The chief executive of Southeast Asia’s largest bank, DBS, says implementing artificial intelligence is already paying off

SINGAPORE – Amid fears of an artificial intelligence bubble, much has been written in recent reports suggesting that artificial intelligence has yet to deliver returns for companies investing billions to implement the technology.

But that’s not what the CEO of Southeast Asia’s largest bank sees – she says her company is already reaping the rewards of its artificial intelligence initiatives, and this is just the beginning.

“It’s not hope. It’s now. It’s already happening. And it’s going to get better,” DBS CEO Tan Su Shan told CNBC on the sidelines of Singapore Fintech Week when asked about the promise of AI adoption.

DBS has been working on implementing artificial intelligence in its bank for over a decade, which has helped prepare internal data analytics for the latest waves of generative and agentic artificial intelligence.

Agentic AI is a type of artificial intelligence that relies on data to proactively make independent decisions, plan and execute tasks autonomously, with minimal human supervision.

Tan is waiting The implementation of artificial intelligence will bring DBS an overall revenue increase of over 1 billion Singapore dollars (approximately $768 million) this year compared to 750 million Australian dollars in 2024. This assessment is based on approximately 370 AI use cases powered by over 1,500 models across the company’s operations.

“The spread of generative AI has been transformational for us,” Tan said, adding that the company has experienced a “snowball effect” of benefits from machine learning.

The main area in which DBS has applied AI is financial services for institutional clients, with AI being used to collect and use data for clients to better contextualize and personalize offers.

According to Tan, this has resulted in “faster and more resilient” teams. The CEO believes that artificial intelligence applications have recently contributed to accelerating the bank’s deposit growth compared to its competitors.

The company too recently launched a newly enhanced AI-powered corporate customer assistant known as ‘DBS Joy’ that assists customers 24/7 with their unique corporate banking queries.

MIT published report in July found that 95% of 300 publicly disclosed AI initiatives, representing $30-40 billion in generative AI investments, had no real returns.

However, at least in the banking sector, there are signs of a turnaround.

While DBS does not distinguish spending on generative AI from other internal investments, other large banks have recently proposed such a comparison.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said last month in an interview on Bloomberg TV that the bank is already breaking even on its annual investment of about $2 billion in artificial intelligence implementation. This is “just the tip of the iceberg,” he added.

These expectations are shared by DBS, which plans to continue to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence to become A bank based on artificial intelligence.

According to Tan, the ultimate goal is to transform generative AI into a trusted financial advisor for customers, including retail users, who are expected to interact with personalized AI agents through the DBS banking app.

The bank already has over 100 AI algorithms that analyze user data to provide them with personalized “hints”, such as notifications about upcoming shortages, product recommendations and other insights.

The company has launched several AI reskilling initiatives across all departments this year and even implemented a generative solution A coaching tool based on artificial intelligence support these efforts.

This will help the company automate mundane work and refocus employees on building and maintaining interpersonal relationships with customers rather than downsizing, Tan said.

“We’re not stopping hiring, but it means retraining. And it’s a journey. It’s a never-ending journey… constant evolution.”