Speech By Mr David Gerald At The SIAS Appreciation Lunch for Mr Piyush Gupta On 20 February 2025

Date: March 4, 2025

Good afternoon distinguished guests and welcome to SIAS’s appreciation lunch for Mr Piyush Gupta, who in March will step down from his post as CEO of DBS Bank. 

When he assumed the role as CEO of DBS in November 2009, DBS’s share price was about $13. He leaves at a time when DBS’s shares are trading above $45 – and this is not factoring in a recent bonus issue. 

By any metric other than share price, DBS has grown exponentially under Piyush’s stewardship. For example, in 2009, net profit was around S$2b. For 2024, DBS reported net profit of $11.4b, marking an increase of almost six times, driven by an expansion in wealth management and digital banking, increased fee income, regional diversification and strong net interest income. 

Return on equity has also risen from about 6% in 2009 to 18% in 2024, whilst dividends have grown four times from 56 cents per share in 2009 to $2.22 in 2024. 

In 2022, just after the end of Covid-19, DBS was named the World’s Best Bank by Global Finance. At the time, the founder and editorial director of Global Finance noted that although the post-Covid environment was difficult, DBS had turned 2021 into an outstanding year with a slew of strategic acquisitions, bank-wide advancements in digitalisation and dedication to sustainability.  

“These investments also have resulted in a strong balance sheet and record net profits for the bank, proving DBS knows how to navigate tough times” he said. 

In 2023, DBS was recognised as Asia’s Best Bank for Wealth Management for a second consecutive year by Euromoney. 

In 2024, Euromoney named DBS as the World’s Best Bank for Real Estate. In the face of a challenging 2023, marked by a 30% decline in real estate transaction volumes within the bank’s key locations, DBS demonstrated resilience by achieving year-on-year growth in both its income and asset base and a rise in return on equity in its real estate segment. 

Whilst shareholders and customers would undeniably be very satisfied with DBS’s performance over the past 15 years, the bank under Mr Gupta has not forgotten the need to give back to the community. 

In 2023, Euromoney named DBS as the World’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility. At those awards, Louise Bowman, Editor of Euromoney, said: “DBS is this year’s World’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility, making it the first in Singapore to receive this award since the category’s inception in 2014’’. 

She added “Being a responsible corporate citizen is a core tenet of who DBS is, with the group having embedded corporate responsibility principles in its group-level sustainability strategy. In 2022, the bank continued to step up on efforts to give back to the community, with initiatives aimed at equipping the underserved with digital and financial literacy skills and ensuring food security and resilience.” 

SIAS notes that DBS has set aside a very generous amount of $100m from its 2024 profits to further its corporate social responsibility goals as part of its target of giving back $1b over ten years to the community.  

Piyush has always believed in investor education and good corporate governance. Since taking office at DBS, he came forward to support our initiatives to educate the retail investing community annually. To name a few, Piyush participated as a panellist in My Money Campus Series to engage the University students as well as supported the SIAS Master Class Investment Conference. It’s been a great help to us in carrying out our programs.  

He won the Outstanding CEO Award from SIAS in Year 2022 for demonstrating strong leadership, integrity, and governance, driving financial success and shareholder value. Also, under his stewardship, DBS has won several awards annually at SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards such as the Singapore Corporate Governance Award, Corporate Sustainability Award and Most Transparent Company Award. 

There are many more awards we could highlight but I’m sure you all get the picture – under Piyush’s leadership, DBS has grown into a powerful force to be reckoned with in the banking world, as well as a force for good in society. 

We at SIAS thank him for his service and are proud to call him a friend as he has been a staunch supporter of our work throughout his tenure. Today we would like to proudly bestow on him the Distinguished Honorary Member of SIAS title. I wish him all the very best in his future endeavours, and Piyush we look forward to your continued guidance and support as you have given us all these years. 

Thank you