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’ 26th annual general meeting on Mar 28, deputy group CEO Tan Su Shan will replace him as the bank’s new CEO.
“Under his stewardship, DBS has evolved into one of Singapore’s most iconic institutions and a global financial powerhouse, with a (return on equity – or ROE) that places us among the top-performing banks globally,” said DBS chairman Peter Seah in the bank’s annual report released on Thursday (Mar 6).
The lender’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’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.
“He has built an enduring legacy through his visionary leadership, establishing the cornerstone for DBS to reach new heights in the years ahead,” said Seah.
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Of Tan, Seah pointed to her track record and strong business acumen, adding: “We take pride that she is a homegrown talent, reflecting our commitment to developing a local talent pipeline.”
Reflecting on his time as CEO, Gupta recalls how the banking industry was in the “throes of the global financial crisis” when he joined DBS in 2009.
Over the years, several factors made DBS’ digital transformation successful, he said, noting that the bank transformed everything – from the technological architecture at the back-end to customer interfaces at the front-end.
Of these measures, effecting culture change was “arguably the most challenging but also the most game-changing”, said Gupta.
“While conventional wisdom is that it is difficult for a legacy company to transform at scale – with some companies preferring to keep the old and new organisations separate – we were committed to taking all our employees along in the journey,” Gupta said.
“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 – creating ‘culture by design’,” he added. “I saw clearly what Peter Drucker, the famed management guru, meant when he said, ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’”
DBS’ 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: “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.
“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.”
