DBS wants to be ‘Asian bank for Asians’ rather than global bank: CEO Tan Su Shan

DBS, South-East Asia's largest bank, aims to focus on growth within Asia rather than becoming a global bank, according to CEO Tan Su Shan. She highlighted wealth management, capital markets and trade as regional growth areas, citing Asia's strong capital markets, wealth creation, trade, diversified demographics and strong artificial intelligence adoption.

Tan emphasized that DBS is not seeking to become a global bank like Citi or HSBC, stating that they want to be an "Asian bank for Asians." The bank is investing in areas it anticipates strong structural growth in Asia, including wealth management, and has set a target of $1 trillion in assets under management (AUM) by 2030, noting they still have a significant gap to close with UBS, the largest wealth manager globally.

Tan also aims to be at the forefront of growth in Asian capital markets and deepen relationships with financial institutions, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors. She acknowledged the difficulty of US capital markets, admiring their ability to create secondary markets rapidly and diversify quickly.

Tan hopes expanded trading hours for the Nasdaq will make US markets more accessible for Asian investors, but cautioned against detracting from Asian markets. She believes Asia should learn from US financial innovation and create liquid markets, noting that Asian currencies are becoming more liquid and widely used. Tan reiterated DBS's commitment to remaining rooted in Asia, with Singapore and Hong Kong as its two major financial hubs.

She expressed a willingness to support competition between the two, as it would motivate both to strive for better performance.