Tan Su Shan to Lead DBS Bank as the First Female CEO

After leading DBS Bank for 15 years, Piyush Gupta announced last month that he would step down as CEO in March 2025. His successor, Tan Su Shan, will make history as the bank’s first female CEO and the first internal candidate to be appointed to the top position.

Tan, 56, who joined the Singapore-based multinational bank in 2010, will spend the transition period serving as deputy CEO in addition to her current role as group head of Institutional Banking. According to the bank, her appointment is the result of a decade-long succession process. During a press briefing, DBS chair Peter Seah explained that the process involved rotating potential candidates through various roles within the bank to assess their performance.

Since joining DBS, Tan has played a key role in building the bank’s wealth management division, managing consumer banking, and overseeing efforts to integrate digitalization across these sectors. Her selection was unanimous among both the DBS board and an independent consultant who evaluated candidates against top professionals inside and outside the banking sector.

Seah remarked that Tan had built a robust foundation for wealth management and successfully managed two major areas that contributed significantly to the bank’s income.

Acknowledging the challenge of following in Gupta’s footsteps, Tan commented that while she had big shoes to fill, they were different kinds of shoes, suggesting her leadership style might differ, but certain core principles would remain constant. She noted that the bank would continue to focus on the “four C’s”: culture, customers, collaboration, and continuity. Reflecting on the bank’s heritage as the Development Bank of Singapore and its philosophy of “Neighbors First—Bankers Second,” Tan expressed her intent to foster greater internal collaboration and promote a unified “One Bank” approach.

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