DBS breaks new ground in digital banking

Singapore, 29 Mar 2016 - As Singapore’s largest bank and a leading bank in Asia, DBS is further upping the ante in the innovation space with the official launch of “DBS digibank”, a breakthrough mobile app designed to make banking simpler, smarter and faster for its customers. The new “DBS digibank” app delivers a groundbreaking “mobile-first” experience and builds on the bank’s continuous efforts to innovate on its digital offerings to enhance the customer experience.

For the first time in Asia, customers are able to view their account balances with a simple swipe on their mobile devices or Apple Watch. This function, called the “Peek Balance”, does not require any pre-login and customers can choose to “peek” at any of their DBS/POSB deposit or credit card accounts. The “account balance enquiry” function is the most used among DBS’ customers across the bank’s platform, including ATMs, online services and its call centre.

The bank went through an extensive customer immersion programme and applied human-centred design in the development of “DBS digibank”. In addition to the mobile app’s enhanced layout and more intuitive navigation, “DBS digibank” also offers customers some of these new features:

• Personalised profile and customised quicklinks – Customers can customise their own profiles with a picture or nickname, and can also create shortcuts for their favourite mobile banking services (First in industry)
• Payments made easier – Customers can use a list of recent and favourite payees for faster transactions (First in industry)
• Instant account opening – Customers can open an additional banking account with just a few simple steps
• Touch ID – Customers can log on to their account securely with their fingerprint

Said Pearlyn Phau, Deputy Group Head of Consumer Banking & Wealth Management, DBS Bank, “With increasingly tech-savvy customers and rising smartphone usage, we have designed our digital banking services to be innovative and nimble enough to address customer needs, and be able to provide an intuitive and relevant banking experience. It is about leveraging world-class technology to create a first-class customer experience.”

Since its soft launch on 14 March, “DBS digibank” has seen more than 200,000 downloads. DBS currently has the largest number of online banking and mobile banking customers in Singapore with over 2.5 million and 1.25 million users respectively, who account for over 1.2 million transactions daily across its digital platforms. The bank’s customer mobile activity continues to lead the industry in Singapore and mobile banking accounts for over 60% of the bank’s more than 500,000 daily logins.

Said Jeremy Soo, Managing Director and Head of Consumer Banking Group (Singapore), DBS Bank, “As a bank serving close to five million customers in Singapore, we are upping the ante on not just the breadth of our digital offerings, but also on providing a holistic customer experience across our platforms. We do this by placing ourselves in our customers’ shoes, focusing on their needs and ensuring we know what the real ‘customer job to be done’ is. With ‘DBS digibank’, we seek to seamlessly integrate banking into our customers’ everyday lives so that banking becomes simpler and fuss-free for them.”

As the pace of digital adoption increases, the bank is sparing no effort to deliver world class digital offerings to its customers. In December 2015, DBS also piloted digital account opening for new customers. With just a few simple clicks, new-to-bank customers can open savings accounts at their convenience, without having to visit a physical branch.

Right from the start of their banking relationships with DBS, from their day-to-day transactions and to assisting them with their financial decisions, the bank is committed to providing superior banking services to its customers. For new iBanking customers, they are able to access four other key digital banking services namely DBS PayLah!, mBanking, SMS Banking and eStatement in one activation. Previously, customers would have to sign up for each of these services separately. With the introduction of this new all-in-one digital banking onboarding service, customers are able to enjoy instant logins to their accounts.

In 2014, the bank made a commitment to investing SGD 200 million over three years in digital banking regionally and has since rolled out various initiatives to weave banking into the everyday life of its customers so that they can spend more time with their loved ones or doing the things that they care about. Some of these recent initiatives in Singapore include:

• DBS PayLah! – A mobile wallet introduced in May 2014 to make peer to peer payments easier, now has more than 300,000 registered wallets. The bank also brought this app to Apple Watch, making it the first wearable bank in Singapore
• DBS SMS Banking – In October 2014, DBS introduced SMS Banking, allowing customers to perform simple banking transactions including checking account balances, performing card payments and fund transfers to their own accounts outside of the internet banking environment
• DBS FasTrack – A first-of-its-kind app to be introduced by a bank in Singapore in September 2015, it provides a seamless ordering and payments solution for businesses while eliminating or drastically shortening customers’ wait time

DBS’ efforts to be at the forefront of banking innovation have also been recognised industry-wide through various accolades, testament to the strides that the bank has made in embracing the digital world. Just this month, the bank was named “Best Retail Bank in Asia Pacific” for the first time by The Asian Banker. DBS was also recognised as “Asia’s Trailblazer of the Year” for the fourth year running and for “Excellence in Internet Banking, Asia” at the Retail Banking International Awards.

“DBS digibank” can be downloaded from Apple App Store and Google Play. For more information on “DBS digibank”, please click here.

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About DBS
DBS - Living, Breathing Asia
DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia, with over 280 branches across 18 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS has a growing presence in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The bank's capital position, as well as "AA-" and "Aa1" credit ratings, is among the highest in Asia-Pacific. DBS has been recognised for its leadership in the region, having been named “Asia’s Best Bank” by The Banker, a member of the Financial Times group, and “Best Bank in Asia-Pacific” by Global Finance. The bank has also been named “Safest Bank in Asia” by Global Finance for seven consecutive years from 2009 to 2015.

DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME and corporate banking activities across Asia. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region’s most dynamic markets. These market insights and regional connectivity have helped to drive the bank’s growth as it sets out to be the Asian bank of choice. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, and positively impacting communities through supporting social enterprises, as it banks the Asian way. It has also established a SGD 50 million foundation to strengthen its corporate social responsibility efforts in Singapore and across Asia.

With its extensive network of operations in Asia and emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. The bank acknowledges the passion, commitment and can-do spirit in all of our 22,000 staff, representing over 40 nationalities. For more information, please visit www.dbs.com.