“Live More, Bank Less” … How DBS Bank reimagined itself as an “invisible bank” … a transformational journey guided by purpose, focused on customers, enabled by technology … a tribute to Piyush Gupta

July 13, 2025

When Piyush Gupta took over as CEO of DBS Bank in 2009, he inherited a bank that was deeply rooted in Singapore’s institutional banking history. It was a strong bank, well-regarded, but also very much a traditional banking organisation—hierarchical, with legacy systems, heavy use of branches, and with relatively low expectations for what “digital” might allow. Over the next decade and a half, Gupta reimagined what DBS could be: not merely a bank that digitises, but a bank that becomes embedded in people’s lives in ways where banking itself becomes largely invisible.

The transformation has been multi-year, deep, and has involved changes in strategy, culture, technology, structure, mindset, and how success is measured. It is the story of an incumbent bank doing more than incremental change—of trying, experimenting, failing, learning, iterating, and gradually turning itself into something that, for many observers, has become a template for what banking might become in an era of fintechs, smartphones, changing customer expectations, and new competition.

The Purpose: “Live more, bank less” and the Invisible Bank

In 2018 DBS formally unveiled a new brand promise: “Live more, bank less.” This was more than marketing. It underlined a shift in how DBS conceived of its role: not to pull customers into banking, branches, apps, or complex financial products, but to push banking out of the way—to make it so simple, seamless, embedded, invisible—so people had more time and mental space for the things they care about.

Gupta described this as enabling an “invisible bank,” where banking services are woven into everyday life rather than standing apart. This could mean marketplaces for utilities, property, or cars embedded into the bank’s digital channels; seamless cross-border remittances; APIs; tools for small-businesses that reduce friction; services that anticipate customer needs; and generally reducing the cognitive and physical load of banking.

This positioning was meant to align with several trends: smartphone ubiquity, customer expectations of speed, convenience, fewer steps; the shift in many industries from product to experience; the rise of platform businesses; and competition from fintechs and large technology firms moving into financial services. DBS saw that just adding digital features to old banking wouldn’t be sufficient—it needed to reimagine processes, systems, and culture.

Early Stages: Culture, strategy, and the first moves

Gupta had a background in Citi, in operations, payments and technology, which gave him both credibility and a perspective that banking could be more than what it was. Upon taking the CEO role, he asked whether he really got to run the company and whether he could transform its culture. From early on, he believed culture was not optional—it had to come first if the other parts of the strategy were to succeed.

A turning point came around 2013, when Gupta and the board recognised that digitalization would not simply be an incremental improvement. They saw what companies like Alibaba and Ant Financial were doing — payments, insurance, lending, etc., all operating via digital platforms without traditional branch networks or salespeople—and realised DBS would have to change its frame of reference. They began asking “What would Amazon do?” or “What would big-tech do?”, rather than merely looking at what other banks were doing.

From that point forward, DBS embarked on several strategic shifts:

A strong emphasis on customer journey thinking: mapping customer pain points, redesigning processes end-to-end (not just slapping on a mobile app).
The ambition to digitise deeply: not just front-end changes but middle and back-end, operations, risk, compliance. “Killing paper” was one mantra: trying to eliminate paperwork and manual steps wherever possible.
Reorganising how the bank works: agile teams, open spaces, cross-functional squads, usage of design thinking, embedding human-centred design labs and anthropologists, etc.

Hackathons, experiments, and mobilising the imagination

One of the signature features of DBS’s transformation was how it opened up experimentation inside the bank. Gupta and senior leadership deliberately used hackathons, internal experiments, and required that many parts of the organisation run experiments. The idea was not just to generate new products, but to shift mindsets—so staff at all levels felt empowered, aware they could try, fail, iterate, learn. And by exposing many people to this process, you build muscle—both psychological and organisational—for change.

