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Bankers in Asia Aren't as Reviled as in West: DBS CEO
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Supervising Digital Editor, CNBC Asia
The CEO of DBS, Southeast Asia's largest lender, says it's clear that "bankers aren't the world's favorite people anymore." But, he said Asia's banking sector isn't facing as much of a backlash as in the West because it has kept compensation under control and stuck to more traditional banking businesses.
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Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images DBS CEO Piyush Gupta. |
"Bankers in Asia still aren't as reviled as they are in that part of the world," Piyush Gupta told CNBC's Adam Bakhtiar on Friday, referring to the U.S. and Europe. "Compensation levels in Asia haven't been that egregious as they have been in the West.”
Executive compensation at banks has once again become a hot-button topic after the CEO of U.K. based RBS [RBS
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]turned down a bonus of nearly 1 million pounds ($1.58 million).
While the latest bonus figures for 2011 aren't available for DBS [DBSM.SI
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], according to Reuters, the CEO got a bonus of S$2.7 million ($2.1 million) in 2010 and a total compensation package of S$8 million ($6.4 million).
Gupta said another reason bankers in Asia haven't faced as much anger was because "Asian banking models are a lot more geared towards the real economy and commercial banking as compared to investment banking and trading markets.”
DBS has in recent years built a commercial banking franchise across Asia, but it has steered clear of investment banking, except in Singapore, where the bank has strong connections because of its origins.
Gupta said he joined the banking industry 30 years ago when it didn't have the high levels of compensation and hype seen through the 1990s and 2000s.
"I joined it because it's a good industry, it pays competitively, it gives you a really rewarding career, it gives you really broad opportunities to work and grow," he said.
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