Incoming DBS CEO Tan Su Shan recounts losing her job amid breakup in her 20s

On Mar. 28, 2025, Piyush Gupta, the longtime chief of DBS Bank, will step down.

In his place, 56-year-old Tan Su Shan will take the reins.

The veteran banker, who joined DBS in 2010, revealed in an Oct. 27 interview with Lianhe Zaobao that she doesn't feel as though she has waited very long for her forthcoming promotion.

"I've had a lot of different roles over the past 14 years [of working here]," she said. "Each one was very different, and I still have a lot to learn."

Despite being poised to be the bank's first female CEO, Tan said she has never thought of herself as an alpha female.

Instead, she tends towards an empathetic and straightforward management style, she said.

At one point, she even likened herself to a "nagging grandmother" — something which she says she picked up from Gupta.

In her first media interview after joining DBS, she'd described him as "scarily smart, but as naggy as a grandmother".

But rather than being angry, Gupta had embraced the comparison, she recalled.

"I learnt from him that as a leader, consistency, clarity and good communication are very important," she said.

"It’s better to be a naggy grandmother than to be vague and end up confusing people."

Faced challenges

Tan's a quintessential high-flyer.

She graduated from Oxford University, worked in a senior role in Morgan Stanley before joining DBS, and served as a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) between 2012 and 2014.

She also became the first Singaporean to be recognised as the world's best leader in private banking in 2014.

Incidentally, her first-ever role was also at DBS, as an intern in her university years. "And this may also be my last job, so it's a homecoming of sorts," she said.

But it hasn't all been smooth sailing.

At the age of 26, Tan lost her job at Barings Bank when the 233-year-old institution suddenly collapsed in 1995.

Around the same time, she also lost her home when her landlord terminated her rent, and ended a long-term relationship.

"At the time, I felt that life was really challenging," she told Zaobao.

"But I learnt how to see things from another perspective. What's the most important thing in life? I still had my health, my friends, my family. Even without a job or a house, life still goes on."

Tan attributes her strength to her mother and grandmother — particularly the latter, who she described as an "iron woman".

Her grandmother lost her husband during World War II and raised seven children alone, she said.

This indomitable spirit deeply influenced Tan, teaching her to face challenges with her own philosophy: failure shouldn't be wasted, but rather learnt from.

"Life has its ups and downs, both personally and professionally," she said.

"Sometimes, you have to take a step back to take two steps forward."

Balancing motherhood and work

There's a well-known anecdote within the banking world about Tan, that goes like this: in 1999, while working at Morgan Stanley, she brought her Bloomberg terminal into the delivery room when she was about to give birth.

She said she "had no choice but to bring the computer into the delivery room", as the U.S. dollar had fallen against the yen significantly the same day.

It paints a picture of Tan that's almost a caricature of the "successful workaholic mum" stereotype, complete with the high heels and perfect makeup.

But Tan said that in her family, she really is just a mum — in part thanks to her children.

"Sometimes when I scold them, they will retort: 'Mum, you are not in DBS now, you're not the boss'," she quipped.

She added that her family members have been her biggest supporters throughout her career.

In turn, even amid her busy schedule, she makes sure to set aside time to spend with her family.

This past summer, she and her family went to Peru in South America to climb Machu Picchu and go diving in the Galapagos.

"We agreed that we would get together for the trip, rain or shine," she said.

Top image from Lianhe Zaobao