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The 2015 Tech 50: David Gledhill

The DBS Bank head of group technology and operations climbs to No. 31 on this year’s Tech 50 ranking.

By Tyler Davies

July 27, 2015

< The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge

David Gledhill

Head of Group Technology and Operations

DBS Bank

Last year: 37

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.”

See the full story, “The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge.”

The 2015 Tech 50