Q1: How did the business perform in 2025, and what drove its growth over the past year? How has the cost-income ratio trended this year, and what were the key factors influencing it? Looking ahead, what are your main priorities and strategic plans for 2026?

The market in 2025 generally experienced positive volatility. The emergence of DeepSeek at the beginning of the year sparked widespread optimism in the technology sector. A prevailing trend of slowly declining interest rates established a positive market foundation for 2025, despite several significant fluctuations caused by evolving trade wars throughout the year. 

Building on its rapid expansion in 2024, DBS PB successfully capitalised on these market opportunities, achieving over 30% yoy growth in fee income and over 60% in net new money in the first eight months and maintaining its cost-to-income (CTI) ratio within 50%. We continue to view human capital as our most crucial investment.

Looking ahead to 2026, our strategy is built around three key growth drivers. Firstly, we will prioritise private banking growth continuity by increasing manpower and deepening our penetration into the ultra high net worth (UHNW) segment. 

Secondly, our focus will be on scaling the Treasure Private Client segment, which necessitates a significant expansion of our relationship manager (RM) force. This expansion will target accelerated new client acquisition, complemented by faster onboarding processes to cultivate future private banking clientele. 

Thirdly, our vision is to dominate the external asset manager (EAM) business in Hong Kong. To achieve this, we are shifting into a ‘hunting mode,’ which includes expanding our support network and launching a new system to accelerate onboarding. This is specifically targeted at delivering accelerated revenue growth within this critical channel.

These strategic pillars are designed to continue our trajectory of profitable expansion, further solidifying our position as a leader in wealth management.

Q2: Looking at the investment outlook for 2026, which markets and asset classes are you prioritising for client portfolios to capture opportunities while managing risks? How are clients currently allocating their portfolios, and what trends are you seeing in DPM adoption and investment behaviour?

In assessing the 2026 investment landscape, our strategy targets specific asset classes to balance opportunity capture and risk management. We are prioritising growth equities in innovative, disruptive sectors to secure superior returns. Concurrently, income assets, including investment-grade bonds, perpetual securities, and high-yield dividend equities, are essential for market resilience and cash flow enhancement, particularly given the potential for future US Federal Reserve rate cuts. 

We also recognise alternatives (private assets, hedge funds, gold, commodities) as pivotal for effective diversification, generating uncorrelated alpha, and enhancing risk-adjusted returns over time. Our robust risk management ensures continuous alignment with client tolerance levels.

We are observing a distinct shift in client behaviour, marked by increased engagement in online investing via our advanced digibank platforms. More significantly, we are seeing substantial growth potential for discretionary portfolio management (DPM). DBS is committed to refining DPM offerings, leveraging our experienced portfolio managers and streamlined features like automated income distribution and efficient SAA/TAA updates. This has resulted in approximately 20% annual growth in DPM assets, underscoring strong client trust.

Our strategic pillars for 2026, growth equities, essential income assets, and diversifying alternatives, combined with the strong momentum in DPM adoption, effectively position our clients for success while maintaining a disciplined risk framework.

Q3: With artificial intelligence increasingly shaping the wealth industry, how has the firm leveraged technology and AI to transform processes and enhance value for both clients and the back office? What key technology upgrades were introduced in 2025, and what are your digital priorities for 2026 and beyond?

We launched DBS ChatGPT, a conversational AI model built on the latest large language models (LLMs). This has improved staff productivity by assisting with content generation, writing tasks, translation, and information retrieval from our internal knowledge base, achieving over 80% adoption in private banking.

We’ve also deployed AI to streamline complex know your customer (KYC) procedures, ensuring robust compliance while significantly boosting back-office efficiency.

To enhance client service, we introduced Wealth Co-Pilot. This tool provides RMs with tailored client insights, freeing them from administrative burdens to focus on high-value strategic advisory.

Beyond simply replacing manual work in operational functions, our 2026 strategy centres on scaling generative AI capabilities across the entire value chain, from prospecting, sales surveillance, and client servicing to operational functions, to maximise responsiveness.

Q4: The private banking industry saw a plethora of leadership and structural changes in 2025. Looking into 2026, what are your key priorities for attracting and retaining talent across the front, middle, and back office? Are there plans for new hires in key markets?

DBS Private Bank has demonstrated a strategic and dynamic approach to growth, talent acquisition, and employee development. From 2011 to 2016, DBS Private Bank underwent rapid mergers and acquisitions, significantly expanding its market presence. Following this, the period between 2016 and 2022 was dedicated to strengthening its operational platform, laying a solid foundation for future growth.

Since 2022, the bank has entered a period of fast expansion, marked by a 55% increase in its RM force. A key component of this hiring strategy is the recruitment of native Putonghua-speaking talent, recognising their understanding of regional dynamics and adaptability to the unique economic environment. Talent sources are diverse, including international peer banks, Chinese banks, other financial institutions, and internal mobility.

DBS Private Bank is committed to the rapid integration and development of its new RMs. This is achieved through:

• Structured onboarding training. Comprehensive training covers essential topics such as KYC, system protocols, regulatory compliance, culture, and enterprise values, ensuring new RMs are productive quickly.
• Team structure design. Careful consideration is given to team structures to effectively blend new and existing RMs, facilitating mentorship and knowledge transfer.
• Open feedback channels. Staff feedback mechanisms are in place to foster continuous improvement and integrate best practices from the market.

These initiatives have contributed to a highly engaged and motivated workforce, evidenced by a record-high employee satisfaction score of 92% in 2025. This positive sentiment has directly led to strong retention over the past two years, with the voluntary attrition rate remaining below 5% despite rapid expansion. This stability ensures the bank possesses the experienced professionals needed to execute its aggressive 2026 growth initiatives and deliver superior client outcomes.

DBS Private Bank maintains a positive long-term outlook on the wealth sector, leading to continued expansion plans in 2026. The primary focus is the accelerated growth of the Treasure Private Client (TPC) segment, aiming to strengthen the bank’s wealth continuum. The TPC strategy includes doubling the RM force within three years and deepening its presence in Greater China.