DBS

In 1968, a small group of staff from Singapore’s Economic Development Board was tasked with establishing the Development Bank of Singapore, whose mission was to finance Singapore’s fledgling industries.⁠[1][2]

Hon Sui Sen became its first chairman and president, broadening the bank into a full-fledged financial institution; the bank turned a profit within about a year, and he became Singapore’s finance minister in 1970.⁠[1]

DBS introduced its logo and opened its first branch in Jurong in 1972, and the DBS Building was completed in 1975. In 1976 the bank opened its first overseas representative office in Tokyo, which became a full-service branch in 1977.⁠[1]

DBS opened its first Taiwan branch in Taipei in 1983, a representative office in Jakarta in 1989 and a representative office in India in 1994; in between it served as lead manager for the initial public offerings of Singapore Airlines in 1985 and Singtel in 1993.⁠[1]

In 1997 DBS became the first bank in the region to offer comprehensive internet banking, covering services such as transfers, bill payments and online loan applications.⁠[1]

In 1998, against the backdrop of the Singapore government’s call for local banks to merge, DBS acquired POSB, a move that made it the largest bank in Southeast Asia and the largest retail bank in Singapore. In August of that year John T. Olds became chief executive officer.⁠[1][3]

The holding company DBS Group Holdings Ltd was incorporated in Singapore on March 9, 1999, and listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange on September 20 of that year.⁠[4]

As part of its pan-Asian strategy, DBS acquired a 100% interest in Hong Kong’s Dao Heng Bank and its subsidiary Overseas Trust Bank in 2001.⁠[5]

Jackson Tai served as chief executive officer from June 2002 to December 2007. DBS launched Singapore’s first real estate investment trust (REIT) in 2002; in 2007 its locally incorporated subsidiary in China was established with headquarters in Shanghai, making DBS the first Singapore bank to incorporate in China.⁠[3][1][5]

In 2008 DBS marked its 40th anniversary and acquired the “good bank” assets of Bowa Bank.⁠[1]

On September 1, 2009, DBS announced the appointment of Piyush Gupta, then Citi’s chief executive officer for South East Asia-Pacific, as chief executive officer, subject to regulatory approval; he joined the bank that November.⁠[6][3]

In 2012 DBS left its Shenton Way headquarters of 38 years and moved into Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3, where the holding company’s registered office is also located.⁠[1][4]

DBS began an all-encompassing digital transformation in 2014, the same year it launched the DBS Foundation. In 2016 Euromoney named it the World’s Best Digital Bank.⁠[2][1]

In 2016 DBS launched digibank in India as a mobile-only, paperless and branchless bank; in 2017 digibank expanded to Indonesia, DBS received approval to set up a wholly owned local subsidiary in India, and it launched what it described as the world’s largest banking API platform.⁠[5]

The scheme amalgamating India’s Lakshmi Vilas Bank with DBS Bank India Limited took effect on November 27, 2020, and DBS Group announced that it would inject INR 2,500 crore (about SGD 463 million) into DBS Bank India.⁠[7]

On December 10, 2020, DBS announced DBS Digital Exchange, a members-only exchange for institutional and accredited investors offering tokenisation, trading and custody of digital assets, in which the Singapore Exchange would take a 10% stake.⁠[8]

The exchange offered spot trading between four fiat currencies (SGD, USD, HKD and JPY) and Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and XRP, and received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Recognised Market Operator.⁠[8]

After a widespread outage of DBS’s digital banking services on March 29, 2023 and a further disruption to digital banking and ATM services on May 5, the Monetary Authority of Singapore on May 5 raised the multiplier on its risk-weighted assets for operational risk from the 1.5 times set in February 2022 to 1.8 times, amounting to about S$1.6 billion in total additional regulatory capital.⁠[9]

On August 14, 2023, DBS announced that it had completed the acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking business in Taiwan; systems integration took place over the weekend of August 12–13, and close to 3,000 Citi employees moved to DBS. With the deal, DBS became Taiwan’s largest foreign bank by assets, and its consumer banking customers in Taiwan rose to more than 1.1 million.⁠[10]

On August 7, 2024, the DBS board appointed Tan Su Shan, group head of institutional banking, as deputy chief executive officer in addition to that role, and announced that she would succeed Piyush Gupta as chief executive officer when he retired at the annual general meeting on March 28, 2025.⁠[11]

Piyush Gupta stepped down in March 2025, ending a tenure as chief executive officer that began in 2009, and Tan Su Shan became chief executive officer and a director of DBS Group that month.⁠[3]

DBS reported record profit before tax of SGD 13.1 billion for 2025; net profit fell 3% to SGD 11.0 billion, mainly because of the 15% global minimum tax, return on equity was 16.2%, and total income rose 3% to SGD 22.9 billion. Total dividends for the year came to SGD 3.06 per share.⁠[12]

DBS reported that its net profit for the second quarter of 2026 rose 9% to a record SGD 3.08 billion and that quarterly total income exceeded SGD 6 billion for the first time, at SGD 6.09 billion; net profit for the first half was SGD 6.01 billion.⁠[13]

On October 12, 2026, DBS held its inaugural DBS Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore under the theme “Intentional AI,” with some 700 corporate and wealth clients expected to attend.⁠[14][15]

Speakers included Intel CEO Lip-Bu TanLip-Bu TanLip-Bu Tan is a Malaysia-born entrepreneur and venture capitalist who founded Walden International in 1987, served as chief executive officer of Cadence Design Systems from 2009 to 2021, and has been chief executive officer of Intel since March 2025.Open the full entry and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan (in a session with Tan Su Shan), TikTok CEO Shou Chew, Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson and Pandu Sjahrir of Danantara Indonesia, among others; Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong joined Tan Su Shan for a closing dialogue. Tan Su Shan said DBS wanted to create a platform to explore key questions arising from the next phase of AI growth.⁠[15][14]

As of October 2026, DBS is headquartered and listed in Singapore, has a presence in 19 markets and is led by chief executive officer Tan Su Shan.⁠[13][3]

DBS: Official website: https://www.dbs.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

DBS Bank (China): Official website: https://www.dbs.com.cn/ (opens in a new window)⁠[17]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dbs-bank (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/user/DBS (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

Facebook: Official account: https://www.facebook.com/dbs (opens in a new window)⁠[16]