DBS COMMUNICATIONS CHIEF KAREN NGUI TO DEPART AFTER INFLUENTIAL BRAND-BUILDING TENURE

Karen Ngui will exit her role as Head of Group Strategic Marketing & Communications at DBS Bank. With over 25 years of financial sector branding and communications experience, she has been credited with shaping DBS’s reputation and strategic narrative during a period of digital transformation, regional growth, and rising industry scrutiny. 

Karen Ngui, one of the region’s most respected financial communications leaders, is set to step down as Head of Group Strategic Marketing & Communications at DBS Bank, marking the end of a defining chapter for the institution’s brand-building journey. Ngui’s departure comes after years of steering the bank’s corporate narrative, reputation management and strategic communication efforts across Asia, helping to elevate DBS into one of the world’s most recognised financial services brands.

With more than 25 years of experience in corporate branding, marketing and communications, Ngui has been widely regarded as a key architect of DBS’s position as a forward-looking, purpose-driven organisation. Her leadership has spanned periods of rapid digital transformation, new market expansion and intense scrutiny across the global banking sector. Under her watch, DBS sharpened its messaging around customer-centric innovation, sustainability and technology—areas that have since become central to the bank’s competitive identity and cultural ethos.

Industry peers note that Ngui’s influence extended beyond campaign performance and media visibility. She played a pivotal role in building internal advocacy for the bank’s “Live more, Bank less” philosophy, ensuring that brand promise and operational reality moved in tandem. As DBS aggressively invested in digital banking capabilities and regional scale, this alignment became critical to differentiating the institution from legacy peers and new fintech entrants alike.

Her exit comes at a moment when financial institutions across Asia continue to navigate a communications landscape defined by geopolitical volatility, shifting consumer expectations and heightened ESG scrutiny. Amid these pressures — and in a sector where reputation has become both a strategic asset and a strategic risk — senior communications talent has grown increasingly central to corporate governance and long-term brand value.

DBS has not yet announced details regarding succession, though observers expect a continuation of the bank’s emphasis on integrated communications strategy, sustainability narratives and innovation-led brand positioning. For many across the financial services industry, Ngui’s departure represents the closing of a noteworthy brand-building era at DBS, and the beginning of a new chapter for both the bank and one of its most influential communicators.