DBS CEO Piyush Gupta is a person of motion—he’s all about hands-on execution relating to his management model.
“There’s a proverb that says, leadership is about doing the right things, and management is about doing things right—I don’t believe that.”
To Gupta, management is about always adapting to market adjustments, and “rolling up your sleeves and getting into the weeds” when essential.
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 “culture of entrepreneurship”
Gupta is broadly 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 some of the main macrotrends” within the fintech panorama, mentioned the 64-year-old again in a 2017 interview with McKinsey senior associate Joydeep Sengupta.
“The DBS board took the view that the future for us and for our industry would have to be digital. We felt that if we didn’t lead the charge, frankly, we might 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 identified as the “father of management”), he mentioned that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”.
Over time, I’ve come to grasp the reality of that. If you happen to solely use analytics, technique, pondering, you possibly can direct—you possibly can run a command, management organisation. You will get folks to function in a specific manner, however it’s restricted.
Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS
Inside DBS, the CEO has strived to create a “culture of entrepreneurship”. As he places it, “if you can create a culture 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 instantly from their financial institution accounts.
After being persuaded by his workers although, the platform has now grown to almost three million customers. “So we do have situations [like this], where people have the capacity to be able to push the dynamics,” he added.
Pushing previous setbacks
Innovation is crucial for progress, however that’s what makes it dangerous. Lately, DBS has encountered digital disruptions, together with a two-day outage in its banking companies in November 2021.
Reflecting on the financial institution’s digital capabilities, Gupta admitted, “I did not actually think enough, and hard enough, about the operational complexity that comes with a distributed microservice architecture.”
This structure is usually used for banking purposes to offer quick, and dependable on-line companies to clients. “The challenge is to enhance resiliency while advancing innovation and speed. If I were to do it again, I’d take a different approach.”
Gupta’s confronted his justifiable share of setbacks, even on a private stage—but, it was these very moments that have been important to his skilled progress.
Earlier than becoming a member of DBS, he spent 27 years at Citi, with a quick one-year break in 2000 to attempt 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 fact, once I went by way of the method, it was difficult. I left a really thriving, flourishing profession, and you understand, other than the lack of face, it was additionally [a loss of] self esteem.
Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS
He struggled with his psychological well being, battling acute nervousness for a 12 months. “I was 40 years old, and it took me time to find myself”.
Regardless of this, he described the expertise as a “defining moment” for him—it modified his urge for food for danger. “Once you’ve seen the bottom of the barrel, you get to think, how much worse can it get? It can’t get much worse than you’ve seen already.”
The incident had additionally profoundly impacted his profession trajectory. His aspirations, previous to establishing Go41.com, was extra so about climbing the company ladder: How might he get promoted? How might he transfer on the “fast track” and change 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 basic assembly on Mar 28, 2025, however what drove this choice?
The CEO shared that he began desirous about leaving DBS in 2020, in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The pandemic really got me thinking about what I really wanted to do,” he mentioned. In 2021, he informed the board that he can be retiring at 65.
My board was eager [for me to continue my tenure], I might have labored for one more 5 to seven years. However I selected to retire, as a result of, very similar to planning in your profession, you’ve acquired to additionally plan in your life.
I’ve achieved 40 to 45 years of banking and finance, and the massive driver [for me], is that there different issues I wish to do with my life.
Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS
Gupta can be devoting his time in retirement to his ardour for nature and wildlife, as nicely as schooling. Presently, he serves as the chairman of each the Singapore Administration College and Mandai Park Holdings.
“When you get to my stage of life, the biggest premium is time. I want to make sure that I leave space to do the other things in my life, so I don’t look back with regret and say, ‘you know what? I should have done that’.”
Learn different articles we’ve written about DBS right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: DBS Financial institution
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