Consumer Banking/
Wealth Management
The resilient growth of our franchise has enabled us to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our stakeholders. Our customers can be assured of our unwavering support throughout every stage of their lives – leveraging our scale, operating discipline and AI-led innovation to stand firmly by them in both good and tough times.
2025 overview
Despite persistent macro headwinds and lower interest rates, Consumer Banking/ Wealth Management demonstrated significant resilience in 2025, delivering solid results and a healthy balance sheet. We achieved record total income for the fourth consecutive year and set numerous records in fee-based services, reflecting our franchise’s agility and successful multi-year transformation.
To mitigate narrower interest margins, we capitalised on market opportunities to drive robust deposit volumes and strong wealth net new money inflows. Deeper client relationships propelled wealth management non-interest income to a new high, sustained by increased productivity and advanced integration of AI/ ML and Gen AI. Our One Bank initiative also bolstered our efforts to serve customers. Moving forward, we will continue to expand our footprint and empower customers to navigate uncertainties and grow their wealth.
Record-high income for Consumer Banking/ Wealth Management
Total income rose 4% to SGD 10.5 billion, propelled by double-digit fee income growth across most of our core markets. As we maintained our cost-income ratio, net profit before tax grew 2% to SGD 4.5 billion.
Lower rates drove deposit margin compression, causing net interest income to fall 6% to SGD 6.1 billion. This decline was however partially offset by stronger deposit and loan volumes. We upheld market share leadership in savings deposits in Singapore.
Non-interest income grew 20% to SGD 4.4 billion, driven by higher investments and bancassurance sales. Stronger investor sentiment and deeper engagement on asset diversification underpinned this momentum. Tailored solutions in retirement adequacy and estate planning drove a 19% surge in bancassurance revenue – we gained wallet share in Hong Kong and Taiwan while solidifying our leadership in Singapore.
Record fees from enhanced wealth connectivity and continuum
As Asia strengthens its position as a global wealth hub, high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals with multi-jurisdictional investments continue to entrust us with a growing share of their assets via our wealth booking centres in Singapore and Hong Kong. Our clients come from over 120 jurisdictions across North Asia, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States.
Our wealth management franchise sustained its record-breaking performance. Total wealth management income rose 9% to SGD 5.7 billion, buoyed by record highs in net new money inflows and fee income. Non-interest income climbed 27% to SGD 3.3 billion, outpacing regional and global peers.
We achieved SGD 488 billion in assets under management (AUM) – a 19% year-on-year increase in constant-currency terms and double our assets since 2019. The proportion of AUM in investments reached a record 58% while our cost-income ratio of 46% stood out among top global private banks.
This growth was fuelled by connecting clients from new wealth corridors and enabling more to progress along the wealth continuum. Key enablers included:
In 2025, we refreshed our Treasures global offering, launching new wealth centres in Shanghai and Hong Kong. In Taiwan, we were among the first foreign banks to receive regulatory approval to offer sophisticated investment solutions within the Kaohsiung Special Economic Zone.
The number of existing retail customers who became newly-minted Treasures clients in Singapore more than doubled, demonstrating the successful progression up the wealth ladder. To date, up to 40% of Private Bank clients originated from our existing client base.
Our wealth management business garnered global recognition. We were named ‘World’s Best for High Net Worth’, ‘Asia’s Best Private Bank’, and ‘Asia’s Best for Family Office Services’ by Euromoney. We also achieved first-time wins from Citywire and PWM, in addition to accolades from The Asset.
Enabling retail customers to make better financial and investing decisions
Earning the right to be every customer’s primary financial partner requires us to put customers at the centre of everything we do – delivering holistic solutions and seamless experiences to manage their everyday finances and prepare for major life milestones. A key differentiator is our phygital approach: combining award-winning digital capabilities with the expertise of wealth planning managers and frontline staff across our physical network.
Banking and payments
We made everyday banking easier, from account opening to scam prevention. By expanding instant, same-day payment options, we captured significant market share. In Singapore, DBS facilitated 60% of all PayNow cross-border transfers. PayLah! exceeded three million users and powered over 60% of QR transactions in hawker centres. In Taiwan, where online remittances comprised nearly half of market transactions, we were the first to offer same-day, zero-fee global transfers. We expanded global connectivity through partnerships with Ant International and Tencent, enabling payments to 150 million merchants in over 100 markets via Alipay+ and Weixin Pay (WeChat).
To command wallet share among some customer segments, we refreshed our card propositions in 2025. In Singapore, our partnerships with Cold Storage, Giant, 7-Eleven and Sheng Siong now give cardholders exclusive rewards across some 170 supermarket outlets – the highest for a Singapore bank. In gaming, we launched a co-branded Arena of Valor card with Garena in Taiwan and pioneered reward-point redemption for gaming credits via PayLah! in Singapore.
In response to evolving threats, we empowered customers with self-managed security tools to lock funds, prevent digital transfers and manage threshold alerts. Our industry-first feature which prevents unauthorised addition of phished cards to mobile wallets resulted in a 98% decrease in such scams.
Retail wealth management
Amid market volatility, we continued to leverage AI-powered nudges to guide retail investors towards better investment and financial decisions. Those who engaged with the nudges saved two times more, invested five times more and held thrice the insurance coverage of non-users. Investment assets in DBS digiPortfolio grew 40% year-on-year in Singapore. We launched DBS digiWealth, an integrated platform for investing and insurance, supplemented by on-demand access to wealth planning managers. This will be scaled across our markets, beginning with Taiwan.
Delivering customer value via AI, data and our people
Over the years, we have built a data-driven, agile organisation, deeply embedding AI and Gen AI into the workflows of our Managing through Journeys squads. Large portions of our team now utilise DBS-GPT, the bank’s internal large language model platform, to generate critical insights and improve efficiency across many tasks. Gen AI has particularly enhanced our Know Your Customer processes, delivering approximately 70% efficiency gains in name screening, freeing teams to focus on meaningful interactions while reducing risks. We continue to explore Agentic AI to further deepen client engagement.
Standing alongside our customers and the community
We recognise our crucial role in society, standing alongside customers and the broader community through good and tough times. In the uncertain SG60 year, we provided SGD 23 million in savings and support to customers and beneficiaries, easing living and business costs. Initiatives included grocery and meal deals, weekly cashback rewards in heartland areas, measures to reduce mortgage payments, waivers for heartland merchants and a DBS Foundation (DBSF) programme for vulnerable seniors’ nutritional and mental well-being. Among cashback recipients, 32% were senior citizens and/ or earned less than SGD 2,500 monthly.
We were also the first bank in Singapore to formally recognise CPF LIFE payouts as income when assessing credit card applications, underscoring our commitment to financial security and dignity for seniors.
We intensified outreach to enhance financial and digital literacy and anti-scam education, including launching – in collaboration with DBSF – a first-of-its-kind Gen AI beginner’s guidebook and reaching communities through literacy workshops in schools and heartland areas.
Looking ahead
I have always believed that the true success of our franchise is defined not solely by financial performance, but equally by the positive impact we create in communities and the trust customers place in us.
The resilient growth of our franchise has enabled us to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our stakeholders. Our customers can be assured of our unwavering support throughout every stage of their lives – leveraging our scale, operating discipline and AI-led innovation to stand firmly by them in both good and tough times.
Ultimately, our people, the shared belief in doing well by doing good and the humility to foster deep customer relationships are our greatest competitive advantages – and the true sources of my confidence and optimism for our future.
