The transformation paid off: it has sequentially doubled the economic value from its data analytics and AI initiatives since 2021, and in 2024, these brought in S$750m (US$561m) for DBS. This year, the bank is on track to make more than S$1bn (US$764m) in economic value, an achievement Ms Tan attributes to rewiring the organisation into one that is digital, data-driven, and increasingly “AI-enabled”. For example, one in-house tool that has since emerged is DBS GPT, a secure internal AI assistant that assists employees with a wide range of tasks that enhance productivity and streamline knowledge access. “It enables a lot more democratisation of DBS knowledge to all our staff, and that has been great,” Ms Tan remarked.
DBS has also been investing in its workforce for AI advancement: it is in the process of upskilling over 12,000 employees in future-ready skills including AI and data. Beyond this, the bank runs an extensive suite of role-based training to help employees use new AI tools adeptly.
Blending the two approaches—tech-driven and people-centred—has been a crucial and necessary part of DBS’s future-first approach to growth; it’s not just about one or the other. As Ms Tan put it: “We want to be AI-enabled, but we also want to be an empathetic organisation: an AI-enabled bank with a heart.”
