DBS CEO Piyush Gupta is unsackable

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Don't need to resign. Just to hire more CECA programmers.

4 of the 5 major DBS disruptions in 2023 were bug or software-related: CEO Piyush Gupta​

DBS will also set aside a special budget of $80 million to enhance system resiliency. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY

Prisca Ang

Nov 6, 2023

SINGAPORE – DBS Bank will hire more engineering talent in the coming months to troubleshoot issues that might lie deep within its technology systems, in response to a spate of disruptions that have plagued customers this year.
Chief executive officer Piyush Gupta said on Monday that four of the bank’s five major disruptions in 2023 were bug- or software-related.
“The big issue to me is, how do you make sure that you get good change control, because the reality is that as you use a lot of different systems and architecture, you will run into bugs,” he told reporters during the bank’s third-quarter results briefing on Monday.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Ravi Menon said last week in an interview that there are some deeper-seated issues that need to be resolved at the bank.
Responding to a question on Monday about what these issues are, Mr Gupta said: “One issue is to have the deep engineering talent, because in at least two or three of these incidents, the bug was so deep that we wouldn’t be able to pick it up.”
Several of the recent disruptions have boiled down to human error or software bugs in systems of the bank’s vendors, he noted.
Working with a vendor to resolve these problems takes time, he said. Instead, improving the depth of DBS’ engineering team will help it troubleshoot bugs better.


Mr Gupta said the bank is working on a comprehensive set of measures to deliver improved service availability and hopes to have a more robust recovery process by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
One measure is to put in place more rigorous and comprehensive processes to ensure that systems that are being developed work correctly. The bank will also set aside a special budget of $80 million to enhance system resiliency.
Another priority is to decouple the bank’s systems such that important services can still be accessed.
Its payment service, for example, operates on multiple tech systems. Decoupling its underlying infrastructure will allow customers to pay via the bank’s other digital banking platforms even if one of these channels fails.
“It’s hard to figure out why we are getting more bugs now than we have in the past,” said Mr Gupta. “It’s purely my speculation that post-Covid, people are working from home and I think there’s been more pressure on software quality in general around the world.”


DBS was barred last week by the country’s central bank from acquiring new businesses or making non-essential IT changes for six months to ensure it focuses on shoring up its digital banking services. It is also not allowed to reduce the number of its branches and automated teller machines (ATMs) during this time.
Asked whether the measures will affect business, Mr Gupta said the bank did not have new deals or business ventures planned, and has not reduced its branch or ATM network in recent years.
“We will have to defer some new product features, new products and services which we would normally have done.
“But in reality, we have to focus on building resiliency so we would not have been able to put resources (in those areas) anyway. The MAS measures give us a six-month window to consolidate (our processes).
“When you have good brakes, then you can run faster later.”

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

2.5 million transactions affected by recent DBS, Citibank outages; 810,000 login attempts failed​

DBS and Citibank have to conduct thorough investigations and come up with a plan that will minimise future disruptions and outages. ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW

Chor Khieng Yuit
Senior Correspondent

Nov 6, 2023

SINGAPORE – Some 2.5 million payment and automated teller machine transactions could not be completed during the banking outages that hit DBS Bank and Citibank on Oct 14, causing widespread disruption to businesses and consumers, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan on Monday.
Customers also made up to 810,000 failed attempts to access the digital banking platforms of both banks between 2.54pm that day and 4.47am the following day.
Providing the estimates on the impact of the outages in Parliament, Mr Tan said that both banks have fallen short of regulatory requirements to ensure that their critical information technology systems are resilient against prolonged disruptions.
The outages were caused by a fault in the cooling system of an Equinix data centre used by DBS and Citibank. While both activated disaster recovery and contingency plans, services were only fully restored in the early hours of Oct 15.
“While both banks conducted annual exercises to test the recovery of the IT systems at the backup data centres, the specific issues that led to the delays in system recovery on Oct 14 did not surface during those tests,” he added.
Mr Tan noted that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has measures in place to uphold the “reliability and recoverability” of banking services.
Under the Banking Act, banks that are found to have breached MAS’ requirements on technology risk management can be fined up to $100,000. This will be increased to a maximum of $1 million in 2024, Mr Tan said.

MAS also uses other regulatory tools to address lapses in banks’ risk management, Mr Tan said. This includes imposing additional capital requirements and suspending certain bank activities.
He cited DBS as an example, and said the string of five disruptions to banking services in the last eight months was “unacceptable”.
MPs questioned whether the punitive measures imposed on DBS were enough.

Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo said it is “nothing short of a slap on the wrist”.
Mr Tan noted that MAS took a tougher stance on DBS, by requiring it to hold additional regulatory capital.

Higher capital requirements mean DBS must hold more liquid capital, which could leave the bank with less money for dividends or investments.
“It is a drag on the return of capital which could in turn impact credit ratings, as well as the stock price of the bank,” Mr Tan said.
DBS also cannot undertake new acquisitions and has to pause non-essential IT changes for six months.
Mr Tan noted that the measures do not stop here. DBS and Citibank have to conduct thorough investigations and come up with a plan that will minimise future disruptions and outages.
He added that the banks will need to test their plans regularly to ensure they are able to recover within four hours in the event of another outage.
West Coast GRC MP Ang Wei Neng asked if MAS will consider asking banks that have been hit by outages to compensate customers directly.
Adding to his earlier point that “matters of compensation are better dealt with between the bank and its customers”, Mr Tan noted that consumers can hold financial institutions accountable for such incidents.
“If I am unable to pay using one of the financial services providers, then I go to the other one. I lose confidence in one, I go to the other one.”
Mr Tan added that consumers can also consider using different ways to pay, so they are not overly reliant on one financial provider for time-sensitive transactions.
During the Oct 14 disruption, some customers were able to switch to alternative payment methods or providers, or use cash.
The disruption also highlighted the importance of data centres to a bank’s operations.

Mr Tan said the Government is looking into ways to further strengthen the security and resilience of data centres.
Like other major jurisdictions, MAS currently does not regulate external data service providers, which are typically not financial institutions.
It is the bank’s duty to implement adequate risk controls and oversight over their data centre providers, so they can deliver on their financial services with minimal disruptions, he added.

 

[Hightech88]

This ex-CECA farker should have his citizenship revoked and salaries all clawed back and sent back to Yeendia's Ganges River.

 

[birdie69]

T

2.5 million transactions affected by recent DBS, Citibank outages; 810,000 login attempts failed​

DBS and Citibank have to conduct thorough investigations and come up with a plan that will minimise future disruptions and outages. ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW

Chor Khieng Yuit
Senior Correspondent

Nov 6, 2023

SINGAPORE – Some 2.5 million payment and automated teller machine transactions could not be completed during the banking outages that hit DBS Bank and Citibank on Oct 14, causing widespread disruption to businesses and consumers, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan on Monday.
Customers also made up to 810,000 failed attempts to access the digital banking platforms of both banks between 2.54pm that day and 4.47am the following day.
Providing the estimates on the impact of the outages in Parliament, Mr Tan said that both banks have fallen short of regulatory requirements to ensure that their critical information technology systems are resilient against prolonged disruptions.
The outages were caused by a fault in the cooling system of an Equinix data centre used by DBS and Citibank. While both activated disaster recovery and contingency plans, services were only fully restored in the early hours of Oct 15.
“While both banks conducted annual exercises to test the recovery of the IT systems at the backup data centres, the specific issues that led to the delays in system recovery on Oct 14 did not surface during those tests,” he added.
Mr Tan noted that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has measures in place to uphold the “reliability and recoverability” of banking services.
Under the Banking Act, banks that are found to have breached MAS’ requirements on technology risk management can be fined up to $100,000. This will be increased to a maximum of $1 million in 2024, Mr Tan said.

