Making an impact with data that matters, with people who matter

What energises you at work?

We’re helping people to get better at money management! And indirectly improving their confidence in life. I believe that money management is a life skill. I’ve seen how badly people’s lives are affected when they don’t manage and plan their money well. Personally, money management and planning has also helped me ‘get ahead in life’ and given me confidence in handling the ups and downs of life - like when I spend on educational courses, I don’t feel guilty that I’m cutting back on something, because I’ve budgeted for these priorities ahead of time. In DBS, I’ve worked on the Financial Planning portfolio for 3years. I work on research that helps the bank make the right product decisions, so we can support our customers to be financially-resilient. I always find my work meaningful.

I get to use my skills to solve tough problems and make an impact. Things like – “helping people be financially-savvy” - can sound simple, but it is a lot tougher than it sounds. Throw more people into the mix, add legacy systems and the task becomes even more complex! It takes grit to stay the course - knowing what is the right problem to solve, what we can do, and what is stopping us from getting there. It also requires having a combination of skills – analytical, creative and influence skills. Answering tough questions always inspires me to improve my own skills so that I can drive the impact I want.

Working with like-minded people. I am happy to work with people who share the same vision as me at work. Our design leadership team created the right structures for us to drive a strategic programme I am currently working on.

• My manager, Janae changed my job responsibilities entirely (e.g by removing people management responsibilities) so I could focus on being a principal researcher.
• My partner-in-crime, designer Kittaya who is tag-teaming with me on the project. She energises me and it was great knowing we were working on something meaningful together.
• Our senior management sponsors, Ed and Rainer, suggested that we create this programme to support the work we’re doing, and publicly endorsed it by promoting our findings and strategy at senior management forums.

I am so glad to work with like-minded people who play their roles incredibly well, so I can do my best work, and make an impact!

What do you enjoy about being on the team?

We’re a bunch of people with a lot of creativity and a very pure heart. We just want to do good for the customer, whether it’s financial planning, designing help and support, designing for accessibility etc. There are no politics in the team; just very pure intentions.

We dare to push boundaries. The bank can be a very risk-averse place, but when you add a bunch of creative people, the possibilities are endless. I enjoy brainstorming on tough problems with my fellow design team members.