The largest bank in Singapore, DBS, announced in a bourse filing that Piyush Gupta, its chief executive, will be leaving his role. In addition to her current position as group head of institutional banking, Ms. Tan Su Shan was appointed as deputy CEO on the same day and will take over as CEO in 2025.
“I am really deeply honoured and humbled by this…very grateful for this big opportunity. I’m also very mindful that this is a huge responsibility,” Tan Su Shan said, who wore DBS colours at a media briefing.
She completed her first internship at DBS while still a college student. She said it felt like coming home when she was back at the bank. Since 2019, Shan has led DBS’s institutional banking group. After joining the bank in 2010, the 56-year-old led DBS’s consumer banking and wealth management division, which has been credited with growing the division. She had earlier held positions at Citi and Morgan Stanley.
Who Is Tan Shu Shan?
Tan Su Shan has over 35 years of experience in consumer banking, wealth management and institutional banking, and she will be DBS’s first female CEO in company history.
Tan began her career at ING Baring Securities in institutional equity and derivative sales. She joined Morgan Stanley in 1997 as an executive director before becoming Citigroup’s regional head for Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore in 2005.
She then returned to Morgan Stanley in 2008 as head of private wealth management for Southeast Asia. Since taking the helm in 2013, Tan has steadily grown the consumer banking and wealth management division at DBS, with its division setting a record for revenue in 2023 of USD 3.53 billion. Tan joined the bank in 2010, and since then, wealth assets have increased by 20% yearly, reaching USD 156 billion at the end of 2017. This places DBS among the top six wealth managers in the area.
Tan joined DBS in 2010, where she spent the first three years building the bank’s wealth management business. She has 35 years of experience in consumer banking, wealth management and institutional banking.
Tan Su Shan was a Nominated Member of Parliament for DBS from 2012 to 2014. She is also a member of Dyson’s family office, Weybourne Holdings, advisory board. In DBS’s history, Tan Su Shan will be the company’s first female CEO.
Tan sits on the advisory board of the family office of James Dyson, the founder of home appliance maker Dyson. She is also a member of the board for Singapore-listed real estate investment trust Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust.
According to Tan, the bank’s culture has changed to become more innovation-focused, and this has helped DBS win the title of “world’s best digital bank” from Euromoney magazine in 2016. A mobile-only “digibank” in India and Indonesia is part of her revamp, as is the iWealth platform, where high flyers handle their own transactions.
It is stated that Tan Su Shan and Piyush Gupta will collaborate to make plans for the future and expose Tan to additional business facets between now and March of the following year.
“Everybody has told me Piyush has very big shoes to fill, and of course he does,” she said, adding that she was grateful for his mentorship over the years.
“But guess what? Our shoes are different. We wear different kinds of shoes, so our styles may be different, but some things will not change going forward,” she said, highlighting four Cs that matter to the bank: culture, customers, collaboration and continuity.
What’s Expected From Tan?
DBS Group has reported a second-quarter net profit that exceeded forecasts. Still, it also warned of additional uncertainty in the future and stated that net profit growth for 2024 was anticipated to be in the mid-to-high single digits. DBS’ results capped off a strong second-quarter earnings season for Singapore banks with more inflows and trading by wealthy clients ahead of expected rate cuts boosting their wealth businesses.
“While recent market volatility and ongoing geopolitical tensions have resulted in heightened uncertainty, we have built resilience against the risks of an economic slowdown and lower interest rates,” DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said in a statement.
“The majority of the outlook guidance for this year was kept by Gupta, who stated that growth in group net interest income was anticipated to be in the mid-single digits and that growth in non-interest income from commercial books was anticipated to be in the mid-to-high teens,” Moneycontrol reported.
According to Gupta’s presentation slides, DBS’ total income growth is expected to be in the high single digits, the cost-income ratio to be about 40%, and the specific allowance at 10 to 15 basis points, which is less than the 17 to 20 basis point estimate made in May 2024.
Singapore has benefited from significant wealth inflows into Asia as a result of its stable political environment, low tax rates, and family-friendly laws and trusts. DBS’s result reflected that, with asset under management (AUM) rising by 24% to USD 396 billion. During the quarter, the wealth management segment’s income increased by 19 points to USD 1.29 billion.
Moreover, a crucial indicator of profitability, DBS’s net interest margin, fell to 2.14% in the quarter from 2.16% in the previous year.
As per the analysts, Tan’s immediate focus will be DBS’s tech capabilities. The bank has had multiple service disruptions, leading to regulatory penalties and pay cuts for senior management including Gupta.
“We’ve been heavily engaged in a tech resiliency programme over the last 12 to 15 months. Su Shan has been involved with that, but in the coming months, I expect her to be able to get even more deeply immersed in things around technology,” Gupta said in a briefing announcing Tan’s appointment.
Analysts say they don’t expect major changes in DBS’s strategy.
“The appointment signals continuity and stability given she is already a major contributor to the Group’s current culture and business mix,” Thilan Wickramasinghe, an analyst at Maybank Investment Banking Group, said in a note to clients.