DBS doubles AI economic value to S$750m through decade-long data and AI transformation

DBS started its AI journey over a decade ago, when the bank realised it needed to sort out its data.

DBS's AI journey, which began when the bank realised it needed to sort out its data, led to the creation of a data lake. Since then, the bank's strategic investments have allowed rapid AI innovation and scalability across all parts of its franchise, such as hyperpersonalised contextual offers or recommendations for customers. Internally, the bank developed DBS GPT, a secure generative AI assistant that democratises institutional knowledge and helps employees with a wide range of tasks. DBS is also in the process of upskilling over 12,000 employees in future-ready skills including AI and data, and runs an extensive suite of role-based training.

DBS sequentially doubled the economic value generated by its data analytics and AI programme since 2021, reaching S$750m (US$561m) in 2024. The bank is on track to surpass S$1bn (US$764m) in AI-driven economic value in 2025 — a milestone CEO Tan Su Shan attributes to systematically rewiring the organisation around data and AI rather than simply deploying tools.

• Customer service efficiency: An AI assistant deployed to over 1,000 customer service officers reduced average call handling time by 20%.
• Workforce transformation: More than 12,000 employees actively upskilled in AI and data skills through role-based training.
• Knowledge access: DBS GPT expanded institutional knowledge democratically across the entire staff base, improving productivity across functions.

• Data infrastructure is the non-negotiable prerequisite: DBS built and governed its data lake before scaling AI — clean, centralised data determines the ceiling of what models can achieve.
• Workforce investment complements technology: pairing AI deployment with role-based training helps employees use new AI tools adeptly.
• Responsible AI requires explicit governance: protocols covering data integrity, accessibility, and security.
• Sequentially doubling economic value was attributed to organisational rewiring around data and AI.
• Tracking AI value in dollar terms creates accountability.