DBS CEO Piyush Gupta is unsackable

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MAS to ensure DBS identifies root cause of recent disruptions and addresses it effectively​

Following several outages in 2023, DBS and POSB internet banking and payment services were down yet again on May 2. PHOTO: ST FILE

Angela Tan
Senior Business Correspondent

MAY 07, 2024

SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is following up with DBS Bank to ensure that it identifies the root cause of recent disruptions to its internet banking and payment services, and addresses it effectively.
Following several outages in 2023, DBS and POSB online banking services were down again on May 2.
The latest outages took place even as a remediation plan to identify and rectify the cause of disruptions that took place in 2023 is still ongoing.
“While DBS Bank had made substantive progress to address the shortcomings identified from service disruptions experienced by its customers in 2023, the remediation plan by DBS Bank has not been completed and implementation is still ongoing,” an MAS spokesperson told The Straits Times on May 7.
The disruptions also came just two days after the MAS on April 30 announced that it would not seek to extend a six-month pause on the bank’s non-essential activities.
The MAS spokesperson said: “The six-month pause allowed DBS Bank to focus its resources and management attention on the remediation work and the bank has committed to continue its focus to complete the remediation plan.
“MAS is closely monitoring DBS Bank’s progress on the remaining deliverables and the effectiveness of the measures implemented.”

However, additional capital requirements imposed on the bank on May 5, 2023, as a result of the disruptions will remain.
The capital requirements, which translate to approximately $1.6 billion in total additional regulatory capital, will be lifted when the MAS “is satisfied that DBS Bank has demonstrated the ability to maintain service availability and reliability, and handle any disruptions effectively”, the spokesperson said.
Compared to 2023’s service disruptions, which lasted eight to 12 hours, the latest incident saw a much faster recovery, market observers said.

Banners on DBS’ mobile app were put up around 6pm, alerting customers that access to digital services was unavailable and the bank was resolving the issue.
DBS and POSB digibank online and mobile services returned to normal at 7.37pm and 7.41pm respectively. Services on DBS PayLah! returned to normal at 8.03pm.
But without knowing the details of DBS’ latest outage, IT experts said it will be difficult to isolate the root cause of the disruptions.
Outages could be due to numerous causes from servers, storage, networking, applications on its microservice architecture, software that different applications use to communicate with each other, and databases, among others, they said.
For instance, the outage can be caused by a software misconfiguration in the automatic failover protocols for business continuity and disaster recovery.
This happens when the backup or failover system does not automatically switch to a secondary server or system when the primary one encounters a failure or downtime, said Mr Raju Chellam, cyber-security expert and honorary chair of cloud and data standards at IT Standards Committee.
Malfunctions can also occur if modifications were made during system changes like software updates and upgrades without adequate checks being conducted before it was rolled out to the production servers, he said.

Outages can also be the result of human errors and third party issues such as cables being accidentally cut or burnt in data centres.
On Oct 14, 2023, a fault in the cooling system in Equinix data centre caused hours-long outages at DBS and Citibank.
On April 30, DBS said it had identified several work-in-progress areas including strengthening the bank’s systems architecture and creating more monitoring tools to detect potential problems more quickly.
Chief executive officer Piyush Gupta said while progress had been made, DBS would continue to strengthen its technology resiliency to meet expectations for reliable, seamless and effortless banking.
Mr Sam Liew, president of the Singapore Computer Society, said improvement in digital infrastructure is essential to support a widespread adoption of cashless transactions.
There is also a need for a supportive payment framework to enable a cashless society.
Ultimately, there must be digital trust to encourage widespread adoption, he said.

 

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DBS CEO Piyush Gupta sells S$2.7 million worth of bank shares​

Lender’s net profit for 2024 likely to be able to exceed its record levels seen last year

Janice Lim​

The share sale came a day after Gupta said DBS’ net profit for 2024 will likely be able to exceed its record levels in 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS
Piyush Gupta

DBS's chief executive officer Piyush Gupta has gained S$2.7 million after selling 75,000 of his shares in the bank, according to a filing on the Singapore Exchange on Tuesday (May 7).
The transaction was carried out last Friday at S$35.70 apiece.
After the sale, which accounted for about 2.7 per cent of his DBS holdings, Gupta still owns 0.095 per cent, or over 2.7 million of the bank’s ordinary shares, though not as the registered holder but under a trust.

