How DBS Bank Became The Best Digital Bank In The World By Becoming Invisible

Every year, financial services magazine Euromoney gives out numerous awards for excellence to firms in many categories, at country, regional, and global levels. The story of its digital transformation is all the more remarkable because one of its goals for its technology – in fact, for the entire bank – is to disappear from view. DBS is a midsized Asian bank with about 22,000 employees, created by the Government of Singapore in 1968 to help modernize the island nation. However, when DBS brought in Paul Cobban, who is now Chief Operating Officer, Technology and Operations for DBS, to spearhead the bank's transformation in 2009, they were far from best – in fact, they were among the worst. Cobban recalls an eye-opening story from his first day at the bank. "I was in a taxi and I mentioned I worked at DBS," Cobban recalls.