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Tan to become first female CEO

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CEO Piyush Gupta to retire in March 2025

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DBS shares log 279% jump in value since November 2009

(Add analysts' comment in paragraph 3-4 and 12, additional

context in paragraph 9, share performance in paragraph 13)

By Roushni Nair and Yantoultra Ngui

Aug 7 (Reuters) - DBS Group said on Wednesday

Tan Su Shan, its head of institutional banking, will succeed

Piyush Gupta as CEO when he retires in March, making her the

first woman to lead Singapore's and Southeast Asia's biggest

bank.

CEO Gupta retires on 28 March 2025, when the bank hosts its

next annual general meeting. Tan, 56, who joined the bank in

2010 from Morgan Stanley ( MS ), will serve as the deputy CEO until

then, DBS said in a statement.

"We think the appointment signals continuity and stability,"

said Thilan Wickramasinghe, Maybank Investment Banking Group's

head of research for Singapore and regional head of financials.

"She is an internal candidate who has played a sizable role

in building the existing culture and business mix of DBS," he

added.

The banking veteran spent her first three years at the bank

building its wealth management and institutional banking

businesses, which account for 90% of the company's income.

Tan's appointment will also make her the first internal

candidate to succeed as CEO, DBS Chairman Peter Seah told

reporters in an earnings briefing on Wednesday.

The appointment ends speculation about who would take over

from 64-year-old Gupta, a prominent figure in Asian banking who

has been at the helm of DBS for 14 years.

Gupta has been instrumental in reshaping the bank's culture

and upgrading its technology to meet the challenges posed by

emerging digital banking competitors.

Under Gupta, DBS expanded regionally with acquisitions in

India and Taiwan, and in May became the first Singapore-listed

company to achieve S$100 billion in market capitalisation.

DBS shares have jumped nearly four-fold since November 2009

when Gupta joined the company, soaring 279% in value, while

Singapore's main stock index has added 72.5%.

"Piyush is very big shoes to fill," Tan said at the

briefing.

Jefferies' equity analysts Sam Wong and Shujin Chen said in

a research note following the announcement that they "expect a

modestly negative initial share price reaction" given Piyush's

strong track record at DBS.

Shares of DBS ended 2.8% higher at S$33.65 a share before

the announcement, outperforming the local benchmark index's

1.6% rise.

With this appointment, Tan, an Oxford University graduate,

is set to become the second female leader of a major Singaporean

bank, after Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp named Helen

Wong as its head in 2021.

Meanwhile, DBS' quarterly earnings surpassed analysts'

expectations on Wednesday, while the benefits of a booming

wealth business that drove assets and fee income to records led

the company to raise its full-year profit forecast.

Despite DBS achieving record profits in 2023 and beating

fourth-quarter earnings expectations, the company in early

February decided to reduce Gupta's compensation by S$4.1 million

($3.1 million), penalising him for last year's digital banking

disruptions.

($1 = 1.3275 Singapore dollars)