DBS Appoints Tan Su Shan As First Female CEO

Indian-origin top Singapore banker Piyush Gupta is set to step down as the Chief Executive Officer of the DBS Group in March 2025. He will be succeeded by Tan Su Shan, who was appointed Deputy CEO yesterday, in addition to being Group Head, Institutional Banking, at DBS.

First ever female chief executive

Gupta is set to retire at the next Annual General Meeting of DBS on March 28, 2025, according to the bank. Her first stint at DBS was as a university student. When she becomes CEO, the banking group will have its first ever female chief executive. Her past roles have been at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Tan has also been a nominated MP in Singapore from 2012 to 2014.

Four Cs of DBS Bank

On the transition process from August 2024 to March 2025, the new CEO-designate said at the media briefing, “Everybody has told me [that] Piyush has very big shoes to fill, and of course he does… But guess what? Our shoes are different. We wear different kinds of shoes, so our styles may be different, but some things will not change, going forward.” The four Cs of DBS Bank– culture, customers, collaboration, and continuity, would go on, she said.

First “homegrown” person to succeed the outgoing CEO of DBS

Chairman of the DBS board Peter Seah said at the media briefing that Tan was the first “homegrown” person to succeed the outgoing CEO of DBS. “She gets along very well with the rest of the team, and when the team members were informed of (the board’s) decision, it was well received,” said Seah.

About Tan Su Shan

Tan, 56, is Singaporean and an Oxford University graduate. She has 35 years of experience in consumer banking, wealth management and institutional banking. Tan began her career at ING Baring Securities in institutional equity and derivative sales. She joined Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab in 1997 as an executive director before becoming Citigroup’s (C.N), opens new tab regional head for Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore in 2005. She then returned to Morgan Stanley in 2008 as head of private wealth management for Southeast Asia. Tan joined DBS in 2010, where she spent the first three years building the bank’s wealth management business.