DBS pledges $1b over 10 years to help vulnerable families in key markets, including S’pore
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DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta (centre) speaking to the media at the bank's headquarters about its key markets.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
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SINGAPORE - DBS will commit up to $1 billion over the next 10 years to support low-income and vulnerable families, it announced on Friday.
From 2024 to 2033, the bank will pledge up to $100 million a year in Singapore and its other key markets of China, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan, it said without giving a breakdown.
The funds will go to initiatives such as aid for immediate daily needs like food and housing, education, digital and financial literacy, and strengthening emotional and mental resilience.
The bank’s 36,000-strong workforce will commit more than 1.5 million volunteer hours over the next decade to community service, including food donation drives and mentoring programmes with institutes of higher learning.
DBS said that over the next few months, it will identify key organisations and programmes to partner with and support. It will start by working with the Ministry of Social and Family Development to support lower-income families and households who need additional help.
DBS Group chief executive Piyush Gupta said an uneven post-pandemic economic recovery, coupled with high inflation, has worsened the plight of financially vulnerable communities. “Amid increasingly challenging times, we wanted to intensify efforts to support those with the fewest resources, giving them access to basic opportunities required to succeed in life.”
He said DBS will identify the unique needs of each key overseas market. “We will be looking for the right partner agencies to help us work meaningfully – the theme has to be right for the country, but the partner agency has to be right as well.”
He said global issues such as climate change, geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence have contributed to social issues such as inequality.
While emphasising that multilateral organisations and governments will not have the capacity to solve and address all of these challenges on their own, “large-scale participation from other actors in the economy is needed”.
“The private sector has to be able to step up,” he said. “It’s not about shareholder capitalism any more. We have to genuinely think about stakeholder capitalism.”
Earlier in August, DBS Group Holdings reported record quarterly earnings.
DBS has rolled out several initiatives in recent years to help the community at large.
In 2014, the bank established the $50 million DBS Foundation to support social entrepreneurship. In 2020, it created the $10.5 million DBS Stronger Together Fund and provided 4.5 million meals, care packs and medical supplies to help communities hit by the pandemic.
In 2022, it said it would set aside $100 million to support philanthropic causes, bringing its total commitment to over $160 million since 2014.
