DBS Bank is crafting a unique story in the country’s competitive wealth and retail banking landscape by bringing awarded technology and service standards to a wider audience. In our conversation, Ambuj Chandna, Managing Director & Head of Consumer Banking Group, DBS Bank India, shares his vision for the bank’s growth journey, the opportunities he sees in India’s wealth and retail banking market and how DBS is leveraging technology, data and AI to deliver differentiated customer experiences. He also discusses responsible AI adoption, embedded finance, leadership lessons and the roadmap for DBS India’s consumer banking business.
Q: You recently moved to DBS Bank as MD & Head of Consumer Banking Group. What attracted you to DBS?
Ambuj Chandna: DBS Bank has been present in India for more than 30 years. It was one of the first major foreign banks to start operating as a wholly owned subsidiary in India and continues to invest in its universal banking model, demonstrating a deep commitment to the region, as one of its core markets.
The bank’s inherent strengths of being agile and technologically dovetail well with the key drivers underpinning India’s growth story – the world-class Digital Public Infrastructure and digitally inclined demographic that has embraced a more globalised mindset. This fast-growing audience are looking for international solutions and personalised banking services as they move up the wealth curve.
Given the bank’s strategic advantages in India with its phygital model, supported by nearly 490 branches spread over more than 350 locations, along with the country’s domestic growth levers, I believe there is significant headroom for DBS’s expansion here.
We are crafting a unique story in the country’s competitive wealth and retail banking landscape by bringing awarded technology and service standards to a wider audience.
Hence, it was an exciting opportunity for me to join the bank and be part of this story.
Q: Today, banks are witnessing tough competition from fintechs in the consumer banking domain. What can be done to further strengthen the consumer banking proposition at DBS Bank India?
Ambuj Chandna: We have already been recognised for our digital transformation and AI capabilities and we intend to keep leveraging these strengths in India to enhance our consumer banking offerings. For instance, we continue to build on our pioneering, digital-first solutions like the digibank app, which offers over 250 banking services, enabling effortless banking without needing to visit a physical branch.
We have also architected a seamless omnichannel distribution model, combining a wide physical branch network across 350+ locations, coupled with digital platforms including an intuitive internet banking portal, ensuring customers can engage with DBS on their terms, anytime and anywhere. This model allows us to improve upon what fintechs can offer, creating stronger, long-term relationships with our customers.
All things considered, I think DBS Bank India’s key differentiator comes from a fintech-like agility that is crucially supported by its established reputation for safety and a comprehensive product suite, providing a strong platform that has earned immense consumer trust over the years.
Q: Given rapid changes in customer behaviour, especially among younger and digitally native consumers, how is DBS adapting its product and engagement strategy to cater to these evolving expectations?
Ambuj Chandna: We are committed to serving every customer with the care and attention they deserve and we have created distinct propositions for each segment.
DBS Treasures is our signature offering for HNI clients, offering bespoke wealth management solutions, access to curated investment products and dedicated relationship management underpinned by DBS’s global connectivity and research expertise.
For these wealthy clients, we have a team of experienced investment counsellors, offering an unbiased product selection to meet their specific needs. This is further complemented by our preferential remittance rates, which is an offering that is appreciated by our NRI and HNI clients.
Some of our newer propositions in India like DBS Aspire are designed specifically to service what we believe are the structurally underserved, emerging affluent client, who are for the most part younger, digital natives.
For this well-travelled set that values a good customer experience, we have combined the ease of our digital investment platform with additional benefits like a relationship manager and zero forex mark-up on the DBS Aspire debit card to integrate with more globalised lifestyles.
We recognise that customers who are seeking higher returns also prioritise stability and we design our propositions to balance both safety and returns.
DBS has adopted a tiered approach to Savings Account (SA) interest rates and for balances between ₹2 lakh and ₹50 lakh offer a very competitive rate of 5 per cent per annum.
In this way, we are able to keep pace with the macroeconomic shifts and customer expectations, while also harnessing the power of technology to deliver a more intelligent and intuitive banking experience.
Q: AI is transforming banking operations worldwide in a big way. What is DBS Bank India doing to leverage AI and GenAI across customer acquisition, underwriting, wealth management, service and collections?
