Indian-origin top Singapore banker Piyush Gupta is set to step down as the Chief Executive Officer of the DBS Group in March 2025. He will be succeeded by Tan Su Shan, who was appointed Deputy CEO yesterday, in addition to being Group Head, Institutional Banking, at DBS.
Gupta is set to retire at the next Annual General Meeting of DBS on March 28, 2025, according to the bank.
Tan said at a media briefing in Singapore, as quoted in a CNA report, “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.”
Her first stint at DBS was as a university student. When she becomes CEO, the banking group will have its first ever female chief executive. Her past roles have been at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.
Tan has also been a nominated MP in Singapore from 2012 to 2014.
CNA cited a request made by Gupta to the DBS board in 2021, stating that he wanted to retire at the age of 65. He said that the preceding year — of the pandemic — had given him “a chance to reflect on, you know, what to do with my life and the next phase of my life”.
Gupta said at the media briefing that after “43 years of a banking career, [and] 15 years of having run DBS”, this was “a great time to pass the baton”.
He said, “I’m actually very grateful for the opportunity to have been able to lead this iconic institution and make a difference and fly the Singapore flag high over this period.”
On the transition process from August 2024 to March 2025, the new CEO-designate said at the media briefing, “Everybody has told me [that] Piyush has very big shoes to fill, and of course he does… 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.”
The four Cs of DBS Bank — culture, customers, collaboration, and continuity — would go on, she said.
Chairman of the DBS board Peter Seah said at the media briefing that Tan was the first “homegrown” person to succeed the outgoing CEO of DBS. “She gets along very well with the rest of the team, and when the team members were informed of (the board’s) decision, it was well received,” said Seah.
He said that “we are particularly pleased” that the DBS talent management strategy had enabled the board “to produce [an] internal successor”.
