DBS' new CEO Tan eyes 'bolt-on' acquisitions to bolster tech capabilities

Yantoultra Ngui

Mon, Mar 24, 2025, 2:53 AM 2 min read

By Yantoultra Ngui

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - DBS Group's incoming CEO Tan Su Shan is eyeing "bolt-on" acquisitions that align with the Singaporean lender's integer and AI-driven priorities, portion focusing connected boosting high-return businesses specified arsenic wealthiness and transaction banking.

Tan, 57 and presently lawman CEO, volition go DBS' archetypal pistillate CEO and besides the archetypal to beryllium appointed from wrong the ranks of the slope connected March 28. She volition regenerate Piyush Gupta, 65, who has led the Southeast Asia's No.1 lender for 15 years.

A Singaporean and an Oxford University graduate, Tan volition instrumentality up the apical occupation against the backdrop of the slope posting grounds yearly gross and profits, though successful the near-term she volition person to woody with planetary economical and markets volatility.

"We recognise that determination volition beryllium important uncertainty successful the macroeconomic situation and geopolitical landscape, driven by ongoing subject conflicts, the hazard of escalating tariffs, and imaginable shifts successful policy," she said.

"We bash script readying regularly, and person successful spot targeted aboriginal informing triggers, on with enactment plans," Tan, who has been with the slope for 15 years, told Reuters successful effect to questions emailed to the bank.

Besides its beingness successful Asian fiscal hubs Singapore and Hong Kong, DBS' main markets successful the portion see India, China, Taiwan and Indonesia. It competes with planetary banks specified arsenic HSBC and Standard Chartered successful those markets.

Tan said that DBS would similar to enactment focused connected its existing operational footprint and not dispersed itself "too thin".

"We are lone funny successful bolt-on deals alternatively than large-scale M&As which volition divert attraction from our areas of focus," she said, adding the absorption of plug-in acquisitions would beryllium connected integer technologies and artificial quality (AI).

DBS has identified astir 13,000 unit for upskilling oregon reskilling, including for AI and data-related skills, with astir 10,000 having already begun training, to guarantee employees are future-ready, she added.

The slope has besides created a caller relation of Chief Operating Officer, to beryllium assumed by existent radical audit caput Derrick Goh and volition beryllium effectual from April 1, volition oversee some the bank's operations and transformation.

"One of Su Shan's cardinal strengths is her quality to physique and empower teams, identifying areas for betterment and processing radical and civilization truthful that the squad tin execute astatine afloat potential," Gupta said astir his successor successful effect to questions emailed to the bank.