DBS faces challenges amid a changing industry in the post-Piyush era

It will have to juggle regional expansion while remaining the people’s bank’

- Ven Sreenivasan

Management guru Peter Drucker once said that management is doing things right. Leadership is about doing the right things.

DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta appears to have done the right things at the bank.

When he took the helm some 14 years ago, there were many sceptics, not least because DBS had previously been led by a parade of foreign CEOs with impressive international credentials but who never really managed to move the needle for the bank in terms of its business presence or growth.

This former Citibank executive came along and changed things with his own style of management and priorities.

He expanded the bank's presence across multiple geographies, streamlined operations, prioritised businesses that mattered, and shuttered those that didn't.

DBS transitioned from being a "people's bank" to a bank of international repute with technology driving its transformation.

Despite some high-profile technology trip-ups and lapses in money laundering monitoring issues that were not unique to DBS the bank's loan book has expanded, profits and revenues ballooned, and its global reputation grew. DBS has won multiple global accolades over the years.

One indication of the journey it has made is its stock price.

When Mr Gupta became the bank's chief in November 2009, DBS' stock price was about $12.

Over the years, the stock price has outperformed its local rivals, as well as the Straits Times Index and the MSCI World Financials Index, by a wide margin. Today, DBS' stock sits at about $34, not counting dividends and splits over the years.

It would not be an understatement to say that Mr Gupta has earned a reputation for being a legend in Singapore E-banking.