Some of the key elements in this experimental culture:

In 2015, hackathons (including “MegaHackathon”) involving senior executives as well as start-ups were run. Staff who had rarely engaged with prototyping or coding were thrown into fast, 72-hour challenge sprints to prototype ideas.
Many of the experiments were mandated: in 2015, for example, “everyone’s KPI” included running an experiment. Senior leadership also had KPIs tied to owning customer journeys or employee journeys.
Collaborations with FinTechs / start-ups: hack-to-hire events, accelerators, ecosystems. DBS did not try to do everything internally, but partnered, invested, borrowed methodology. That included embracing lean startup, design thinking, feedback loops.

This imagination was applied to services and products as well: digital-only banks like digibank in India, mobile apps like PayLah!, innovations for SMEs, tools for cash management (Treasury Prism), etc. The objective was not simply to bring features but to reimagine what banking could feel like in the digital age.

Technology as enabler: platforms, APIs, data and infrastructure

Transforming culture is necessary but not sufficient: the tech scaffolding must support the new kinds of services and the speed of experimentation. Under Gupta, DBS made substantial investments in technology infrastructure, data analytics, AI/ML, cloud and microservices.

Some of the tech infrastructure moves included:

Moving toward API-based architecture and integrating services via APIs, enabling both internal modularity and external partnerships.
Building tech development hubs (e.g. outside Singapore: e.g. in India, Hyderabad) that are not just cost centres but innovation and value centres.
Embracing agile methodologies, “chaos engineering” (similar to practice in tech companies where resilience, failure, stress-testing are built into development) so new services are resilient.
Using data and analytics deeply: tracking customer behaviour; distinguishing digital vs traditional customers; measuring cost-to-serve, engagement; developing internal metrics / KPIs for digital value capture.

Through these, the bank could launch new products more rapidly, respond more flexibly, solve friction points in customer journeys, reduce branch-centric dependency, lower operational cost, while improving customer experience.

Culture shift: mindset, leadership, organisation

For many incumbents, culture is the hardest piece. DBS’s transformation is perhaps as much about the “people stuff” as about tech or strategy.

Key culture shift dimensions:

Leadership behaviour: Gupta personally involved in innovation; chairs Customer Experience Council and Innovation Council; taking roles in setting KPIs around customer journeys.
Mandating experimentation: experiments not optional, but expected; hackathons as both learning / ideation events and as cultural signal.
Flattening hierarchies: more cross-functional teams, open space design labs, breaking down silos, encouraging collaboration between traditional bankers and tech talent. D
Employee empowerment & learning: offering training, exposing staff to digital, design thinking, encouraging staff outside of tech or innovation to engage.

All this combined to generate increasing internal momentum: people began to believe change was possible. The confidence to try new things rose. Errors and failures were tolerated as part of learning rather than punished. Over time, the culture of innovation became embedded rather than being seen as a specialist function.

Multi-year transformation: phases, challenges, and scaling

Such transformation does not happen overnight. DBS’s journey can be seen in roughly phases, with different challenges in each.

Early diagnosis and strategy setting (around 2009-2013): When Gupta takes over, identifies need to change, sets direction: what is digital, what customer expectations are changing. In these early years, foundations are laid: customer journeys, innovation teams, initial experiments.
Execution and embedding (2014-2017): Running many experiments; redesigning internal processes; building infrastructure; launching new digital-only banks (e.g. digibank in India); moving some services to paperless, signatureless, branchless forms; evolving the brand promise. The “Live more, bank less” positioning comes in 2018 after the bank has made considerable progress.
Scaling, measurement, and refinement: As the innovation programmes produce some early successes and bumps, DBS invests more heavily, monitors what works and what doesn’t; refines its approach; scales successful experiments; improves tech reliability; builds platforms; ensures regulatory compliance; builds out marketplace features; strengthens risk and operations to support scale.
Recognition, external proof, continuous renewal: As DBS’s transformation gained traction, awards, external recognition increased; the bank continued to develop its offering, shift into new geographies; introduce new services; partner; invest in sustainability and purpose; anticipate regulatory, technological, and customer trend shifts. Along the way, there have also been challenges: tech glitches, regulatory demands, maintaining reliability and trust as innovation pushes boundaries.

