DBS 50th anniversary gifts so far include bumper dividends to shareholders and special customer promotions, with more to come
SINGAPORE, 6 July 2018 – In conjunction with its 50th anniversary, DBS has thanked its shareholders and customers with a bumper dividend and special promotions, and ramped up support for communities across the region. Today, the bank expressed its gratitude to a group of people who have been integral to the bank’s journey and success – its employees. DBS CEO Piyush Gupta announced that the bank would gift SGD 500 to each of its 26,000 employees at a “Golden Jubilee” employee townhall held at the Victoria Theatre. A special guest at the townhall was former DBS Chairman S. Dhanabalan, who was among the founding group of employees instrumental in the establishment and running of DBS at its inception 50 years ago.
Said DBS CEO Piyush Gupta, “In the last 50 years, DBS has evolved from Development Bank of Singapore to World’s Best Digital Bank. Recognising that this success would not have been possible without the support of our stakeholders, we felt it was important for our Jubilee celebrations to include a measure of giving back, whether to shareholders, customers or employees. For our people in particular, this special Jubilee gift comes ahead of DBS’ birthday on 16 July, and is an expression of our gratitude for their hard work, commitment and strong sense of purpose.”
In May, DBS shareholders were rewarded when the bank paid out a special dividend of 50 cents per share as a one-time return of the capital buffers that had been built up and to mark DBS’ 50th anniversary of DBS. This was in addition to the payout of 60 cents per share for the final dividend of 2017, which brought the full-year ordinary dividend to 93 cents per share, an increase of 55% over the previous year.
For customers, DBS has lined up a gamut of year-round “50-themed” promotions such as deals that provide 50% discounts, or SGD 50 cash gifts to thank customers for their support. In April, the bank launched the DBS “Win the Suite Life” promotion which will award an unprecedented 50 Singapore Airlines Suites class round-trip tickets to New York, London, Paris, Sydney or Shanghai to customers. Further details on these promotions are available at go.dbs.com/DBS50.
To give back the community, the bank’s employees had actively mentored 50 social enterprises across its six key markets last year. DBS staff across the region will also be participating in 50 volunteer initiatives in the bank’s birthday month of July.
Established in 1968 as the Development Bank of Singapore, DBS began with a purpose like none other – to help finance the industrialisation of Singapore. From the bank’s early days, its employees have been the industry’s trailblazers.
For instance, in 1977, the bank launched the Pandan Valley condominium, Singapore’s largest condominium at the time. In 1980, DBS Autosave, the nation’s first interest-bearing current account in Singapore was introduced. In 1985, DBS propelled Singapore Airlines onto the global arena by being the lead manager for their IPO, the first international offering for a locally incorporated company.
In 1986, DBS financed the development of Raffles City, paving the way for Singapore to be a leading convention and exhibition destination. DBS today continues its slew of firsts. In 2017, the bank launched POSB Smart Buddy – the world’s first in-school wearable tech savings and payments programme, and has the world’s largest banking API developer platform today.
On the sustainability front, last year, DBS was the first financial institution in Singapore to issue a green bond. In addition, DBS played an active role in launching the Women’s Livelihood Bond – the world’s first social sustainability bond to be listed on a stock exchange. In 2014, DBS Foundation was set up with SGD 50 million dedicated to championing social enterprises (SEs) across the region. Each year, the foundation awards over SGD 1 million in grants to promising social enterprises.
