Tan Su Shan

This woman brought a Bloomberg terminal into her delivery room.

The year was 1999. The yen was crashing.

She was going into labor.

And she had no choice but to keep trading.

Today, she runs Southeast Asia’s largest and most profitable bank: DBS.

After graduating from Oxford, Tan Su Shan began her career at ING Barings in London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

At 26, she lost her job when the 233-year-old Barings collapsed.

Her landlord kicked her out. Her long-term relationship ended.

No job. No home. No partner.

So she rebuilt at Citibank, then joined Morgan Stanley, rising to Head of Private Wealth Management for Southeast Asia.

In 2010, she returned to DBS as Group Head of Consumer Banking, Wealth Management, and Private Banking.

A role she held for nearly a decade.

Beyond the bank, she founded the Financial Women’s Association of Singapore in 2001 to mentor women in finance.

By the time she became Group CEO in March 2025, DBS was Southeast Asia’s largest and most profitable bank.

$29B in revenue. $8.4B in profit. Ranked No. 7 on the Fortune Southeast Asia 500.

She was the first woman ever to lead it.

In July 2025, she was also appointed Vice Chair of DBS Hong Kong.

A month later, the Singapore Government named her to its Economic Strategic Review Committee on Global Competitiveness.

Her leadership style? Not alpha. Not aggressive.

More like a “nagging grandmother,” she says.

A lesson in clarity, consistency, and communication she learned from predecessor Piyush Gupta.

As CEO, she moved fast…

She rolled out a generative AI executive coach to all employees (developed with Marshall Goldsmith).

Told hiring managers to stop hiring for knowledge. Hire for attitude, agility, and humility.

Coined the 4Rs: Reinvent. Stay Relevant. Be Resilient. Be Responsible.

And created a Chief Operating Officer role to drive end-to-end transformation across products, tech, operations, legal, and governance.

Her awards could fill a wall…

2014 – First Singaporean named “Best Leader in Private Banking” (Financial Times Group)

2018 – “Top 25 Emergent Asian Women Business Leaders” (Forbes)

2025 – No. 6 globally on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business, only Singaporean in the Top 10

She’s also a wife and mother of two.

She climbs Machu Picchu.

She dives in the Galapagos.

And at home, her kids still remind her: “Mum, you’re not the boss here.”