1976: DBS opens first overseas representative office in Tokyo

Never one to shy away from challenges, we marked our foray outside of Singapore with our first overseas representative office in Tokyo despite not speaking the local language!

Our pioneering staff in Tokyo had to take twice weekly classes to learn the language, but they were undaunted. The Tokyo branch became a full-service branch in 1977, and grew to become the largest Singapore bank in Japan by 1980.

1980: DBS launches Autosave

Back in the 1970s, customers with a checking accounts could not earn interest, while those with a current account did not have checking facilities. To make life simpler, we broke new ground and launched DBS Autosave in 1980 - the first interest-bearing current account in Singapore.

DBS Autosave gave customers the best of both worlds. It created quite a stir when launched and drew attention from regional publications such as the Asian Wall street Journal and Asiaweek for stepping up competition in the banking industry here.

1983: DBS opens first Taiwan branch in Taipei

The Taiwan branch, our seventh office internationally, would contribute to trade activities in the Republic of China-US-Japan trade triangle and facilitate trade between the Republic of China, Singapore and ASEAN countries.

Fast forward two decades, we announced in 2016 we would acquire the wealth management and retail banking business of ANZ in five markets, including Taiwan. This cemented our position as a leading wealth manager in Asia and enabled the rapid scale-up of digital strategy in Taiwan. The transfer of ANZ Taiwan’s Retail and Wealth business to DBS Taiwan was successfully completed on 9 Dec 2017.

1986: DBS launches Raffles City

Did you know it took us over 17 years to plan and build Raffles City? We wanted to bring life to the CBD area after working hours and grow tourism in Singapore. The scale of development was unprecedented. With notebook and slide rule, we had to carefully calculate the economics of building this "city within a city" before finally we decided the time was right to start construction in 1980.

When launched in 1986, Raffles City was the single largest commercial development here, with the 73-storey Westin Stamford hotel as the tallest such structure in the world, and Raffles City Convention Centre as the largest convention centre in Singapore!

1989: DBS opens representative office in Jakarta

Our expansion across Asia continued with the opening of a representative office in Jakarta. We also obtained approval to establish a joint-venture bank in Jakarta.

In 2016, we cemented our position as a leading wealth manager in Asia. We announced we would acquire the wealth management and retail banking business of ANZ in five markets, including Indonesia.  A year later, we unveiled digibank by DBS, a groundbreaking mobile-led bank, in Indonesia.

1993: DBS lead manages Singtel IPO

A nation of investors was birthed with the Singapore Telecom (Singtel) IPO. We lead-manged the milestone SGD 4.3 billion IPO jointly with a consortium of local banks.

When Singtel debuted on the Stock Exchange of Singapore on 1 Nov 1993, more than 1.4 million Singaporeans, as well as foreign and local institutions, acquired shares in the company.

1994: DBS sets up representative office in India

The start of a long-standing strategic presence in India: we were the first Singapore bank to set up a representative office in India in 1994, upgrading it to a formal bank branch a year later.

In 2016, we launched digibank, India's first mobile-only bank. A year later, DBS India announced it received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India to convert its existing India franchise to a locally incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary.

1997: DBS launches comprehensive internet banking

Remember the days of Netscape Navigator and dial-up Internet? Right from the early days of the World Wide Web, we recognised how this could make banking simpler for you.

In 1997, we were the first bank in the region to launch comprehensive internet banking. Services offered included funds transfer, bill payments and online loan applications. 

1998: DBS acquires POSB

We acquired POSB, a move in line with the government's call for local banks to merge so as to create fewer, but larger and stronger banks that are able to compete on the international stage.

The acquisition made us Southeast Asia's largest bank, and the largest retail bank in Singapore.

2001: DBS acquires 100% interest in Dao Heng bank

In line with our pan-Asian strategy, we acquired 100% interest in Dao Heng bank and its subsidiary Overseas Trust bank. The deal significantly expanded our retail presence in Hong Kong, moving us into fourth position by assets among Hong Kong banks.

2002: DBS launches first REIT in Singapore

DBS is a pioneer in the REITs space, having successfully launched CapitaMall Trust, the first REIT in Singapore, in 2002. We have not looked back since.

In 2016, an Ernst and Young report placed Singapore as the sixth-largest Reit market in the world, and the third in Asia, after Japan and Australia.

2007: DBS is first Singapore bank to incorporate in China

Headquartered in Shanghai, we were one of the first few foreign banks, and the first Singapore bank, to incorporate a fully owned local subsidiary in China. DBS China marked a key milestone when we received approval to offer a comprehensive suite of RMB products and services to local residents.