Recognition and awards: the World’s Most Innovative Bank

DBS’s transformation has not gone unnoticed. Over recent years, DBS has collected many high-profile awards, recognition, and was repeatedly cited as a leader in digital banking innovation.

Some of the recognitions include:

Euromoney “World’s Best Digital Bank” multiple times.
Awards from The Banker, Global Finance, IFR Asia among others, as “Asia’s Best Bank”, “Best Bank in the World,” etc.
In 2019, DBS achieved the rare feat of simultaneously holding three global titles: “Bank of the Year” by The Banker, “Best Bank in the World” by Global Finance, and “World’s Best Bank” by Euromoney.
Numerous other industry awards and trailblazer acknowledgements (Retail Banker International Asia Trailblazer Awards, etc.).

These recognitions serve two functions: external validation (useful for investor confidence, regulatory legitimacy, recruiting talent) and internal motivation (reinforcing that the transformation is real, that efforts are being noticed, giving internal stakeholders signals that change is paying off).

What Changed, what gains, what gaps?

By transforming in this way, DBS achieved many of its goals, though not without challenges and trade-offs.

Gains

Customer experience improvements: reduced waiting times, more digital channels, smoother journeys, more convenience. Branch-centric friction was reduced.
New digital products and services: digibank, mobile wallet apps, tools for SMEs, improved cash management, faster cross-border remittances, marketplaces embedded in bank platforms.
Operational efficiencies: with digital tools, automation, reduction of manual work, paper, more flexible tech stack, cost savings in some parts of the bank. Also improved data practices so that decisions are more evidence-based.
Cultural engagement: staff more involved, more skill development, more willingness to try new things. Many internally report that the bank feels different: faster pacing, more experimentation.

Challenges, Gaps, Tensions

Reliability vs agility: pushing innovation and speed can expose systems to strains. As reported in recent years, DBS has faced regulatory scrutiny for tech failures / service outages. These show that as banking becomes more digital and embedded, any failure can have bigger consequences.
Balancing risk, regulation, security: financial services are heavily regulated. Innovating in payments, data, AI, cross-border services demands strong risk, compliance, cybersecurity. Not trivial to keep pace.
Profitability of new ventures: some experiments take time to reach scale or profitability; getting the right customer segments (as in the digibank India vs Indonesia experience) is tricky. Learnings from early missteps inform later decisions.
Cultural inertia: no transformation completely resets all legacy behaviour. Old ways of doing things, risk aversion, silos, hierarchical decision-making persist. Changing mindset is slower than changing tech. Also attracting and retaining tech/innovation talent in competition with fintechs and tech firms is a challenge.

“Invisible Banking” in practice

What does the invisible bank look like when you pull back from all the rhetoric? What are some examples of how DBS has embedded banking deeper into customers’ lives, reducing friction and making banking less front-and-centre?

Marketplaces embedded in the bank’s digital channels (for cars, property, electricity) so customers can take care of non-banking life tasks in or adjacent to their banking experience.
digibank in India (branchless, paperless, signatureless) represents a leap toward banking that exists only in the mobile / digital sphere
Tools like Treasury Prism for corporate clients, which simplify cash-management operations.
For individual customers, mobile wallets (PayLah!), apps, digital onboarding, fewer in-branch requirements. Predictive analytics, personalisation, anticipating when customers need which product or service.

Through all this, DBS sought to reduce the need for customers to think about banking—to reduce steps, to eliminate friction, to anticipate needs. The idea is that paying for groceries, saving, transferring money, getting a mortgage, etc., become part of everyday life, not separate or onerous tasks. That is the invisible bank.

Scaling and sustaining transformation

For a bank as large as DBS, sustaining this transformation over many years has required discipline, investment, and continuous renewal.

