Banker looking beyond the horizon

Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Group Holdings Ltd. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Empowering local talent to help DBS expand global footprint, says CEO

Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Group Holdings Ltd, the Singapore-based commercial banking and financial service provider, has a dream of building a deep, meaningful franchise in China, which is relevant not just to its customers but to the community at large.

"We believe in what we call 'banking the Asian way'," he said. "We have the professionalism of large global professional banks, but we also give people on the ground a lot of leeway and lots of room to take responsibility and build local franchises."

Today, the revenue DBS makes in China accounts for about 5 percent of its total revenue. If people add in the business the bank does with Chinese companies internationally and its renminbi business, that figure could well surpass 10 percent. As part of its Asian banking strategy, DBS also tries to be very relevant to the community.

"We are not a hard-nosed, only profit-oriented bank. Most of our employees feel good about the fact that they have a real role to play, doing real things for real people," Gupta said.

Since 2012, DBS has financially supported 15 social enterprises in China whose projects cover more than 10,000 beneficiaries.

In 2014, driven by multiple engines including strong growth in non-interest income and overall credit, DBS China posted a 45 percent growth in net profit after tax from a year earlier.

According to Gupta, this year, DBS is unlikely to repeat last year's success with loans and net interest margins coming down.

The lender's overall growth targets across Asia have been pared down to single-digit levels due to the economic slowdown in the region. Gupta spoke at length to China Daily on how the bank is coping with the situation and what it plans to do going forward. The following are edited excerpts of the interview:

What are your business strategies in China as you readjust to the new Chinese economic policies and realities like the New Normal and the Belt and Road Initiative?

Our strategy for China has been consistent in the past five years, which is to build up a strong presence with several State-owned enterprises and privately owned enterprises and therefore, build a large corporate client base in China.

We can be helpful to them in their overseas expansion, including the Belt and Road Initiative, but also can give them a range of different products that suit their interests.

We will supplement that core part of our strategy with continued growth of our small and medium-sized enterprise franchise and retail business. For both of these, we will try to rely more on a digital footprint and build out a digital capability that allows us to scale those businesses without building up a very extensive network.