Leveraging this opportunity, in October, DBS launched a range of RMB deposit services, mortgage loans as well as general insurance products to local residents in Shanghai.

2008: DBS launches industry-first banking package for social enterprises in Singapore

We believe in supporting businesses that seek to address social needs, so that the larger society and in particular, those in need can benefit. In 2008, we launched an industry-first banking package specially tailored to social enterprises in Singapore. It offered preferential rates on business loans and unsecured overdrafts, and fee waivers for a slew of services, among other benefits.

“At DBS, we have worked hard at clarifying our purpose. Rooted in our DNA is a role beyond short-term profit maximisation. What makes us different is our fundamental belief that at the heart of it all, we must do real things for real people, while ensuring that DBS is a joy to deal with. Likewise, our desire to support those who believe in social reforms, and not just pure shareholder returns, took us down the social entrepreneurship path - our corporate social responsibility platform.” - Piyush Gupta, CEO, DBS Bank

2008: DBS celebrates 40th anniversary with project to help the children of Asia

A basketball court for primary school children in the remote village of Juara in Malaysia. Lessons to children in a Cambodia village school about sanitation. These were some of the projects our employees completed as part of our 40th anniversary celebrations.

As part of our 40th anniversary, we challenged DBS employees to create, develop and execute community projects to benefit the children of Asia. The target was 40 community projects to be completed over 40 days. Our colleagues were undaunted. They wanted more. A total of 80 projects were initiated and close to SGD 200,000 was raised for children’s charities across Asia.

2010: DBS launches industry first "money safe" guarantee

It's important our customers have peace of mind. So for those worried about transacting over the internet, despite high security standards held by the industry, we took the lead and introduced an industry-first "money safe" guarantee.

With this, our iBanking customers would be automatically protected when transacting online, and the bank would reimburse them in the unlikely event of unauthorised transactions.

2012: DBS launches Marina Regatta

We launched the inaugural Marina Regatta to bring life to the Marina Bay area.

What started out as an international competition for dragon boating is now Singapore's biggest bay festival, awash with sporting activities and urban challenges, fun shops and great eats! Find out more.

2012: DBS moves to MBFC Tower 3

It was a moment marked with excitement, pride and nostalgia as we bade farewell to our Shenton Way headquarters of 38 years and made the historic move to our new head office at Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3.

Our move cemented the area as Singapore's new financial centre, but we didn't stop there. A year later, we pledged to help enliven the Marina Bay area, committing a SGD10 million investment over three years.

2014: DBS launches DBS Foundation

To play our part in shaping a better future for Asia, we cemented our committment to social enterprises with the launch of our SGD 50 million foundation.

The DBS Foundation aims to build a more inclusive society in the region by nurturing social enterprises and social entrepreneurs. The foundation offers programmes ranging from venture challenges, learning forums, intensive incubation, project grant support, financing and skilled volunteer mentoring.

2016: DBS is World's Best Digital Bank

We believe that banks tomorrow will look fundamentally different from banks today. That’s why DBS is deeply immersed in the digital agenda - whether it is changing the culture and mindsets of our people, re-architecting our technology infrastructure, or leveraging Big Data, biometrics and AI to make banking simple and seamless for customers. In 2016, we were honoured to be recognised as the World’s Best Digital Bank by Euromoney.

2016: DBS launches digibank India

Imagine a bank that has no paper and does not require forms nor signatures. A bank that travels with you, telling you the best opportunities and deals based on where you are and what you are doing. A bank that offers you much better interest rates because operating costs are far lower than that of any traditional bank. Digibank India is all these and more

We launched digibank India in 2016, the first mobile-only, paperless, signatureless and branchless bank incorporating ground breaking technology, from biometrics to artificial intelligence.

2017: DBS receives approval to establish wholly-owned subsidiary in India

The approval to establish a locally incorporated wholly-owned local subsidiary in India a year after we launched digibank was another milestone in our journey in India.

To further underline our commitment to India, we also launched our new India headquarters at Express Towers in Nariman Point in Mumbai.

DBS joins RE100

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing mankind and we are committed to taking a leadership role in promoting sustainable development.

In 2017, we affirmed our sustainability commitment by being the first Asian bank and first Singapore company to join the global renewable energy initiative RE100. We were also the first Singapore bank to join the global sustainability index.

DBS launches world's largest banking API platform

From McDonald's to PropertyGuru to Homage - a wide range of companies have hopped onto our API platform to develop solutions that will bring more convenience and value to our customers.

Reimagining banking, we launched the world’s largest banking API developer platform in 2017, making available a wide array of APIs for other brands, corporates, fintechs and software developers to plug into and build upon for customers.