MAS also uses other regulatory tools to address lapses in banks’ risk management, Mr Tan said. This includes imposing additional capital requirements and suspending certain bank activities.
He cited DBS as an example, and said the string of five disruptions to banking services in the last eight months was “unacceptable”.
MPs questioned whether the punitive measures imposed on DBS were enough.

Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo said it is “nothing short of a slap on the wrist”.
Mr Tan noted that MAS took a tougher stance on DBS, by requiring it to hold additional regulatory capital.

Higher capital requirements mean DBS must hold more liquid capital, which could leave the bank with less money for dividends or investments.
“It is a drag on the return of capital which could in turn impact credit ratings, as well as the stock price of the bank,” Mr Tan said.
DBS also cannot undertake new acquisitions and has to pause non-essential IT changes for six months.
Mr Tan noted that the measures do not stop here. DBS and Citibank have to conduct thorough investigations and come up with a plan that will minimise future disruptions and outages.
He added that the banks will need to test their plans regularly to ensure they are able to recover within four hours in the event of another outage.
West Coast GRC MP Ang Wei Neng asked if MAS will consider asking banks that have been hit by outages to compensate customers directly.
Adding to his earlier point that “matters of compensation are better dealt with between the bank and its customers”, Mr Tan noted that consumers can hold financial institutions accountable for such incidents.
“If I am unable to pay using one of the financial services providers, then I go to the other one. I lose confidence in one, I go to the other one.”
Mr Tan added that consumers can also consider using different ways to pay, so they are not overly reliant on one financial provider for time-sensitive transactions.
During the Oct 14 disruption, some customers were able to switch to alternative payment methods or providers, or use cash.
The disruption also highlighted the importance of data centres to a bank’s operations.

Mr Tan said the Government is looking into ways to further strengthen the security and resilience of data centres.
Like other major jurisdictions, MAS currently does not regulate external data service providers, which are typically not financial institutions.
It is the bank’s duty to implement adequate risk controls and oversight over their data centre providers, so they can deliver on their financial services with minimal disruptions, he added.

This CECA CEO should compensate all the depositors with his personal money

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Because Piyush made so much money for PAP/Temasek, he gets away with all cock-ups including frequent IT breakdowns.

DBS had $100m exposure to money laundering bust; Q3 profit of $2.63b beats forecasts​

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta expects that net profit in 2024 will be maintained at this year’s record level. PHOTO: ST FILE

Prisca Ang

NOV 6, 2023, 9:02 PM SGT

SINGAPORE – DBS Group Holdings on Monday reported quarterly earnings that beat forecasts and said it expects net profit next year to match 2023’s level amid challenges to loan growth and spillover from geopolitical tensions.
Singapore and South-east Asia’s largest lender posted a 16 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to $2.59 billion for the third quarter.
Excluding one-time costs of $40 million from the integration of Citibank Taiwan, earnings rose 18 per cent to $2.63 billion, beating the $2.54 billion forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg poll.
The Taiwan unit was consolidated on Aug 12 and made DBS the largest foreign bank there by assets.
The board declared a dividend of 48 cents a share for the third quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter. This brings the dividend for the nine months to $1.38 a share.
Compared with the record earnings in the previous quarter, net profit was 2 per cent lower as the higher income was offset by increased expenses and higher allowances taken for exposure linked to a recent money laundering case here.


Major banks including DBS were creditors to investment companies linked to individuals arrested and charged in a major money laundering scandal involving more than $2.8 billion of assets, including properties, luxury cars and cash.


DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta disclosed that the bank had about $100 million in exposures to the money laundering case.
These were mostly property purchases or retail customer accounts used to finance properties, he said.
As a result of provisions “prudently taken” for the laundering case, specific allowances for expected credit losses jumped almost eight times from a year ago to $197 million, or 18 basis points of loans.

Mr Gupta added that the saga is unlikely to have a significant impact on Singapore’s wealth management scene, adding: “I think net new money flows have continued to be robust through the third quarter, and they continue to be fairly solid in October as well.”
Meanwhile, the bank’s non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.2 per cent, unchanged from the previous quarter.
General allowances of $18 million were set aside for potential bad loans, compared with $153 million taken a year ago.
“We are not seeing any major pickup in delinquencies or stresses in any of our portfolios. If the world gets much worse, we have enough GP (general provision) cushion,” Mr Gupta said.
He noted that the net interest margin (NIM) – a key gauge of a lender’s profitability – rose for the seventh consecutive quarter on the back of higher interest rates.
But, while higher-for-longer rates support margins, there will be a likely trade-off with loan growth, he told a media briefing on Monday.
Higher interest rates have weighed on customers’ appetite for loans, which at DBS grew just 1 per cent, or $5 billion, in constant-currency terms from the previous quarter, to $420 billion.
This came even as the NIM of 2.82 per cent was stable from the previous quarter, expanding 52 basis points from a year ago.
For 2024, Mr Gupta said there is uncertainty from macroeconomic slowdown and geopolitical risks, but he expects net profit will be maintained at 2023’s record level.
While further rate hikes are unlikely, high interest rates are unlikely to come down until the second half of 2024, weighing on growth in Western economies. China’s recovery also remains patchy, he said.
The bank is also keeping an eye on the indirect impact of Middle East tensions on oil prices, and the potential trade deficit of oil importers in Asia.
A bright spot is the momentum in fee income, which will likely be sustained by wealth management and cards, Mr Gupta said.
The Citi Taiwan integration will also help, with DBS noting that the business has boosted its credit card accounts in Taiwan by fivefold to more than three million, and tripled investment assets under management to more than $12 billion.