Measurement and metrics: DBS developed a “digital value capture” methodology to measure things like return on equity for digital customers vs traditional customers, transaction frequency, cost to serve, etc. This helped make the business case for digital investments more concrete.
Investment in infrastructure: tech hubs, cloud migration, modular APIs, more insourced tech so as to reduce reliance on third-party legacy dependencies.
Governance and leadership alignment: senior leadership bought in; KPIs aligned; boards supportive; leadership behavior modelling change. Without alignment at the top (CEO, senior teams, board) many such efforts fail. Gupta insisted on leading from the front.
Repeat, iterate, learn: experiments often start small, then scaled; some failed; some succeeded; learnt from failures. For example, lessons from digibank in India fed into strategy in Indonesia.

Beyond awards, the legacy is visible in many fronts: the number of customers using digital channels; the bank’s ability to respond to disruptions; generally high customer satisfaction; consistent financial performance (profits, growth); and the reputational capital that allows DBS to compete both with legacy banks and with fintechs / tech-enabled challengers. Also visible in the way DBS has influenced other banks in Asia and beyond: its practices around design thinking, API architecture, innovation culture, experimentation are often cited case studies.

New CEO, and the journey continues

After some 14-plus years guiding DBS through this transformation, Piyush Gupta retired in March 2025. His deputy Tan Su Shan stepped up to succeed him as CEO

This leadership transition comes at an opportune and challenging time: while the foundation is strong (technology, culture, recognition, customer base), the bank must maintain momentum, handle rising expectations (from customers, regulators, investors), ensure reliability (especially digital infrastructure), keep up with rapidly evolving AI / machine learning / sustainability / regulatory pressures, navigate macroeconomic headwinds, and continue to adapt.

The question going forward is: how much of the transformation is institutionalised so that it survives CEO transitions, market shocks, technological disruption? Will the “invisible bank” thesis continue to guide strategy? Will experimentation continue to be a core competency, not a luxury? Will culture remain agile, learning-oriented, and focused on customer journeys?

Lessons from DBS’s Reinvention

DBS’s transformation under Piyush Gupta offers many lessons—for banks, for incumbents more broadly, and for organisations hoping to become more digitally native and customer-centric.

Start with purpose, not just technology. The purpose (“Live more, bank less,” invisible bank) gives direction. It helps align everything—culture, strategy, product, tech. Technology without purpose tends to produce disconnected experiments.
Culture is central. You can change systems, hire technologists, build apps—but unless the culture empowers experimentation, tolerates failure, gives people agency, aligns leadership, you will hit resistance, slow uptake, and reverse-sliding.
Experiment broadly, fail fast, learn and scale. DBS didn’t wait for perfect; it ran many experiments, some of which failed; many small, many in parallel; prioritized learning. Hackathons, KPIs tied to experiments, cross-functional teams helped.
Measure impact rigorously. Not just customer satisfaction or adoption, but linking digital customers to profitability, cost to serve, return on equity, etc. That gives legitimacy to investments.
Invest in tech infrastructure early and deeply. Legacy systems are a drag; to enable agility, scalability, reliability, embedding banking invisibly requires a robust, modular, API-friendly, cloud-capable stack.
Leadership matters. Having a leader who is deeply committed, willing to take risk, push culture, show up, lead from the front makes a big difference. Also, aligning incentives and governance so that leadership is held to building the future, not only delivering past metrics.

DBS’s transformation under Piyush Gupta is one of the clearest modern examples of how an incumbent financial institution can reimagine itself—not simply to digitise and reduce cost, but to become more of a platform, more invisible, more embedded in customer lives. The “Live more, bank less” purpose is not just a slogan; it has guided strategy, culture, product design and organisational form.

Because it has been sustained over more than a decade, with repeated experiments, learning, measurement, cultural change, and deep investment in technology, DBS has earned wide recognition—not just for innovation, but for performance, for customer experience and for being ahead of many peers in understanding what banking could become in the 21st century.

Looking back on Gupta’s transformational journey, the legacy is strong, though by no means perfect or fully complete. The challenges ahead are substantial: maintaining reliability under complexity; staying ahead of rapidly changing technology (especially AI, regulation, platform competition); staying true to the invisible bank promise when trade-offs between innovation, risk, and cost are difficult. But DBS has shown that transformation of this scale is possible; that culture, technology, imagination and purpose can combine to change what a bank is.

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