Hong Kong, a key market for DBS, can be a natural bridge between China’s AI innovation and the world, said DBS chief executive Tan Su Shan.
Tan spoke ahead of DBS’s inaugural Asia Future Forward Conference tomorrow, where she will hold a dialogue with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and other business leaders, including TikTok chief executive Shou Chew. Topics will include AI unlocking human potential, AI getting a body, rewriting corporations, and shifts in capital flows. She said AI and machine learning has generated SG$1 billion (HK$6.1 billion) economic value to the bank so far.
Tan said Hong Kong can absorb advances in small language models, optimization and enterprise AI, then help Chinese firms use the city as a financial hub to trade, connect digitally and share capabilities with the region. DBS will continue to grow its wealth management, financial-institution, capital-markets, gold and digital-asset businesses in the city, she added.
DBS’s mission is to be an AI-enabled bank with a heart, and it aims to move from AI-enabled to AI-powered and eventually AI-native. The bank has learned from early failures, scaled classical AI, and now uses generative and agentic AI. Tools such as Aura, Clara and Joy give bankers—including relationship managers—more time for customers, judgment and creativity. “AI should save humans, not just jobs,” Tan said, adding that trust, data safety and doing the right thing are central to AI development.
Shee Tse Koon, group head of consumer banking and wealth management, said DBS plans to hire 600 frontline advisors and platform engineers by 2028. He added that AI has improved customer and employee experiences and produced positive outcomes, with more accounts opened and funds moving sooner and faster. AI has also helped retail customers become savvier investors.