At home, the bank is focusing on shoring up measures to respond to its spate of digital disruptions in 2023, in areas like system recovery and technology risk governance.
“We will dedicate ourselves to executing the comprehensive set of measures we recently announced to address the series of digital disruptions, for which we are truly sorry. We are committed to strengthening our technology resilience and ensuring customer service reliability,” Mr Gupta said.
DBS’ total income in the third quarter rose 16 per cent year on year to a record $5.19 billion.
Net interest income for the bank’s commercial book grew 23 per cent year on year to $3.68 billion in the third quarter.
The consolidation of Citi Taiwan contributed $10 billion to loans, but excluding the unit, non-trade corporate loans declined 1 per cent, or $2 billion, from the previous quarter from higher repayments, while trade loans fell 3 per cent, or $1 billion, due to unattractive pricing.
Housing and other consumer loans were 1 per cent, or $1 billion, lower quarter on quarter.
Deposits grew 2 per cent, or $12 billion, in constant-currency terms from the previous quarter to $531 billion due to the consolidation of Citi Taiwan.
But underlying deposits were unchanged as a fall in current and savings account deposits was offset by an increase in fixed deposits.
Net fee income rose 9 per cent to $843 million year on year on the back of higher wealth management fees from the sales of bancassurance and investment products.
Card fees grew 21 per cent to $269 million year on year from higher spending by consumers and the integration of Citi Taiwan, while loan-related fees rose 12 per cent to $137 million.
Transaction fees were little changed at $228 million, while investment banking fees fell 16 per cent to $21 million due to slower capital market activities.
Other non-interest income rose 8 per cent from a year ago to $499 million from higher treasury customer sales.
DBS shares closed 1.4 per cent higher at $33.75 on Monday, while UOB climbed 1.05 per cent to $28 and OCBC rose 1.1 per cent to $13.15.
UOB on Oct 26 reported that its core earnings rose 5 per cent year on year to $1.48 billion. OCBC will post its results on Friday.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Forum: DBS should not put profits ahead of customer service​

Nov 9, 2023

DBS Bank’s strong financial performance has been welcomed by both shareholders and employees, spelling dividends and bonuses (DBS’ Q3 profit up 18% to $2.63b, surpassing analysts’ expectations, Nov 7).
Customers, however, may be less enthusiastic. The good performance may, in part, be due to the steady reduction of physical branches and customer-facing staff, and an increasing shift towards online transactions.
This happens under the rubric of digitalisation and ease of transaction, but conveniently takes much cost out of the business. Queue times at the bank’s remaining branches can be long, and responses slow when reaching out to its call centre for help.
We have seen how vulnerable the DBS online platforms can be to disruptions, and the fines that have been imposed on the bank for the outages seem trifling compared with its profits.
Even as the bank modernises its services, the balance between cost-efficiency and customer service should be adjusted to favour the customer, if necessary, over profits.
DBS is a business that needs to be profitable, but as Singapore’s largest bank, it has a responsibility to consider the interests of its customers, who are also vital stakeholders.
On a positive note, I must commend DBS staff. Those I have encountered have always been polite, helpful and efficient, and are a credit to the bank.

Philip Roberts

 

[2lanu]

She runs SMRT but has not taken a train during morning peak hours.
Her clueless remark about commuters being able to take the next train shows how detached she was from reality.

Pretty cock rite? She dug a hole and caused years or inconvienence, yet she's now retired with a fat paycheck while Khaw Boon Wan(KBW) cleared the shit. KBW is another joker that say MRT messes is resolved during COVID. Who takes MRT to work during that period

 

[winnipegjets]

DBS brings down Sinkapore's reputation as a reliable financial centre. That should have caused the CEO his job. The PAP's embrace of mediocrity will bring down Sinkapore.
What is it about Ah Nehs that keep Lawrence Wong and Pinky to suck up to them?

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

CEO of Optus resigned to take responsibility for the outage.
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta should also resign to take responsibility.

CEO of Singtel-owned Optus resigns following Australia-wide outage​

Ms Kelly Bayer Rosmarin faced intense questioning in an Australian Senate inquiry hearing on Nov 17, during which she dodged questions about whether she would resign. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Ann Williams
Assistant Business Editor

NOV 20, 2023

SINGAPORE – Singtel announced on Nov 20 that the chief executive officer of its Australian subsidiary Optus, Ms Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, has resigned – a little over a week after a nationwide outage left about 10 million Australians without phone or Internet access for 12 hours.
Optus chief financial officer Michael Venter will concurrently take on the role of interim CEO as the company embarks on a global search for a new head, Singtel said.
Former StarHub CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos has been appointed chief operating officer – a newly created position. Mr Kaliaropoulos, who was previously Optus’ business managing director, will rejoin the company on Nov 22 and report to Mr Venter.
Singtel group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said in a statement: “We recognise the need for Optus to regain customer trust and confidence as the team works through the impact and consequences of the recent outage and continues to improve.
“Optus is an integral part of our group’s business. We view the events in recent weeks very seriously. We fully recognise the importance of Optus’ role in providing connectivity services to the community and the importance of network resiliency and security. That is a top priority in all markets where our companies operate in.”
Mr Yuen also said he has every confidence that the Optus team will exert all efforts to deliver for customers and regain their trust and confidence.
On the CEO’s departure, he said: “Optus appointed Kelly at the beginning of the pandemic, and we acknowledge her leadership, commitment and hard work throughout what has been a challenging period and thank her for her dedication and service to Optus.”

The Nov 8 outage hit Australia’s second-largest telco a little more than a year after it suffered a major cyber attack in which more than two million customers had their personal data, such as passport details, breached.
Singtel said last week that its routine software upgrade was not the root cause of the outage, contradicting Optus’ initial claims. Optus later said the fault lay in the failure of its own safety mechanisms when responding to the software upgrade.
Singtel had stuck by the Optus boss following the hack, but the outage led to public backlash in Australia and a stock sell-off in Singapore, and made Ms Bayer Rosmarin’s position less tenable, Bloomberg reported.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin faced intense questioning in an Australian Senate inquiry hearing on Nov 17, during which she dodged questions about whether she would resign.
In the statement on Monday, she said; “Having now had time for some personal reflection, I have come to the decision that my resignation is in the best interest of Optus moving forward.”
The telco has offered at least 200GB of extra data to affected customers as it faces investigations and calls for class-action lawsuits over the outage.

Former StarHub CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos has been appointed Optus’ chief operating officer – a newly created position. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE
Optus and its CEO were slammed for its slow response and lack of communication about the massive outage. Ms Bayer Rosmarin had told Friday’s Senate hearing that the telco intentionally did not contact customers directly during the outage, and instead prioritised posting on social media and doing live media interviews.
In a comment that was perceived as tone-deaf and out of touch, Ms Bayer Rosmarin appeared to make light of the outage’s impact on thousands of small business owners.
“I’m disappointed that a barber couldn’t do haircuts today,” she told Nine News on the day of the outage. “That seems like one of the few things you can do without connectivity.”
In an interview with radio station 2GB, also on the day of the outage, the then CEO also suggested that “customers could’ve checked the Optus website” to learn more about the situation.
Singtel shares fell when trading opened on Nov 20 and closed down two cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $2.31.

 

[winnipegjets]

Your job is secured once the PAP protects you. Modi has Gupta's back. And PAP will not dare to go against Modi. This is Sinkapore, not Australia.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

See, told you Piyush Gupta is unsackable.

