Strategy
Being Digital Holds The Key To DBS's Future As Major Bank, Says CEO
The CEO of Singapore-headquartered DBS has underscored the importance of the digital route for his bank's strategy - an approach already appearing to bear fruit, as a recent survey indicated.
DBS Bank has vowed to behave like a tech company as it transitions to digital banking, rolling out mobile wall apps and other channels in the battle for business, according to Forbes.
The article noted that Home Connect, one of 19 mobile apps the bank has launched so far, is part of a push by the Singapore-headquartered lender and wealth manager to connect more with younger customers.
The report quoted chief executive Piyush Gupta, as saying that the DBS’s digital strategy is crucial to the bank’s fate. “That is actually going to make the difference between the banks that will survive and the banks that will not survive,” he says.
It appears that this approach is already bearing fruit. As reported by WealthBriefingAsia and sister publications recently, DBS scored highly for the quality of its technology offerings in a recent survey conducted by myPrivateBankingResearch, a Swiss-based research house. (For more on that study, see here.)
In April, the bank appointed Neal Cross as managing director and chief innovation officer, technology and operations, taking over from Steve Monaghan.
Gupta has been with the bank since November 2009. Since that time, he has overahled a bank which most recently logged record quarterly earnings of S$1.03 billion ($820 million).
Earlier this year, the bank said it will spend an additional S$200 million on its digital push over the next three years, on top of the S$600 million it already spends on technology every year, the article said.
“What we have been doing so far is an inside-out view. Basically, digitizing the bank. We take the bank’s services, and we put them online or on mobile. And we’ve been very successful,” Gupta is quoted as saying.
“So the notion of making an incremental investment is to see how we can think outside-in. We have to think: ‘How can we behave like a tech company?’" he added.