< The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge

To David Gledhill, “embrace digital” is no mere box on a checklist. “A complete transformation on the digital front” is a nonnegotiable imperative, says Singapore-based DBS Bank’s head of group technology and operations. And the pursuit allows no rest for the weary. As it is, the 53-year-old notes, “technology drives 99 percent of our customer interactions, generating even more data and opportunities to understand and engage our customers in a more seamless and intuitive manner.” With the growing popularity of mobile devices, “the bank can travel anywhere with our customers and remain open round the clock.” Last year the 457 billion Singapore dollars ($340 billion)-in-assets bank introduced DBS PayLah!, a mobile wallet app for shopping, bill paying, charity donations and person-to-person payments — and it isn’t limited to customers of the bank. Another mobile app, DBS BusinessClass, offers small and medium-size enterprises social-network-type connections among entrepreneurs, industry experts and investors. “We encourage our staff to become mentors to SME owners, maintain an active presence and share insights through DBS BusinessClass, which now has more than 7,000 members,” reports Gledhill, a U.K. native who was JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s head of Asian investment banking operations before joining DBS in 2008. He oversees a team of 5,000 across Asia, but all 21,000 bank employees are encouraged to adopt a digital mind-set in hackathon events that pair staff members with financial technology start-ups. “If we wish to remain relevant to our customers, our employees must embrace a culture of innovation and be intrapreneurs,” says Gledhill. “Some of the initiatives we embarked on last year, such as the Watson Wealth Advisor [supported by IBM’s artificial-intelligence technology], are now in place, and we are seeing good traction. We are also stepping up collaborations with a number of agencies and organizations on new technology frontiers, such as data analytics.”

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The 2015 Tech 50

1. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange 2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. Robeco Fundamental Equities: High-conviction Strategies to Target Alpha Sponsored by Robeco July 8, 2025 3. Phupinder Gill CME Group 4. Lance Uggla Markit 5. Robert Goldstein BlackRock

6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg 7. R. Martin Chavez Goldman Sachs Group 8. Deborah Hopkins Citi Ventures 9. Stephen Neff Fidelity Investments 10. Adena Friedman Nasdaq OMX Group

11. David Craig Thomson Reuters 12. Daniel Coleman KCG Holdings 13. Michael Spencer ICAP 14. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. 15. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

16. Chris Concannon BATS Global Markets 17. Christopher Perretta State Street Corp. 18. Antoine Shagoury London Stock Exchange Group 19. Kevin Rhein Wells Fargo & Co. 20. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw & Co.

21. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets 22. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings 23. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings 24. Robert Alexander Capital One Financial Corp. 25. Frank Bisignano First Data Corp.

26. John Marcante Vanguard Group 27. Joseph Squeri Citadel 28. Lou Eccleston TMX Group 29. Claude Honegger Credit Suisse 30. Chris Corrado MSCI

31. David Gledhill DBS Bank 32. John Bates Software AG 33. Michael Cooper BT Radianz 34. Gary Scholten Principal Financial Group 35. Sunil Hirani trueEX Group

36. Hauke Stars Deutsche BÖrse 37. Brian Conlon First Derivatives 38. Jim Minnick eVestment 39. Lars Seier Christensen & Kim Fournais 40. Tyler Kim MaplesFS

41. Jim McGuire Charles Schwab Corp. 42. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix 43. Sebastián Ceria Axioma 44. Yasuki Okai NRI Holdings America 45. Stephane Dubois Xignite

46. Mazy Dar OpenFin 47. Brian Sentance Xenomorph Software 48. Mas Nakachi OpenGamma 49. John Lehner BNY Mellon Technology Solutions Group 50. Jock Percy Perseus