DBS Q4 profit up 2% to $2.39 billion, proposes 1-for-10 bonus issue​

DBS' full-year 2023 earnings rose 26 per cent to $10.3 billion. PHOTO: ST FILE

Angela Tan
Senior Correspondent

Feb 7, 2024

SINGAPORE - DBS Group Holdings, the largest bank in South-east Asia by assets, reported on Feb 7 record earnings for 2023, with the board proposing a one-for-10 bonus issue.
Net profit rose 2 per cent year on year to $2.39 billion in the October to December quarter. This boosted full-year 2023 earnings by 26 per cent to $10.3 billion.
Analysts in a Bloomberg poll had projected net profit of around $2.4 billion for the fourth quarter, and $10.3 billion for the full year.
The board has proposed a final dividend of 54 cents per share for the fourth quarter, an increase of six cents from the previous payout.
This brings the ordinary dividend for 2023 to $1.92 per share, an increase of 42 cents from the previous year.
In addition, DBS’s board is proposing a 1-for-10 bonus issue, meaning one bonus share for every 10 held. The bonus shares will qualify for dividends, starting from the first-quarter 2024 interim dividend, and will increase the pace of capital returns to shareholders, the bank said.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the annualised ordinary dividend going forward will be $2.16 per share over the enlarged share base, which represents a 24 per cent increase from $1.92 per share for financial year 2023.


Based on DBS’ closing price on Feb 6, the post-bonus annualised dividend yield would be 7.5 per cent.
Shares of DBS, the first local bank to post its fourth-quarter results, closed at $31.65 on Feb 6, down 20 cents or 0.6 per cent.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Cut pay but didn't lose his job.
His salary is now only $11.3 million.
Poor fella.

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta gets 30% cut in 2023 variable pay over bank’s digital disruptions​

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta took a deeper cut of 30 per cent, which amounted to $4.14 million. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI

Angela Tan
Senior Correspondent

Feb 7, 2024

SINGAPORE - The 2023 variable compensation for DBS Group Holdings chief executive officer Piyush Gupta and other members of the lender’s group management committee has been cut to hold them accountable for the series of digital disruptions in 2023.
Mr Gupta took a deeper cut of 30 per cent, which amounted to $4.14 million, DBS said on Feb 7 in its fourth-quarter earnings statement. The DBS CEO earned $15.4 million in 2022.
Collectively, the bank’s management committee saw their 2023 variable compensation reduced by 21 per cent from the previous year, despite record profits for 2023.
However, to help lower-income employees cope with higher costs of living, junior employees across the group, who make up half of the total headcount, will receive a one-time bonus. A total of $15 million was set aside for this in expenses for 2023.
DBS also said in its Feb 7 statement that it has made a “whole-of-bank” effort and committed $80 million to improving its technology.
These efforts will enable the bank to better pre-empt disruptions to its services, provide customers with alternate channels for payments and account enquiries during disruptions, and shorten incident recovery time, it said.
Going forward, the bank will continue with its investments to sustain efforts to provide reliable services to customers, it added.

As a result of the disruptions at DBS in 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore imposed a six-month pause on the bank’s non-essential IT changes on Nov 1 to ensure the bank keeps a tight focus on restoring the resilience of its digital banking services.
During this time, DBS is not allowed to acquire new business ventures or reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore.
DBS had said then that it would hold senior management accountable for the lapses, with it being reflected in their compensation.
Mr Gupta’s 2022 pay of $15.4 million consisted of a salary of $1.5 million, a cash bonus of $5.77 million and deferred remuneration in cash and shares of $8.04 million. A non-cash component – comprising club, car and driver benefits – worth $80,529 was also part of his pay package, according to the bank’s annual report.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Piyush Gupta must act fast to cement his legacy at DBS​

Andy Mukherjee

In full-year earnings on Feb 7, Mr Piyush Gupta promised to eliminate single points of failure for key services during the current quarter. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Feb 8, 2024

SINGAPORE - It is rare for a bank boss to take a 30 per cent cut in variable pay – after delivering a chart-topping return on equity of 18 per cent.
In doing just that, Mr Piyush Gupta, the chief executive at DBS Group Holdings, has acknowledged the role of small things – like an overheated data centre – in making a bank good, average or bad in the digital age.
But the $4 million hit to salary also shows how far Singapore’s largest lender is from realising its CEO’s ambition.
Under Mr Gupta, DBS has always aspired to be less of a bank and more of a technology powerhouse. And not just any tech firm, but one that would rank alongside some of the world’s most admired brands. As DBS told McKinsey & Co, the plan was to borrow the initials of Google, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, LinkedIn and Facebook, supply the missing D, and voila: You have Gandalf from The Lord Of The Rings.
Trouble is, after more than 14 years leading DBS, the wizard of Asian banking is running out of time: Succession is on the horizon. To cement his legacy as the banker who inserted DBS into Gandalf, the CEO has to act fast. In full-year earnings on Feb 7, Mr Gupta promised to eliminate single points of failure for key services during the current quarter. The bank is also close to appointing a chief information officer, he said.
Stalled ATM transactions and other tech disruptions became DBS’ Achilles heel in what was otherwise a much better year than I had anticipated. Trouble in United States regional banking failed to derail the Federal Reserve’s campaign to keep interest rates higher for longer. That helped DBS extract a juicy profit margin on its loans. On its home turf, elevated borrowing costs failed to deter first-time local homebuyers. Mortgage demand in Singapore has been trending lower since end-2021, but it has not fallen off the cliff.
Yet, before the results, DBS shares were down nearly 12 per cent in one year, the worst among the Asian financial centre’s three home-grown banks. The stock closed up 2.5 per cent on Feb 7.

It was not big credit mishaps or spectacular interest rate miscalculations that hobbled performance, but everyday operational snafus. In the end, 2023 will be remembered as the year in which DBS annoyed its customers and regulator, and suffered business and reputational damage that were not expected from what Euromoney magazine named the world’s best digital bank in 2016.
The infirmities should have been addressed right after digital services failed for two days in 2021. Now DBS is playing catch-up in a somewhat less favourable environment. All lenders with exposure to China are anxious about the mainland’s deteriorating economy and its repercussions for the rest of the world. Though Mr Gupta is still projecting a strong return on equity of 15 to 17 per cent this year, there would be a tradeoff between profitability and growth. Net interest margin is expected to slow slightly from 2.1 per cent in the December quarter, but loan growth may hum along, aided by the lender’s acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer business in Taiwan.
Credit quality remains stable, meanwhile. With the nonperforming loan ratio currently at 1.1 per cent, there is plenty of cushion to make provisions for losses without having to slow investment in technology, which must be Mr Gupta’s top priority for the year.
It is unfortunate that when the tech world – titans and start-ups alike – is all excited over generative artificial intelligence, DBS should be stuck with a version of what American psychologist Frederick Herzberg described as a “hygiene factor”: A bank app that works 24x7 will not motivate customers to use it more often; but one glitchy experience can leave them miserable.
Forget ranking alongside the world’s iconic tech brands. The challenge right now is to get the basics right. When Gandalf the Grey could not complete his task on Middle-earth, the novelist JRR Tolkien gave the sorcerer a second chance. In some ways, 2024 may be the 64-year-old Mr Gupta’s year as Gandalf the White. Under his leadership, DBS has got the big calls mostly right. If the bank does not make more headlines for its service snags than its return on equity – three percentage points higher in 2023 than in the previous year – investors will be forgiving. It is time to sweat the small stuff. BLOOMBERG

• Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist who previously worked for Reuters, the Straits Times and Bloomberg News.

