Rethinking banking: When AI learns to care, Ramesh Mallya, Chief Technology Officer, DBS Bank India

By Puja Sharma

DBS Bank India is blending AI, open banking, and emerging technologies into everyday operations, reshaping how decisions are made and services are delivered. By modernising systems, strengthening digital resilience, and embedding ethical frameworks, the focus is on creating smarter, more reliable, and human-centred banking experiences.

As digital banking accelerates and technologies like AI, open banking, and cloud solutions reshape the financial landscape, insights from industry leaders are more valuable than ever. The conversation with Mallya was especially timely. Under his leadership, DBS Bank has embraced emerging technologies to deliver resilient, scalable, and customer-centric experiences, while
driving innovation in cybersecurity, open banking, API ecosystems, and fintech collaborations, all with trust, compliance, and data privacy at the core.

How are you leveraging AI and emerging technologies to deliver measurable business outcomes and enhance customer experiences?

AI and emerging technologies are enablers of our digital transformation strategy. Our focus has always been on outcomes that can be measured in terms of customer impact and business value. For example, AI-powered virtual assistants have increased customer self-service rates, while predictive analytics has enabled us to tailor financial insights and recommendations.

The same philosophy guides our approach to credit underwriting, where AI-driven models help us process applications faster and assess risk more accurately, reducing non-performing assets. This also translates into stronger customer trust and satisfaction. Internally, we have launched DBS-GPT, a generative AI tool that speeds up routine tasks such as document handling and query resolution, enabling employees to focus on higher-value activities such as personalised advisory and strategic planning.

By operationalising AI and machine learning across areas such as fraud analytics, customer service, and credit, we are demonstrating the benefits of rapid deployment in high-impact domains. All these initiatives are guided by responsible AI practices, which form part of our PURE framework (Purposeful, Unsurprising, Respectful, Explainable), ensuring that the way we use AI and data remains transparent and ethical.

What strategies are you adopting to modernise legacy systems while maintaining operational resilience and continuity?

Modernising legacy systems is an ongoing journey, and we take a prudent, multi-pronged approach to balance innovation with continuity. Large monolithic systems are gradually being broken down into microservices, allowing us to replace or re-platform individual components while keeping core operations stable. At the same time, we are embracing hybrid cloud environments that offer both scalability and resilience, and which shorten deployment cycles without compromising stability. This approach is supported by an API-first model that encapsulates legacy functions behind modern interfaces. This makes integration with newer services seamless and protects critical systems from unnecessary changes. Strong DevOps practices, automated testing frameworks, and rollback strategies ensure every change can be implemented with confidence. In this way, we are able to innovate at speed while maintaining the operational resilience our customers rely on.

How are open banking, API ecosystems, and FinTech partnerships helping unlock new avenues for innovation and revenue growth?

Open banking and APIs represent one of the most exciting opportunities for the industry. Our open APIs allow us to collaborate with FinTechs and digital platforms in ways that embed financial services directly into customer journeys. By extending ourselves into these ecosystems, we are not only diversifying our product suite but also reaching new customer segments. The agility of FinTechs and their ability to innovate at speed complement our scale, trust, and expertise. This enables us to co-create differentiated propositions and bring them to market much faster.

In an increasingly digital world, what measures are you implementing to strengthen cybersecurity, ensure digital resilience, and maintain regulatory compliance?

As banking becomes increasingly digital, cybersecurity and resilience are non-negotiable. At DBS Bank India, we embed security from the very start, adopting a “security by design” philosophy across all builds. Advanced AI-driven monitoring tools allow us to detect and respond to threats in real time, while regular penetration testing and vulnerability assessments ensure that our defences are continually strengthened. A robust incident response framework supports this, alongside comprehensive training programmes that foster a culture of security awareness among employees.

Resilience is ensured through high-availability architecture, rigorous disaster recovery planning, and redundancy across all critical systems, so that services remain available even under challenging conditions. These safeguards are reinforced by governance structures and guided by our PURE framework.

Looking ahead, which emerging technologies do you see as most critical in transforming both operational efficiency and customer engagement?

Hyperautomation, which combines robotic process automation with AI and machine learning, is already streamlining operations and reducing manual intervention.

Generative AI has also redefined engagement, moving beyond traditional chatbots to highly personalised, interactive experiences that anticipate needs and deliver tailored solutions in real time. Edge computing is becoming increasingly important too, particularly as connected devices proliferate. By processing data closer to its source, edge technologies enable ultra-low-latency services while strengthening data privacy.

What unites all of these innovations is the role of data. Strong governance, ethical frameworks, and robust compliance structures ensure that technology delivers value in a way that is sustainable, secure, and trusted. Balancing innovation with responsibility will remain central to how we evolve and engage with customers in the years ahead.