He previously held 0.098 per cent, or close to 2.8 million shares, before the sale.
Gupta sold a day after he said that DBS’ net profit for 2024 will likely be able to exceed its record levels in 2023.
This was a “reasonable assumption” given a strong first-quarter performance by South-east Asia’s largest lender, with net profit up 15 per cent to S$2.95 billion for the quarter.

The bank’s Q1 net profit beat the S$2.5 billion consensus forecast in a Bloomberg survey of five analysts. Excluding integration costs for Citibank Taiwan, net profit would have been a record S$2.96 billion.
DBS also posted several record numbers in Q1, with return on equity at 19.4 per cent and total income up 13 per cent to S$5.56 billion.
Group net interest margin remained stable at 2.14 per cent, compared to 2.13 per cent in the previous quarter.
Shares of DBS rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.12 to close at S$35.90 on Tuesday.

 

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DBS CEO Piyush Gupta sells S$2.7 million worth of bank shares​

Lender’s net profit for 2024 likely to be able to exceed its record levels seen last year

Janice Lim​

The share sale came a day after Gupta said DBS’ net profit for 2024 will likely be able to exceed its record levels in 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS
Piyush Gupta

DBS's chief executive officer Piyush Gupta has gained S$2.7 million after selling 75,000 of his shares in the bank, according to a filing on the Singapore Exchange on Tuesday (May 7).
The transaction was carried out last Friday at S$35.70 apiece.
After the sale, which accounted for about 2.7 per cent of his DBS holdings, Gupta still owns 0.095 per cent, or over 2.7 million of the bank’s ordinary shares, though not as the registered holder but under a trust.

He previously held 0.098 per cent, or close to 2.8 million shares, before the sale.
Gupta sold a day after he said that DBS’ net profit for 2024 will likely be able to exceed its record levels in 2023.
This was a “reasonable assumption” given a strong first-quarter performance by South-east Asia’s largest lender, with net profit up 15 per cent to S$2.95 billion for the quarter.

The bank’s Q1 net profit beat the S$2.5 billion consensus forecast in a Bloomberg survey of five analysts. Excluding integration costs for Citibank Taiwan, net profit would have been a record S$2.96 billion.
DBS also posted several record numbers in Q1, with return on equity at 19.4 per cent and total income up 13 per cent to S$5.56 billion.
Group net interest margin remained stable at 2.14 per cent, compared to 2.13 per cent in the previous quarter.
Shares of DBS rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.12 to close at S$35.90 on Tuesday.

 

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DBS chief Piyush Gupta to step down in March 2025; veteran banker Tan Su Shan to take over​

DBS chief Piyush Gupta (left) will retire at the next annual general meeting in 2025, and be succeeded by DBS banker Tan Su Shan. PHOTOS: CHONG JUN LIANG, BLOOMBERG

Prisca Ang
Business Correspondent

Aug 07, 2024


SINGAPORE – DBS Bank chief executive Piyush Gupta will retire in 2025 after 15 years at the helm of South-east Asia’s largest bank.
DBS banker Tan Su Shan will replace Mr Gupta, 64, when he steps down at the next annual general meeting on March 28, 2025.
Ms Tan said: “I’m very grateful for this big opportunity. I’m also very mindful that this is a huge responsibility.”
This will be the first time the bank has filled the top job internally.
The board has also appointed Ms Tan as deputy CEO, in addition to her present role as group head of institutional banking, it announced on August 7.
Ms Tan, 56, has had more than 35 years of experience in consumer banking, wealth management and institutional banking, with stints in Hong Kong, Tokyo and London.
She joined DBS in 2010 and spent the first three years building the lender’s wealth management unit before running the consumer banking and wealth business and the institutional banking division. The businesses account for 90 per cent of DBS’s income.

DBS chairman Peter Seah told the bank’s results briefing on August 7 that the board had engaged an independent consultant to assess candidates for the CEO role.
The process started after Mr Gupta said in 2021 that he would like to retire by the time he turns 65 in 2025.
Mr Seah said: “Su Shan stood out as the best ... the board’s decision to appoint Su Shan was unanimous.”

