DBS Group announced on Wednesday that Tan Su Shan, head of institutional banking, will succeed Piyush Gupta as CEO when he retires in March 2025, making her the first woman to lead Singapore’s and Southeast Asia’s largest bank.
CEO Gupta will retire on March 28, 2025, during the bank’s next annual general meeting. Tan, 56, who joined DBS in 2010 from Morgan Stanley, will serve as deputy CEO until then, according to a statement from the bank.
“We think the appointment signals continuity and stability,” said Thilan Wickramasinghe, Maybank Investment Banking Group’s head of research for Singapore and regional head of financials. “She is an internal candidate who has played a sizable role in building the existing culture and business mix of DBS.”
Tan spent her first three years at DBS building its wealth management and institutional banking businesses, which now account for 90% of the company’s income. Her appointment also marks the first time an internal candidate has been chosen as CEO, DBS Chairman Peter Seah said during an earnings briefing on Wednesday.
The announcement ends speculation about who would succeed the 64-year-old Gupta, a prominent figure in Asian banking who has led DBS for 14 years. Under Gupta’s leadership, DBS expanded regionally with acquisitions in India and Taiwan and became the first Singapore-listed company to achieve a market capitalization of S$100 billion in May.
DBS shares have surged nearly four-fold since Gupta joined in November 2009, rising 279% in value, while Singapore’s main stock index has increased by 72.5%. “Piyush is very big shoes to fill,” Tan remarked at the briefing.
Jefferies’ equity analysts Sam Wong and Shujin Chen noted in a research report that they “expect a modestly negative initial share price reaction” given Gupta’s strong track record at DBS. Before the announcement, DBS shares closed 2.8% higher at S$33.65 per share, outperforming the local benchmark index’s 1.6% rise.
An Oxford University graduate, Tan will become the second female leader of a major Singaporean bank, following Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp’s appointment of Helen Wong as its head in 2021.
Meanwhile, DBS reported quarterly earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations on Wednesday. The success of its booming wealth business, which drove assets and fee income to record levels, led the company to raise its full-year profit forecast. Despite achieving record profits in 2023, DBS decided in early February to reduce Gupta’s compensation by S$4.1 million ($3.1 million) due to digital banking disruptions last year.
