAS noted.
AUGUST
2010
2014
2016
2018
2020
2021
2023
2024
2025
Gupta's 15-year stint as DBS CEO ends on Mar 28, with Tan Su Shan taking over as the bank's first female CEO and the first to be appointed from within the ranks of the bank.
Handover to Tan Su Shan
MARCH 28
2009
MAY
GRAPHIC: GARETH CHUNG, BT
GRAPHIC: GARETH CHUNG, BT
Under his watch, DBS added more staff to branches, cut unnecessary work for bank tellers, and installed more ATMs in the busiest locations.
DBS sees rise in lending to consumer and business clients
It also pushed to expand into overseas markets. Gupta announced the launch of India’s first mobile-only bank in April, with plans to add five million retail customers in the country over the next three to five years and take in deposits of about S$10 billion. The bank gained more than 800,000 customers within the first nine months of its launch. He also said DBS was open to expanding mobile-only banking to other Asian markets, especially as more countries such as China and Indonesia look into electronic onboarding processes.
DBS ramps up access to digital banking services Gupta noted that banking’s future was in embedding banking services in “ecosystems”, rather than the pipeline business – where banks push services to customers. He added that non-banking entities such as tech companies, with their social media know-how, were banks’ biggest competition.
DBS shares hit all-time high, announces successor to Gupta
Shares of DBS reached an all-time peak of S$36 on May 2, while its market capitalisation crossed the S$100 billion mark, the first time a Singapore-listed company has done so.
The shares hit a high after DBS reported a net profit of S$2.95 billion for the first quarter ended March 2024, up 15 per cent year on year. It beat the S$2.5 billion consensus forecast in a Bloomberg survey of five analysts.
On Aug 6, DBS posted a net profit of S$2.79 billion for the three months ended Jun 30, up 6 per cent from S$2.63 billion in the year-ago period.
The earnings beat the S$2.7 billion consensus forecast in a Bloomberg survey of four analysts.
On Aug 7, the board announced that Tan will succeed Gupta as CEO when he retires in 2025.
DBS suffers worst online banking service disruption in a decade In November, DBS suffered a two-day outage, during which customers were unable to access the bank’s app and website. It attributed the issue to a problem with its access control servers, which handle login and payment verification through means such as biometrics, authentication tokens and one-time passwords. The outage was its worst in a decade. In February 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed an additional capital requirement on the bank for the disruption, requiring it to apply a multiplier of 1.5 times to its risk-weighted assets for operational risk.
DBS launches crypto
trading platform In December, it launched its DBS Digital Exchange, a members-only exchange for institutional and accredited investors. The exchange included a crypto trading platform which facilitated spot exchanges from fiat to cryptocurrencies, and vice versa. The exchange also included a platform to issue and trade tokenised digital assets, as well as to provide digital custodial services at its launch.
DBS sees payoff from digital investment Financial magazine Euromoney named DBS the world’s best digital bank, and Asia’s best bank. The two awards marked the first time a Singapore and Asian bank received a global accolade from the magazine.
Shares of DBS reached a then all-time peak of S$36 on May 2, while its market capitalisation crossed the S$100 billion mark, the first time a Singapore-listed company has done so.
The shares hit a high after DBS reported a net profit of S$2.95 billion for the first quarter ended March 2024, up 15 per cent year on year. It beat the S$2.5 billion consensus forecast in a
In November, DBS suffered a
two-day outage, during which customers were unable to access the bank’s app and website. It attributed the issue to a problem with its access control servers, which handle login and payment verification through means such as biometrics, authentication tokens and one-time passwords. The outage was its worst in a decade. In February 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed an additional capital requirement on the bank for the disruption, requiring it to apply a multiplier of 1.5 times to its risk-weighted assets for operational risk.
DBS’ loan books in Singapore rose that year, with lending to consumer and business clients growing. In both segments, DBS took more than a fifth of the market. Its Internet banking platform posted 20,000 new users joining each month. Gupta said that month that Asia offered DBS “the best opportunities”. At the time, most of the bank’s revenue came from Singapore and Hong Kong. Just 11 per cent came from South and South-east Asia, compared to 62 per cent from Singapore and 27 per cent from Greater China. He focused on capturing the wealth management market and servicing small and medium-sized enterprises for regional growth.
About six months into his appointment, Gupta made numerous changes to DBS. At the management level, he simplified the structure across the group, clarifying respective roles to reduce potential for conflict or wastage of resources. He also sold DBS’ stake in a struggling joint venture in India. Gupta also made it a priority to fix the lender’s consumer banking business, particularly the POSB network, which had lost market share to rivals.
In May, the lender launched DBS PayLah!, enabling customers to use their mobile phones for fund transfers and payments. The bank set aside S$200 million then to invest in digital banking over the next three years. It also cleaned up backend infrastructure to keep pace with
Financial magazine Euromoney named DBS the world’s best digital bank, and Asia’s best bank. The two awards marked the first time a Singapore and Asian bank received a global accolade from the magazine.
Gupta noted that banking’s future was in embedding banking services in “ecosystems”, rather than the pipeline business – where banks push services to customers. He added that non-banking entities such as tech companies, with their social media know-how, were banks’ biggest competition.
In December, it launched its DBS Digital Exchange, a members-only exchange for institutional and accredited investors. The DBS Digital Asset Ecosystem included a crypto trading platform which facilitated spot exchanges from fiat to cryptocurrencies, and vice versa. The exchange also included a platform to issue and trade tokenised digital assets, as well as to provide digital custodial
Gupta joined DBS as CEO after 27 years at Citi. He had served as Citi’s CEO for South-east Asia-Pacific, covering its operations in Asean, Australia, New Zealand and Guam.
The appointment of Gupta, who is India-born and became a
The bank’s full-year net profit went up by 11 per cent to a new high of S$11.4 billion; return on equity of 18 per cent sustained at previous year’s record.
Stellar results
February