Ambuj Chandna: AI has been central to DBS strategy as a group since 2014, with 2018 marking a pivotal shift towards large-scale AI Industrialisation built on “Platform-Process-People” framework.
Across all our markets, DBS has deployed over 2000 AI/ML models covering 430 use cases, thanks to pervasive staff adoption. There are around 200+ ML models and more than 30 Gen AI use cases have been deployed across various functions.
We use AI/ ML models extensively for functions like lead generation, cross-sell and next best nudges while acquiring, communicating with and engaging customers.
Over 140 models have been deployed across 15-plus customer journeys to track incidents and drop-offs. For credit underwriting across products, internal ML, model-based credit scores and external scores are leveraged to improve process efficiency.
Additionally, even with the physical touchpoints, we have incorporated data-based alerts at branches and ATMs to better track behaviour and trigger timely alerts in case of suspicious activities.
At branches, staff can address customer queries through our in-house DBS-GPT, an internal GPT that is powered through a knowledge base of internal policies and SOPs across products.
We even have a Gen AI-enhanced Customer Service Officer (CSO) that delivers better service through real-time customer call transcription and summarisation with sentiment analysis, automated quality checks and auto-draft email responses that has significantly improved productivity.
Q: In order to ensure a responsible and human-centric AI adoption, what steps are being taken to strike the right balance between automation, customer convenience and trust in a highly regulated industry like banking?
Ambuj Chandna: DBS’s leadership in Responsible AI is a strategic differentiator. Our underlying belief is AI drives efficiency, innovation and customer experience, while its deployment must be governed by clear principles and guardrails.
Across the group, all data uses must be evaluated against the PURE (Purposeful, Unsurprising, Respectful, Explainable) framework to help us balance priorities like enhancing customer convenience and building trust.
There is a materiality rubric defined to categorise AI models and Gen AI use cases into different materiality orders, based on which we incorporate governance checks. We lay a lot of emphasis on getting the fundamentals right, along with data integrity, ensuring data protection.
In DBS India, AI plays a critical role in the management of fraud. For example, leveraging real-time transaction data, behavioural cues, device signals and geolocation to detect anomalies. This layered defence model allows us to move at the speed of trust, using risk-based scoring, targeted intervention and behavioural biometrics to enhance detection accuracy.
Apart from this, we also use AI to continuously monitor network activity and system logs to aid early identification in case any data or systems have been compromised, integrating adaptive learning to build resilience against evolving fraud patterns, while safeguarding the customer experience.
Q: Consumer banking today is not just about deposits and loans anymore; it is also about ecosystems and embedded finance. How is DBS positioning itself within India’s evolving digital ecosystem?
Ambuj Chandna: In India, we have long focused on building digital ecosystems, embedding financial services within customer journeys and diversifying offerings through technology-driven solutions and strategic partnerships.
Within our wealth proposition, DBS Treasures, we use both the expertise of our relationship managers, combined with hyper-personalised insights to enable deeper customer engagements.
Our distribution network provides a platform from which we can democratise access to advanced banking solutions and wealth management. The concentration of our branches in South India means that we have traditionally seen momentum from products like Gold Loans. Using our expertise and strengths in digitalisation, we were able to enhance the customer journey and customise an experience that is distinct from other providers.
Through the digitisation of manual processes like e-sign and e-stamp in our Gold Loan customer journey, we were able to build efficiencies and products variants with multiple repayment options to cater to a range of customer needs, that stand apart because of DBS safety protocols and best in class service standards.
Q: What is your vision for DBS Bank India’s consumer banking business over the short and long term?
Ambuj Chandna: In the short term, we can see massive technological and geopolitical shifts underway, which are inevitably accelerating change, reshaping customer expectations and in the manner that companies can meet them.
We have the advantage of being ahead of the curve in the way we harness technology to deliver more value to our customers.
We are also one of the leading banks for wealth management in Asia and one of our immediate goals is to leverage these capabilities to enhance our offering in India. Backed by our Asian connectivity, we can go beyond what a domestic bank can offer, while also integrating local market insights to deliver better value.
As we go ahead, we believe that our inherent strengths will continue to position us as a dependable, diversifier, digital and disrupter bank and this belief will inform our consumer banking strategy over the long term.
