Banking technology: DBS shows the value of articulating the vague

Analyst briefings come and go, particularly ones about digital strategy. It was quite something, then, when a DBS Digital Investor Day in November triggered a raft of glowing analyst reports and a 4% jump in the share price.

Some sample analyst notes demonstrate:

• Citi: “DBS in our view presented one of the most comprehensive digital strategies of any bank in the world, let alone Asia”;

• CIMB: “On stage, CEO Piyush and CFO [Chng] Sok Hui were Jeff Bezos-esque”;

• Credit Suisse calls the bank its top pick and says it could deliver 121% return over the next five years;

• All three rate it buy, or some equivalent.

So what brought this on? It’s nothing new that Gupta and his senior disruption lieutenants David Gledhill and Neal Cross are evangelical about digital disruption.