Singaporeans slam vitriol against Piyush Gupta as he prepares to exit DBS

SINGAPORE: Numerous Singaporeans online have called out vitriolic comments against DBS CEO Piyush Gupta as his impending resignation from Southeast Asia’s largest bank was announced yesterday (7 Aug).

Mr Gupta, who has been at the helm of DBS for the past 15 years, revealed that he will retire at the company’s annual general meeting on 28 March 2025. He had signaled his intention to retire by 2025 when he expressed in 2021 a desire to step down upon turning 65.

He will be succeeded by 56-year-old DBS banker Tan Su Shan, who has been appointed as deputy CEO before she takes the top job.

During Mr Gupta’s tenure, DBS has evolved into a tech-savvy financial giant, consistently achieving strong financial results, including an 18 percent return on equity in recent years.

In a significant milestone, DBS’s market value crossed the $100 billion threshold on 2 May 2024. Additionally, the bank reported a 6 percent increase in second-quarter net profit to $2.79 billion just yesterday, exceeding market expectations.

Mr Gupta’s journey with DBS began in 2009 after a 27-year career at Citigroup. His leadership period is notable for being almost double that of the next longest-serving CEO, Ngiam Tong Dow, who served for eight years.

The outgoing CEO’s time at DBS was not without difficulties, however, as major digital service outages in 2021 and additional disruptions in 2023 led to restrictions from the central bank as well as frustration from loyal account-holders.

While many Singaporeans online congratulated Mr Gupta for a job well done at DBS and extended their best wishes for his retirement, a vocal minority on social media have responded to the development by spewing xenophobic and racist vitriol over the fact that he is a naturalised Singapore citizen who was born in India.

Others, online, however have rushed to Mr Gupta’s defense. In one top comment, Facebook user Audrey Mico stressed, “We can be nicer with our comments as civilised Citizens of a 1st World country. Mr Gupta is a Singapore Citizen & did well to bring DBS to where it is today and we should show our appreciation.”

Facebook user Wilfred Lee urged “those who only know how to post salty comments” to “please look at DBS performance under Piyush Gupta,” while another netizen, Yew Wah Ow, said: “Negative minded people releasing negative comments polluting social media, and leading more people to be negative minded.”

He added, in another comment, “This is a commercial matter and yet you find ridiculous comments from people are playing ‘politics’!”

The term “Ceca,” referring to the free trade agreement between Singapore and India, was also invoked in countless comments with a racially charged undertone by those critical of Mr Gupta. Some Singaporeans boldly spoke up against this characterisation, asserting that such comments are problematic and have no place in Singapore.

TISG/