 

[k1976]

Piyush Gupta must act fast to cement his legacy at DBS​

Andy Mukherjee

In full-year earnings on Feb 7, Mr Piyush Gupta promised to eliminate single points of failure for key services during the current quarter. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Feb 8, 2024

SINGAPORE - It is rare for a bank boss to take a 30 per cent cut in variable pay – after delivering a chart-topping return on equity of 18 per cent.
In doing just that, Mr Piyush Gupta, the chief executive at DBS Group Holdings, has acknowledged the role of small things – like an overheated data centre – in making a bank good, average or bad in the digital age.
But the $4 million hit to salary also shows how far Singapore’s largest lender is from realising its CEO’s ambition.
Under Mr Gupta, DBS has always aspired to be less of a bank and more of a technology powerhouse. And not just any tech firm, but one that would rank alongside some of the world’s most admired brands. As DBS told McKinsey & Co, the plan was to borrow the initials of Google, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, LinkedIn and Facebook, supply the missing D, and voila: You have Gandalf from The Lord Of The Rings.
Trouble is, after more than 14 years leading DBS, the wizard of Asian banking is running out of time: Succession is on the horizon. To cement his legacy as the banker who inserted DBS into Gandalf, the CEO has to act fast. In full-year earnings on Feb 7, Mr Gupta promised to eliminate single points of failure for key services during the current quarter. The bank is also close to appointing a chief information officer, he said.
Stalled ATM transactions and other tech disruptions became DBS’ Achilles heel in what was otherwise a much better year than I had anticipated. Trouble in United States regional banking failed to derail the Federal Reserve’s campaign to keep interest rates higher for longer. That helped DBS extract a juicy profit margin on its loans. On its home turf, elevated borrowing costs failed to deter first-time local homebuyers. Mortgage demand in Singapore has been trending lower since end-2021, but it has not fallen off the cliff.
Yet, before the results, DBS shares were down nearly 12 per cent in one year, the worst among the Asian financial centre’s three home-grown banks. The stock closed up 2.5 per cent on Feb 7.

It was not big credit mishaps or spectacular interest rate miscalculations that hobbled performance, but everyday operational snafus. In the end, 2023 will be remembered as the year in which DBS annoyed its customers and regulator, and suffered business and reputational damage that were not expected from what Euromoney magazine named the world’s best digital bank in 2016.
The infirmities should have been addressed right after digital services failed for two days in 2021. Now DBS is playing catch-up in a somewhat less favourable environment. All lenders with exposure to China are anxious about the mainland’s deteriorating economy and its repercussions for the rest of the world. Though Mr Gupta is still projecting a strong return on equity of 15 to 17 per cent this year, there would be a tradeoff between profitability and growth. Net interest margin is expected to slow slightly from 2.1 per cent in the December quarter, but loan growth may hum along, aided by the lender’s acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer business in Taiwan.
Credit quality remains stable, meanwhile. With the nonperforming loan ratio currently at 1.1 per cent, there is plenty of cushion to make provisions for losses without having to slow investment in technology, which must be Mr Gupta’s top priority for the year.
It is unfortunate that when the tech world – titans and start-ups alike – is all excited over generative artificial intelligence, DBS should be stuck with a version of what American psychologist Frederick Herzberg described as a “hygiene factor”: A bank app that works 24x7 will not motivate customers to use it more often; but one glitchy experience can leave them miserable.
Forget ranking alongside the world’s iconic tech brands. The challenge right now is to get the basics right. When Gandalf the Grey could not complete his task on Middle-earth, the novelist JRR Tolkien gave the sorcerer a second chance. In some ways, 2024 may be the 64-year-old Mr Gupta’s year as Gandalf the White. Under his leadership, DBS has got the big calls mostly right. If the bank does not make more headlines for its service snags than its return on equity – three percentage points higher in 2023 than in the previous year – investors will be forgiving. It is time to sweat the small stuff. BLOOMBERG

• Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist who previously worked for Reuters, the Straits Times and Bloomberg News.

According to AMDK, he is Finacial Sector Gandalf de woh

 

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Commentary: DBS CEO’s 30% variable pay cut raises issues of accountability​

Singapore banks rely heavily on "pay for performance" practices to reward senior management. They must ensure that remuneration policies drive the right behaviour, says NUS corporate governance expert Mak Yuen Teen.

Mr Piyush Gupta, the DBS chief executive officer, had his variable pay cut by 30 per cent in 2023, as a result of the digital disruptions experienced by the bank's customers. (Photos: Reuters)

Mak Yuen Teen​

14 Feb 2024

SINGAPORE: Last week’s news that DBS had cut the variable pay of its CEO Piyush Gupta by 30 per cent delivered on the board’s promise in November 2023 that senior management would be held accountable for the bank’s repeated and prolonged digital service disruptions.
Collectively, the variable pay of members of the bank’s group management committee was reduced by 21 per cent. Mr Gupta’s pay cut amounted to S$4.14 million (US$3.08 million).
DBS online banking and payment services were disrupted several times last year, leaving many customers unable to pay their transactions and draw money from automated teller machines (ATMs). This culminated in the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposing restrictions on DBS’ activities to ensure that it focuses on restoring the resilience of its digital platforms.
To date, DBS has spent about S$25 million out of a special budget of S$80 million set aside in November last year to enhance system resiliency, on items such as infrastructure, hiring of consultants and reallocation of resources, said Mr Gupta in a results briefing on Feb 7.

PIYUSH GUPTA’S PAY AND PERFORMANCE​

In 2022, Mr Gupta was paid S$15.4 million, including deferred remuneration and benefits, making him the highest-paid bank CEO in Asia Pacific that year. With the recently announced pay cut, Mr Gupta would get about S$11.26 million in 2023, assuming his base salary and benefits remain unchanged from 2022. DBS provides the breakdown of remuneration in its annual report in March.
Interestingly, despite DBS’ two-day digital banking service outage in November 2021, Mr Gupta’s total pay that year was nearly 50 per cent higher at S$13.6 million compared to 2020. Granted, his 2020 pay was cut, like his counterparts at other banks, as COVID-19 hit profits across the industry.
However, his 2021 package also exceeded his 2019 total pay of S$12.1 million, and his variable pay in 2021 was 55 per cent higher than in 2020. Both his annual cash bonus and deferred remuneration increased compared to the earlier years, and increased further in 2022.
The 2021 digital disruption was mentioned in several places in that year’s annual report. However, it was not mentioned in the assessment of the CEO performance. Instead, it cited Mr Gupta’s role in leading DBS to “deliver its best year ever in 2021, not only in terms of financial performance but also across a range of key scorecard goals”.
Mr Gupta’s significant pay cut this year is likely the result of the board exercising its discretion to adjust his remuneration, rather than him not meeting specific key performance indicators (KPIs).
During the bank’s results briefing last week, Mr Gupta reportedly stressed the bank’s record earnings, said that everything else was extraordinarily strong, including its customer feedback score, and referred to the disruptions as “tech instances”.
DBS uses a balanced scorecard approach to measure its success in serving stakeholders and executing its long-term strategy. The balanced scorecard has a 40 per cent weighting on “traditional key performance indicators”, 20 per cent on “transform the bank” and 40 per cent on “areas of focus”, in which qualitative priorities are disclosed within each pillar.
DBS also discloses outcomes for these priorities, through trends in some quantitative indicators but mostly through qualitative assessments. Based on the priorities and outcomes disclosed in its recent annual reports, it is unclear how outcomes which may be particularly important to DBS customers, such as service availability, data privacy and cybersecurity resilience, are prioritised and whether they will affect senior management remuneration.

