Piyush Gupta reflects on his 15 yr tenure as DBS CEO

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta is a person of motion—he’s all about hands-on execution in terms of his management type.

“There’s a proverb that claims, management is about doing the precise issues, and administration is about doing issues proper—I don’t imagine that.”

To Gupta, management is about consistently adapting to market modifications, and “rolling up your sleeves and moving into the weeds” when vital.

On the Singapore Fintech Pageant yesterday (November 7), the CEO mirrored on his 15-year journey on the helm of Singapore’s largest lender, and spoke to Sopnendu Mohanty, the Chief Fintech Officer of the Financial Authority of Singapore (MAS), about a few of the key takeaways from his time main the financial institution.

Making a “tradition of entrepreneurship”

Gupta is extensively credited for driving DBS’ digital transformation—throughout his time as CEO, the financial institution doubled down on growing tech programs that reshaped a lot of the financial institution’s operations.

When DBS set out on its digital journey in 2014, it tried to “embrace a few of the major macrotrends” within the fintech panorama, stated the 64-year-old again in a 2017 interview with McKinsey senior companion Joydeep Sengupta.

“The DBS board took the view that the long run for us and for our trade must be digital. We felt that if we didn’t lead the cost, frankly, we would die.”

The identical 12 months DBS started digitalising its operations, it launched the PayLah! cellular pockets, adopted by different milestones, together with the launch of a digital trade, and the elimination of bodily tokens for company transactions.

On the root of all of it, Gupta attributes the financial institution’s success to its tradition. Quoting administration advisor Peter Drucker (popularly referred to as the “father of administration”), he stated that “tradition eats technique for breakfast”.

Over time, I’ve come to grasp the reality of that. In the event you solely use analytics, technique, considering, you may direct—you may run a command, management organisation. You may get folks to function in a selected means, however it’s restricted.

Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS

Inside DBS, the CEO has strived to create a “tradition of entrepreneurship”. As he places it, “in case you can create a tradition of entrepreneurship and risk-taking, then it’s like magic.”

Reflecting on his previous choices, Gupta recalled initially opposing the implementation of PayLah! as he thought {that a} cellular pockets was “superfluous” and that individuals might simply debit funds straight from their financial institution accounts. 

After being persuaded by his employees although, the platform has now grown to almost three million customers. “So we do have conditions [like this], the place folks have the capability to have the ability to push the dynamics,” he added.

Pushing previous setbacks

Innovation is important for development, however that’s what makes it dangerous. In recent times, DBS has encountered digital disruptions, together with a two-day outage in its banking providers in November 2021.

Reflecting on the financial institution’s digital capabilities, Gupta admitted, “I didn’t really assume sufficient, and laborious sufficient, in regards to the operational complexity that comes with a distributed microservice structure.”

This structure is usually used for banking functions to supply quick, and dependable on-line providers to clients. “The problem is to reinforce resiliency whereas advancing innovation and velocity. If I have been to do it once more, I’d take a distinct strategy.”

Gupta’s confronted his fair proportion of setbacks, even on a private degree—but, it was these very moments that have been important to his skilled development.

Earlier than becoming a member of DBS, he spent 27 years at Citi, with a quick one-year break in 2000 to strive his hand as a tech entrepreneur. Because the web growth surged, he launched Go41.com, solely to close it down inside months when the dot-com bubble burst.

I pulled the plug on that enterprise inside seven or eight months. And in reality, once I went by the method, it was difficult. I left a really thriving, flourishing profession, and you understand, aside from the lack of face, it was additionally [a loss of] self esteem.

Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS

He struggled together with his psychological well being, battling acute anxiousness for a 12 months. “I used to be 40 years outdated, and it took me time to seek out myself”.

Regardless of this, he described the expertise as a “defining second” for him—it modified his urge for food for danger. “When you’ve seen the underside of the barrel, you get to assume, how a lot worse can it get? It could’t get a lot worse than you’ve seen already.”

The incident had additionally profoundly impacted his profession trajectory. His aspirations, previous to organising Go41.com, was extra so about climbing the company ladder: How might he get promoted? How might he transfer on the “quick monitor” and turn into a managing director?

However when he returned to banking, his perspective had shifted. For the primary time, he thought of how he might make a significant affect—and make an affect he did.

Why did Gupta select to retire?

Simply three months in the past, Gupta introduced that he would step down from his place on the financial institution’s subsequent annual common assembly on Mar 28, 2025, however what drove this determination?

The CEO shared that he began excited about leaving DBS in 2020, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “The pandemic actually obtained me excited about what I actually needed to do,” he stated. In 2021, he informed the board that he could be retiring at 65.

My board was eager [for me to continue my tenure], I might have labored for an additional 5 to seven years. However I selected to retire, as a result of, very like planning in your profession, you’ve obtained to additionally plan in your life.

I’ve completed 40 to 45 years of banking and finance, and the large driver [for me], is that there different issues I want to do with my life.

Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS

Gupta will probably be devoting his time in retirement to his ardour for nature and wildlife, in addition to training. At the moment, he serves because the chairman of each the Singapore Administration College and Mandai Park Holdings.

“While you get to my stage of life, the largest premium is time. I need to guarantee that I depart house to do the opposite issues in my life, so I don’t look again with remorse and say, ‘you understand what? I ought to have completed that’.”

• Learn different articles we’ve written about DBS right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: DBS Financial institution