Piyush Gupta, who has led DBS for over 15 years, will take home 17.6 million Singapore dollars ($13.2 million) for his last paycheck from the region’s largest bank. It’s 57% larger than the 11.2 million Singapore dollars ($8.4 million) he received in 2023.
According to the bank’s annual report released on Thursday, Gupta’s pay for 2024 is split between his base salary of 1.5 million Singapore dollars ($1.13 million), a cash bonus of 6.6 million Singapore dollars ($4.96 million), and deferred remuneration of 9.36 million Singapore dollars ($7.03 million). For the deferred pay, about 17.1% will be in cash while the remainder will be in the form of shares.
Gupta took a 30% pay cut to his variable pay in 2023, which represented about 4.14 million Singapore dollars ($3.1 million), following a series of disruptions to the bank’s services that year. Other members of the management committee took a 21% pay cut.
Gupta’s increased salary for 2024 follows the bank’s “stellar all-round performance as well as its improved technology resiliency.”
DBS’s CEO isn’t the only banking head to get a big pay bump in recent weeks. Standard Chartered revealed in late February that CEO Bill Winters was getting a 46% increase in his salary. Winters will take home £10.7 million ($13.8 million) for his 2024 salary, his largest paycheck ever since he took over the British bank almost a decade ago.
DBS’s 2024
Besides increased pay for Gupta, the bank also revealed in early February, when it released its quarterly results, that it’s paying a 1,000-Singapore-dollar bonus on top of regular performance bonus to all staff except senior managers following the bank’s stellar year.
DBS reported 11.4 billion Singapore dollars in profits for 2024 ($8.56 billion), up 11%. Shares of DBS have risen 51% over a one-year period to reach 46.17 Singapore dollars ($34.64).
Gupta became DBS CEO in 2009, and helped expand operations at Southeast Asia’s largest bank. He will step down later this month at the bank’s annual general meeting and be replaced by deputy CEO Tan Su Shan.
“Under [Gupta’s] stewardship, DBS has evolved into one of Singapore’s most iconic institutions and a global financial powerhouse, with an ROE that places us among the top-performing banks globally,” the bank’s chairman Peter Seah wrote in its annual report. He continued that the bank’s strong performance reflects Gupta’s decisions as CEO, particularly its digital transformation.
Yet he added that DBS is looking forward to a “new chapter” under Tan, who he called the “standout candidate” to be Gupta’s successor. Tan previously worked in major financial centers like Hong Kong and London, and will become the first female CEO in DBS’s history.