Other contenders for the role included DBS head of consumer banking group and wealth management Shee Tse Koon and Singapore country head Han Kwee Juan.
Mr Seah noted that Ms Tan “came in and built a very strong foundation for wealth management.
“She’s been a very well-respected private banker. She’s covered the two big parts of the bank that contribute the lion’s share of the bank’s income, and she has performed well.”
Ms Tan was heavily involved in the bank’s digital transformation, including initiatives such as its PayLah! e-wallet and rewards app and the DBS Ideal business banking platform.
Mr Gupta, DBS’s longest-serving CEO, said he was grateful for the opportunity to lead the institution and fly the Singapore flag high: “Even though I’ve been the face of DBS in many ways, banking is a team sport. The most important part of this team has been the DBS board.”
Calling Mr Seah the “unsung hero” of the bank’s transformation journey, he added: “His leadership – whether to drive our culture, the strategy, the execution, the digital journey – has been immense.
“For investors and the public at large, you should take confidence from the fact that we have tremendous continuity at the board. Peter himself has been persuaded to stay on and make sure that there is continuity at the board level.”
Mr Gupta noted that his successor Ms Tan has strong business instincts and team building skills, and is able to work very well with customers.
“She’s also been an integral part of our digital transformation journey. She’s been there from day one – whether it is driving (digital transformation) in the consumer bank, or subsequently driving it in transaction banking, she’s had a critical role to play,” said Mr Gupta.
The bank also has a largely home-grown senior management team of about 20 people, many of whom have been with the bank for a long time, said Mr Gupta, adding: “That is an immense strength of DBS.”
Mr Gupta joined DBS after a 27-year career at Citigroup. His tenure is almost twice as long as the bank’s next longest-serving CEO, Mr Ngiam Tong Dow, who held the top role for eight years.
His leadership has transformed the bank into a technology-driven financial powerhouse, consistently delivering strong financial performance, including a return on equity of 18 per cent in recent years.
Under his care, DBS’s market value hit the $100 billion mark on May 2 – unprecedented for a Singapore firm. On Aug 7, the lender reported a 6 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit to $2.79 billion, beating market forecasts.
Despite these achievements, Mr Gupta’s time at DBS has not been without challenges. The bank has faced several significant digital service disruptions, including its worst outage in a decade in 2021 and additional incidents in 2023.
The leadership transition over the next eight months will involve Ms Tan shadowing Mr Gupta in areas such as investor relations and working with external regulators.
Mr Gupta noted: “There are other areas which have a bearing on the future. So our business plans for next year, our capital management strategies, our strategic direction, I’m going to let her increasingly take ownership and onus, while I focus on making sure that we can deliver this year.”
Ms Tan recounted that POSB was her first bank account, and DBS was where she did her first internship as a university student, and so she leapt at the opportunity to join the bank when asked by Mr Gupta and Mr Seah.
“It felt like a homecoming,” said the former Citi banker. “I’m very grateful to have been inspired and mentored by great team leaders … Everybody has told me that Piyush has very big shoes to fill, and of course he does.
“But guess what? We wear different kinds of shoes, so our styles may be different, but some things will not change going forward.”
Asked how DBS’s priorities might shift after she becomes CEO, Ms Tan said: “Honestly, our priorities shouldn’t really change.
“Markets will change – the market is very volatile, as we all know. Rates will change, geopolitics will change, so the macro economy will change. Generative AI will change a lot of the way we work.
“But what doesn’t change is our culture and the collaborative spirit that enables us to be agile, adapt, and transform when we need to.”

 

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DBS unit fined $1.7m in Hong Kong for anti-money laundering breach​

The lapses at the bank took place during periods between April 2012 and April 2019. PHOTO: REUTERS

Jul 07, 2024

DBS Group Holdings’ Hong Kong unit was fined HK$10 million ($1.73 million) by Hong Kong’s regulator for lapses in adhering to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations.
The disciplinary action follows an investigation by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) of DBS Hong Kong’s systems and controls for compliance, the regulator said in a statement.
The lapses took place during periods between April 2012 and April 2019.
A DBS Hong Kong spokesperson said the bank takes its anti-money laundering obligations seriously and accepts HKMA’s decision, calling the issues at hand “sporadic and historical in nature”.
Over the years, the Hong Kong unit has implemented new group policies and its actions have improved its capabilities to detect and mitigate money laundering risks, the spokesperson added.
The fine, while small, will be another stain for Singapore’s largest bank, which is among lenders ensnared in a money laundering scandal in the city.
More than $3 billion of assets have been frozen or seized by the police in this case, and DBS Bank had significant exposure through funds held in its accounts and loans made.