COMPENSATION PACKAGES AT OTHER BANKS​

The three local banks are quite aggressive in using variable pay practices – so-called “pay for performance”. Between 2018 and 2022, the variable pay percentages of all three banks' CEOs were between 80 per cent and 91 per cent of their total pay every year, except for OCBC in 2021 when it changed its CEO.
In contrast, the variable pay percentages for the CEOs of the "Big Four" Australian banks – Commonwealth Bank (CommBank), National Australia Bank (NAB), Westpac and ANZ Bank – were generally in the range of between about 40 per cent and 60 per cent over the past five years.
The Australian banks’ CEOs were also paid consistently less than their Singaporean counterparts. For example, CommBank’s CEO Matt Comyn was paid the equivalent of S$6.44 million for the latest financial year, based on the current exchange rate and on a comparable accounting basis.
CommBank’s market capitalisation is about twice DBS’, its total assets about 40 per cent higher, it trades at a price-earnings ratio of more than twice that of DBS, and its total shareholder return is also superior.
The CEOs of the other three Australian banks were paid between S$5 million and S$5.4 million in the latest financial year. NAB is also bigger than DBS, while all the Big Four Australian banks are larger than OCBC and UOB.
While one cannot simply compare pay across markets or based on bank size, it does raise the question as to whether such large differentials are justified, when we take into account differences in competitiveness and regulatory environment of the banking sector in the two countries.
More importantly, the high reliance on variable pay requires that appropriate and challenging hurdles are set for performance. Otherwise, there is a risk of remuneration driving the wrong behaviour or resulting in excessive remuneration. In addition, there needs to be transparency on how performance is measured and how specific KPIs affect senior management remuneration.

ACCOUNTABILITY OF BANK CEOS​

Although the Australian banks’ CEOs have relative lower pay at risk, they are nevertheless held accountable when things go badly wrong.
Over the last five years, NAB and Westpac fired their CEOs, with no annual bonuses paid and forfeitures of deferred remuneration for certain years. To be fair, in the case of NAB, it was for serious misconduct that received particularly strong criticism from the Royal Commission into misconduct in the financial services sector in Australia, followed by revelations of serious fraud involving a senior staff due to excessive delegation by the CEO and poor internal controls. For Westpac, it violated money laundering and terrorism financing regulations more than 23 million times.
Elsewhere, there were bank CEOs who resigned over digital disruptions. In October 2023, the CEO of Canada’s Laurentian Bank resigned following a significant IT outage. Mizuho Financial Group CEO stepped down in April 2022 after it was criticised by Japan’s banking regulator for shortcomings in governance and corporate culture that were thought to be behind a series of system glitches in 2021.

MORE TRANSPARENCY NEEDED​

Although banks here have not faced allegations of widespread misconduct like the Australian banks, there are nevertheless important takeaways from the findings of the Royal Commission there that may be relevant.
First, balanced scorecards that are used by banks may not be achieving their objectives. Second, there is a need to review remuneration policies at all levels and in different functions. Third, and most importantly, culture, governance and remuneration are key causes of misconduct – and they are inextricably linked.
Given the significant reliance of our local banks on variable pay to reward their senior management, they need to ensure that their remuneration policies drive the right behaviour.
For financial KPIs, there is little or no emphasis on total shareholder returns, which matters to investors. In the case of DBS, deferred remuneration does not appear to come with further performance conditions, as DBS disclosed that vesting is based on time rather than future performance. Although they are subject to malus (forfeiture) or clawback, this is unlikely to be used for events such as digital disruption.
Remuneration policies of the local banks are also lacking in sufficient transparency. KPIs are vague, their relative importance unclear and evaluation of achievement likely to be highly subjective. This makes it challenging to use remuneration to hold CEOs accountable.
While the DBS board has shown that it is prepared to exercise discretion in cutting its CEO pay, boards need to strike an appropriate balance between objectivity and discretion. There is room for banks here to improve the transparency regarding their senior management remuneration.
Ultimately, the remuneration policies for senior management and even rank-and-file employees must be subject to appropriate oversight by a truly independent committee. If the remuneration committee and the board approve a policy that drives the wrong behaviour, then they should bear some responsibility.
Mak Yuen Teen is Professor (Practice) of Accounting and director of the Centre for Investor Protection at the NUS Business School, where he specialises in corporate governance.

 

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"In 2023, the bank had a record year, with total income crossing the $20 billion mark for the first time. Net profit reached $10.3 billion and return on equity hit 18 per cent, which marked new highs."
Piyush Gupta can f**k up technology and everything but will not be sacked as long as he keeps making money for Temasek.

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta’s 2023 pay cut by 27% to $11.2 million​

The lower pay for Mr Piyush Gupta and other senior management reflected their accountability for digital disruptions in 2023. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI

Sue-Ann Tan
Business Correspondent

MAR 06, 2024

SINGAPORE - DBS Bank chief executive officer Piyush Gupta was paid $11.2 million in 2023, the bank said in its annual report on March 6, a drop of 27 per cent from the $15.4 million he brought home in 2022.
This follows the bank’s announcement in February that the 2023 variable compensation for its CEO and other members of the group management committee was cut to hold them accountable for a series of digital disruptions in 2023.
DBS said in the report: “While the bank fared well against most priorities on its balanced scorecard, it fell short in technology resiliency.
“This and the resultant impact on customers and the franchise were taken into account when determining the scorecard performance of both the group and the CEO.”
The cut was made despite record 2023 profits and outperformance in many areas, it added.
In 2023, the bank had a record year, with total income crossing the $20 billion mark for the first time. Net profit reached $10.3 billion and return on equity hit 18 per cent, which marked new highs.
“The gaps in technology resiliency resulted in a lower scorecard appraisal by the board compared to the previous year,” it said in its remuneration segment of the report.


