DBS Private Bank Adds Senior Executives To Indonesia Team

Vanessa Doctor

8 February 2011

DBS has bolstered its Indonesian premier banking operations with the appointment of two senior private bankers to its team.

Stanley Puah, who joined in January from HSBC Private Bank Singapore, will be heading the bank's Indonesia team, which is composed of around 10 private banking specialists. Tan See Wee, the other new hire, will be senior vice president and deputy team leader for Indonesia. Tan is a former head investment strategist at Great Eastern Life Assurance. Both will be based in Singapore and report directly to Chan Kwee Him, the country head for Indonesia.

DBS has been expanding its senior management force as it seeks to capture a wider share of Asia's fast growing high net worth market. In 2010, the bank hired Su Shan Tan from Morgan Stanley to head its private banking unit in Asia. In a statement, the company said that the Indonesian HNW market is worth $80 billion.

DBS has a network of 40 branches and sub-branches across 11 cities in Indonesia. These latest appointments bring the total staff numbers of the Indonesia team to around 40, up by about 25 per cent over the past year.

In December 2010, the private bank included the country in its list of six key markets where it intends to grow its earnings contribution. DBS last year launched a new SME financing programme in Indonesia, which targets the mass affluent. The other locations where it seeks to expand are Singapore, Hong Kong, China, India, and Taiwan.