The Hong Kong authorities identified a failure to continuously monitor business relationships and conduct enhanced due diligence in high-risk situations.
The bank also failed to keep records on some customers, the regulator said.
This included failing to obtain copies of identity documents of 609 authorisers for Ideal, a corporate internet banking service provided by the bank.
No identity verification was conducted against these authorisers from April 2012 to July 2017, according to HKMA.
The bank also failed to take “reasonable measures” to establish the source of wealth of high-risk customers to mitigate money laundering or terrorist financing in the business relationships of 15 customers, the regulator said.
“The HKMA requires banks to put in place effective customer due diligence measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing,” said Mr Raymond Chan, executive director of HKMA. BLOOMBERG

 

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Temasek arranged for Piyush Gupta to be parachuted into this job before Piyush announced his resignation from DBS Bank.
Iron rice bowl.

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta appointed chairman of Mandai Park Holdings board​

Mr Piyush Gupta succeeds Ms Chong Siak Ching, who has served as acting board chairman since Nov 16, 2023. PHOTO: THE BUSINESS TIMES

Carmen Sin

May 31, 2024

SINGAPORE - Mr Piyush Gupta, chief executive and director of DBS Group, has been appointed chairman of the Mandai Park Holdings board.
He will assume his duties on June 1, Mandai Wildlife Group said on May 31.
Mr Gupta said: “I believe that along with climate change, nature and biodiversity loss are among the most pressing challenges for the planet.”
He added: “Being deeply committed to these causes, I am delighted to accept this appointment and to journey with the group in amplifying its influence as a bastion of good for nature.”
Mr Gupta succeeds Ms Chong Siak Ching, who has served as acting board chairman since Nov 16, 2023. Ms Chong will become deputy chairman, the group said.
Mr S. Dhanabalan remains as emeritus chairman of Mandai Park Holdings, an appointment he has held since Nov 16, 2023.
There are two other new directors: Ms Pek Siok Lan, who was appointed on March 31, 2024, and Mr Lim Beng Chee, who joined the board on April 8, 2024.

The group thanked its outgoing directors, Ms Claire Chiang and Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, for their many years of service to Singapore’s zoological institution. The two relinquished their directorships on March 15 and 31, respectively.
Mandai Park Holdings is the holding company of Mandai Wildlife Group, which operates Singapore’s wildlife parks – Bird Paradise, Night Safari, River Wonders and Singapore Zoo.

 

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Ah neh has $93 million worth of DBS shares while the Sinkies suffer from ATM and internet banking outages because of his mismanagement.

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta sells $12.6 million worth of shares as DBS hits all-time high​

The transactions reduced DBS CEO Piyush Gupta's current holdings to 1.9 million shares from 2.2 million shares before. PHOTO: ST FILE
Benjamin Cher

Nov 11, 2024


SINGAPORE - Outgoing DBS chief executive officer Piyush Gupta sold lots of his DBS shares on Nov 7 and 8, amid a bank rally that sent DBS shares past the $40 mark.
In a bourse filing on Nov 11, the bank disclosed that he sold 300,000 shares over those two days – 100,000 shares at $41.7513 a share on Nov 7, and 200,000 shares at $42.2023 a share the following day.
The two transactions netted Gupta $12.6 million, and reduced his current holdings to 1.9 million DBS shares from 2.2 million shares before.
His transactions come as Singapore banking stocks rallied after consensus-beating performances for the third quarter of 2024. DBS, UOB and OCBC shares continued to rally on Nov 11, hitting new all-time highs at the close of trading.
DBS closed up 0.8 per cent or $0.35 to $42.75, OCBC closed up 1.6 per cent or $0.26 to $16.32, while UOB was the top gainer on the Straits Times Index, up 2.7 per cent or $0.96 to $36.65. THE BUSINESS TIMES