SINGAPORE - DBS Bank has been named the World's Best Digital Bank by finance magazine Euromoney at its annual awards for excellence, beating out fellow shortlisted nominees Citi, BBVA and ING.

DBS' win marks the first time a Singapore or even an Asian bank has won a global accolade from Euromoney.

The magazine also named DBS Asia's best bank - a first for a Singapore bank. Thus far the magazine has given the title to the Asian operations of US or European banks such as HSBC and Citi.

As a digital bank, Euromoney said DBS stood out because its digital strategy pervades all aspects of the bank.

"Leaders in digital banking talk about the difference between digitising aspects of a bank and creating a truly digital financial institution," said Eurmoney editor Clive Horwood.

"DBS is doing this better than any other bank. It is demonstrably the case that digital innovation pervades every part of DBS, from consumer to corporate, SME (small- and medium-sized enterprise) to transaction banking and even the DBS Foundation."

DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta said the bank has spent the past three years "deeply immersed" in the digital agenda because it believes that banks of the future will look fundamentally different from today.

"This has been an all-encompassing journey, whether it is changing the culture and mindsets of our people, re-architecting our technology infrastructure or leveraging Big Data, biometrics and artificial intelligence to make banking simple and seamless for customers."