The remuneration is based on a scorecard that comprises key performance indicators like how the bank fares against shareholder, customer and employee indicators, as well as focus areas such as progress in transforming the bank, scaling growth across markets and managing risks.
Mr Gupta was not alone in receiving a pay cut.
The total variable pay for senior management including the CEO was reduced by 21 per cent to reflect senior management’s accountability for the digital disruptions, DBS said in the report.
Senior management’s aggregate total compensation – excluding that of the CEO – was lowered to $63.5 million in 2023, from $73.8 million in 2022.
Mr Gupta’s base salary, which stood at $1.5 million, remained unchanged, but he received a lower cash bonus of $4.1 million, a drop from $5.8 million in 2022. His deferred remuneration also dropped to $5.6 million.
Of the deferred award, about 17.4 per cent will be in cash, while the remaining will be in the form of share

 

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DBS/POSB digital banking services down for some customers​

This includes logging into their bank accounts on their apps and using PayLah!. PHOTOS: ST READER

Ang Qing

MAY 02, 2024


SINGAPORE - Some users of DBS/POSB’s digital services have reported difficulties accessing Singapore’s biggest bank’s services since about 5.40pm.
This includes logging into their bank accounts on their apps and using PayLah!.
The Downdetector website, which tracks service disruptions, recorded a total of more than 2,200 reports from users who had issues with DBS and POSB’s services at about 6.10pm.
This comes two days after the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it will lift restrictions on the bank’s non-essential banking activities, which had been imposed in response to disruptions to the bank’s services in 2023.
The Straits Times has contacted DBS Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore for comment.

 

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DBS may resume non-essential banking activities but higher capital buffer stays: MAS​

MAS said it will closely monitor DBS’ progress on the remaining deliverables and the effectiveness of the measures implemented. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY

Ang Qing


APR 30, 2024

SINGAPORE – The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has said it will not extend a six-month restriction on DBS Bank’s non-essential banking activities past April 30.
The pause was among penalties imposed on Nov 1 in response to disruptions to the bank’s services in 2023.
However, Singapore’s largest bank must continue to set aside additional regulatory capital by applying a multiplier of 1.8 times to its risk-weighted assets for operational risk – a penalty imposed in May 2023 – the authority said in a statement on April 30.
Such buffers help banks deal with unexpected losses and remain solvent in times of crisis.
In 2022, DBS Bank was required to apply a multiplier of 1.5 times to these assets after it suffered its worst outage in more than a decade the previous year.
In 2023, MAS imposed measures restricting the bank’s non-essential IT changes and barring it from acquiring new business ventures until April 30, following disruptions to DBS’ digital banking and ATM services in March and May that year.
On its decision to retain the capital requirement, MAS said on April 30: “The multiplier of 1.8 times will be lifted when MAS is satisfied that DBS Bank has demonstrated the ability to maintain service availability and reliability, and handle any disruptions effectively.”


MAS said the bank had made “substantive progress to address the shortcomings identified from service disruptions experienced by its customers in 2023”.
It added: “Improvements have been made to its technology risk governance, system resilience, change management and incident management.”
In its remediation process, some longer-term measures by DBS Bank, such as the simplification and strengthening of the bank’s systems architecture, are still being worked on.
MAS said it will closely monitor DBS’ progress on the remaining deliverables and the effectiveness of the measures implemented.
“In the event of service disruptions, MAS expects DBS Bank to promptly recover its services and communicate to its customers in a clear and timely manner,” it added.
Responding to the announcement, DBS Bank said it has been implementing a comprehensive technology resiliency road map since May 2023 to ensure that services run more smoothly for customers. Chief executive Piyush Gupta said: “The pause has allowed us to reflect on the areas we needed to improve on, and to better address them... In the months ahead, we will continue to prioritise resources to strengthening technology resiliency.”

 

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The Peter-Piyush show at DBS hits $100 billion, and Singapore should cheer​

The journey has not always been smooth, but it has eventually been rewarding for the bank.​

Ravi Velloor
Senior Columnist

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta (left) and DBS chairman Peter Seah (right) at the Singapore Corporate Awards held at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore on Aug 30, 2022. PHOTO: SINGAPORE CORPORATE AWARDS

MAY 02, 2024

Earlier this week, at a Peranakan restaurant near Holland Village, DBS Group Chairman Peter Seah, some board members, and the bank’s top management including CEO Piyush Gupta gathered over drinks and dinner.
Mr Seah seemed to be in a good mood, frequently inclined to break into song.
Perhaps he had good reason; DBS, he surely knew, was poised to report another stellar quarter. What’s more, the bank’s market capitalisation was within sniffing distance of attaining $100 billion -- unprecedented for a Singapore firm.
On Thursday (May 2), it crossed that key marker, when the market opened to the news that DBS had delivered a record first quarter profit of $2.96 billion in January to March, 2024, a 15 per cent increase on year that beat estimates.
A $100 billion (US$73.5 billion) valuation is a hefty valuation for a firm sired and raised in a tiny island state, with a population of less than six million. With the high interest rate regime likely to persist for longer and MAS on April 30 lifting some curbs on the bank’s non-essential IT changes and on acquiring new business – punitive measures imposed in the wake of technology disruptions endured by the bank last year -- those valuations could be more enduring than a day’s blip on your Bloomberg or Reuters trading screens.
Singapore is a rare, developed country where banks lead the valuations; elsewhere, in the Group of Seven developed nations, Canada seems to be the only country in a similar situation. Tech companies lead in the US and Germany, fashion firms in France, and automakers in Japan and Italy. In Britain, pharma major AstraZeneca is the most valuable firm on the stock market.
As for DBS vis a vis its Asian banking peers, only the top Chinese, Indian and Japanese banks -- all servicing significantly bigger domestic markets -- exceed its market valuations.

“Crossing $100 billion in market capitalisation is a seminal moment for DBS and Singapore,” an exultant Mr Gupta told me. “It is testament to the value we have been able to unlock through the multi-year structural transformation of our franchise. We are also proud to fly Singapore’s flag high on the international stage. Our Return on Equity and Total Shareholder Return are now in the top decile of the world’s 100 largest banks.”

Pieces fall in place​

It is a moment to look back, and consider how DBS got here.
It was only in November, 2017 that the label of Singapore’s most valuable company, long held by SingTel, passed on to DBS, then worth a little more than $62 billion.


Both companies had started their overseas thrust around roughly the same time and SingTel too had built up a sizeable regional footprint; owning Australia’s No. 2 telco, and significant stakes in telcos in booming India and Indonesia, as well as in the Philippines and Thailand. While the two companies operate in different market circumstances, their fortunes have diverged significantly. DBS has gone on to make significant advances in value creation, but SingTel is worth less than $40 billion today.
By any yardstick, therefore, this has been an extraordinary corporate journey for DBS, a lender that began as a development bank spawned in the groves of the Economic Development Board.
The seeds for its current eminence were probably laid during the Asian Financial Crisis when the government forced banking consolidation, and POSB was folded into DBS, giving it added bulk.
On Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s prodding, DBS also began casting its net worldwide for talent, leading to John Olds coming in as the bank’s first non-Singaporean CEO.
Not all the CEOs who followed proved equally meritorious but in 2009, the board, led by then-Chairman Koh Boon Hwee and including the redoubtable tech entrepreneur NR Narayana Murthy of India’s Infosys, picked veteran Citi banker Piyush Gupta as CEO.

