< The 2016 Tech 50

Can a bank seriously be “committed to creating joyful banking experiences for its customers”? That’s how DBS Bank describes its marketing mission these days. After several years of ramping up one of the banking world’s most aggressive digital strategies, under the leadership of David Gledhill, Singapore-based DBS may actually be delivering on that promise. Gledhill, head of group technology and operations since joining DBS from JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2008, is adding on to a well-laid foundation. In the Singapore home market alone, there are 2.5 million online and 1.25 million mobile customers, according to the 2015 annual report by DBS, which has 439 billion Singapore dollars ($324 billion) in assets. Now the focus is on enhancements like person-to-person payments and voice and fingerprint authentication to make transactions easier, safer and, Gledhill emphasizes, more fun. He has a vast geographical expanse in which to roll out innovations: 18 Asian markets served by 280 DBS branches. In April, DBS launched digibank, India’s first completely branchless and paperless mobile banking service; it uses Siri-like conversational technology, and customer authentication piggybacks on the national Aadhaar identification card. The digibank app in Singapore runs on Apple Watch as well as on smartphones that rely on fingerprint ID to let customers check their balances with a simple swipe. “Digibank brought together groundbreaking technology, from biometrics to artificial intelligence to dynamic security,” says Gledhill, 54. “Plans are in the pipeline to replicate this platform in other markets.” Digitization is not confined to consumer interactions. “DBS is applying analytics to better understand and serve our customers and employees, and to enhance our operations and risk surveillance,” says Gledhill, who oversees more than 5,000 of the bank’s 22,000-plus employees. “Analytic tools are also being used by DBS’s audit and global transaction services teams to swiftly identify potential errant behavior.” He adds that he is “hugely passionate about creating a fintechlike workforce that adopts the habits of digitally native companies.” Employees are encouraged to collaborate with start-ups in hackathons and can apply to join an incubation program, DBS HotSpot, for mentoring and potential seed funding. In 2015 more than 2,000 DBS employees participated in these initiatives, Gledhill says.

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The 2016 Tech 50

1. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. 2. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange Model Portfolios to Deliver Alternative Asset Exposure Sponsored by BlackRock April 29, 2025 3. Lance Uggla Markit 4. Phupinder Gill CME Group 5. Shawn Edwards and Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg 6. R. Martin Chavez Goldman Sachs Group

7. Robert Goldstein BlackRock 8. Adena Friedman Nasdaq 9. Deborah Hopkins Citi Ventures 10. Daniel Coleman KCG Holdings 11. Stephen Neff Fidelity Investments 12. David Craig Thomson Reuters

13. Michael Spencer ICAP 14. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. 15. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing 16. Chris Concannon BATS Global Markets 17. Blythe Masters Digital Asset Holdings 18. David Rutter R3CEV

19. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw & Co. 20. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets 21. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings 22. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings 23. Robert Alexander Capital One Financial Corp. 24. Brad Katsuyama IEX Group

25. Antoine Shagoury State Street Corp. 26. David Gledhill DBS Bank 27. Lou Eccleston TMX Group 28. Andreas Preuss Deutsche BÖrse 29. Dan Schulman PayPal Holdings 30. Scott Dillon Wells Fargo & Co.

31. Mike Chinn S&P Global Market Intelligence 32. Craig Donohue Options Clearing Corp. 33. Gary Norcross Fidelity National Information Services 34. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix 35. Sebastián Ceria Axioma 36. Michael Cooper BT Radianz

37. Tyler Kim MaplesFS 38. Neal Pawar AQR Capital Management 39. David Harding Winton Capital Management 40. Chris Corrado London Stock Exchange Group 41. Brian Conlon First Derivatives 42. Jim Minnick eVestment

43. Stephane Dubois Xignite 44. Mazy Dar OpenFin 45. Yasuki Okai NRI Holdings America 46. Kim Fournais Saxo Bank 47. Jock Percy Perseus 48. Robert Schifellite Broadridge Financial Solutions

49. Brian Sentance Xenomorph Software 50. Pieter van der Does Adyen