The DBS board, led by then-Chairman Koh Boon Hwee and including the redoubtable tech entrepreneur NR Narayana Murthy of India’s Infosys, picked veteran Citi banker Piyush Gupta as CEO in 2009. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Mr Koh possibly saw in Mr Gupta a familiarity for and aptitude for technology that might prove useful for DBS’s future. It would prove an inspired choice.
A year later, the DBS Chair passed into the hands of Mr Peter Seah, the former President and CEO of OUB bank who had made his mark in an earlier era by famously buying the credit-card business of Chase Manhattan Bank as it exited retail in Asia – a purchase that would lead to a windfall for OUB.
Big personalities both – Mr Seah was known to haze juniors during his student days at University of Singapore and in the 1990s gave OUB a profile way in excess of its standing as the smallest of Singapore’s four big banks of the time-- the two seem to have settled into a mutually comfortable relationship.
Both are known to carry a fine understanding of the imperatives of balancing between short-term results and investing for the long term.

Mr Peter Seah assumed the role of chairman at DBS on May 1, 2010. PHOTO: DBS BANK
Together, they famously called on Chinese tech entrepreneur Jack Ma in 2014, as Alibaba prepared to list in New York. The meeting put terror into the pair that platforms like Alibaba could disrupt banking eventually.
“If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it is a bank,” Mr Gupta once quipped to me.
It left Mr Gupta convinced that if DBS did not disrupt its own bank, some other entity, such as Alibaba’s Ant Financial, would do so.
The DBS board swiftly handed Mr Gupta $200 million to pursue a digitalisation strategy. That strategy would have three key pillars: being digital to the core, embedding the bank in the customer journey, and thinking and acting like a startup.

Overcoming disruptions​

The results are plain to see, and the early start on digitalisation proved especially beneficial amid the disruptions brought by the pandemic.
The haste to digitalise also brought issues. Disruptions to DBS’s digital banking and ATM services -- in 2023, there were issues in March and May -- vexed thousands of Singaporeans and put the bank in an unfavourable light.
Even as the bank had a record year, the board cut Mr Gupta’s compensation by more than a quarter because of this, and several in top management also saw their packages trimmed.
The tech hiccups, some bank insiders tell me, were on account of too many technological pieces being moved too fast at the same time along the various businesses.
DBS also revealed last November that it had financed property purchases by individuals or companies that are being investigated by Singapore authorities for money laundering.
Those issues aside, there is little doubt that DBS is now operating with a remarkable degree of efficiency and investors are responding.
In 2015, DBS was 46th for return on equity (ROE) -- 11.2 per cent -- among the world’s Top 100 banks. At the end of 2023, it had jumped to No. 7 on this measure, with an ROE of 18 per cent.
This out-performance was not on account of NIM, or net interest margin, but structural improvements and a soaring deposit franchise led by digital capabilities. High return businesses such as wealth management and global transaction services also contributed.
By end-2023, its price to book was among the highest globally, outstripping local peers and global institutions such as HSBC, Citi and Deutsche Bank.
The bank seems confident it can continue this solid performance.
A slide presentation made to analysts following full year 2023 results asserted that “we are confident of achieving medium term ROE of 15 per cent to 17 per cent despite normalisation of interest rates and credit costs, as well as changing tax regimes.”

Disruptions to DBS’s digital banking and ATM services in 2023 had vexed thousands of Singaporeans and put the bank in an unfavourable light. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Wider industry also acknowledges the transformation at DBS.
“Contemporary banking is about technology and of course, the traditional skill of risk mitigation,” a senior figure in the consulting industry told me recently. “DBS did the tech part well and there have been no blowups on the risk side. You are looking at the results.”
DBS staff talk of a CEO who runs a tight ship, is completely involved in the business, and communicates effectively -- both directly and through a formidable communications team.
Most importantly, Mr Gupta “gets” technology, they say. Although his degrees are in economics and management, tech staff whom he confronts go well-prepared into meetings expecting to be asked penetrating questions.
Some of that dates back to 1985, when, in his early days at Citi, he was asked to lead the transformation when the bank’s India operations started automating its manual-based ledgers.
“What outsiders and customers see in DBS today is just the lipstick,” a senior figure in the bank told me this week. “The real story is backstage – how the technology platform is used and managed, the agility of the technology engine, and how it is used to extract data. Every serious discussion in the bank inevitably includes technology.”

DBS’ market capitalisation was within sniffing distance of attaining $100 billion - unprecedented for a Singapore firm. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Mr Gupta once told me that his mission and vision is to “make DBS invisible… to hide DBS inside everything else you want to do with your life.”
As for Mr Seah, who is 77 this year, he can look back on this moment as cresting a long and distinguished career in finance, and helping to shape the industry here.
Back in 1997, as the Asian Financial Crisis swirled, then-Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had asked him to chair the Sub-committee on Banking and Finance which was part of the larger Committee on Singapore’s Competitiveness.
In doing so, Mr Lee had thrown Mr Seah’s committee the longest rope he could have wished for: “I have told them that if all their proposals are accepted, it probably means that they have not been radical enough.”
Mr Seah’s committee returned with 55 proposals to place Singapore at the heart of the Asian financial services industry. Not all were accepted.
Today, as Prime Minister Lee prepares to leave office, Mr Seah can look him in the eye and say he has delivered in more ways than one.

 

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DBS and POSB digital banking services restored after disruption lasting more than 2 hours​

The issues DBS users faced include logging into their bank accounts on their apps and using PayLah!. PHOTOS: ST READER

Ang Qing

MAY 02, 2024

SINGAPORE - Some DBS/POSB customers reported difficulties accessing the digital services of Singapore’s biggest bank for more than two hours on May 2.
From about 5.40pm, several users had faced issues logging in to their bank accounts online and on their apps, and using PayLah!.
The Downdetector website, which tracks service disruptions, recorded a total of more than 2,200 reports from users who had issues with DBS and POSB’s services at about 6.10pm.
DBS Bank, in a statement on Facebook at 6.54pm, acknowledged that customers were experiencing issues with DBS/POSB digibank Online and Mobile, and DBS PayLah!.
It said: “We have identified the issue and have activated measures to recover the services.
“You can continue to use your DBS/POSB credit or debit cards to make payment. Alternatively, to find the ATM nearest to you, please visit go.dbs.com/sg-locator.”
The bank assured customers that their money and deposits remained safe.

Disgruntled customers took to social media to air how they had been affected by the disruption.
Facebook user Jess Thia said she could not pay for her meal during the peak period for dinner, while another user Jimmy Tang quipped that “we are supposed to go cashless... not be cashless and unable to pay”.
In an update at 9.10pm, DBS said its services were progressively restored between 7.37pm and 8.03pm.
However, checks by The Straits Times at about 9.25pm found that some users were notified that high-risk transactions could not be made as several services remained unavailable.

Some users were notified that high-risk transactions could not be made as several services remained unavailable. PHOTO: ST READER
The service disruption comes two days after the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it will not extend a six-month restriction on DBS’ non-essential banking activities.
The restriction had been imposed in response to disruptions of the bank’s services in 2023.
The bank, however, must continue to set aside additional regulatory capital, a penalty imposed in May 2023 for the service disruptions.
On April 30, DBS said it has been implementing a comprehensive technology resiliency road map to deliver a higher degree of service availability to customers since May 2023.
Several areas, including the strengthening of the bank’s systems architecture, remain a “work in progress”, the bank said then.