DBS is the first bank in Southeast Asia to run cloud native applications on Pivotal Cloud Foundry

DBS Bank is stepping up its digital transformation journey and accelerating innovation for over 6 million customers through a collaboration with Pivotal, the company accelerating digital transformation for enterprises. DBS is the first bank in Southeast Asia to run cloud native applications on Pivotal Cloud Foundry, progressing from traditional legacy systems to a scalable, flexible environment.

Through the adoption of Pivotal’s cloud platform, DBS will have the foundation to innovate at a speed and velocity primarily associated with Internet giants such as Google, Facebook and Netflix. More specifically, by leveraging Pivotal Cloud Foundry in its banking architecture transformation, DBS will be able to operate and deliver services to its customers rapidly, as well as update apps and services with new features that will evolve with customer needs.

Said DBS Head of Group Technology and Operations David Gledhill: “Like many traditional industries, the banking sector is being disrupted by agile startups and fintech companies that are delivering a differentiated experience to customers. To compete effectively against these new entrants, DBS must have the ability to be responsive to customers. Pivotal Cloud Foundry gives us the software platform to think and act like a technology company and innovate at startup speeds.”

The built-in automation of Pivotal’s cloud platform also means DBS can now focus on delivering differentiated value, instead of being caught up with systems management and IT resource procurement. As a start, DBS is leveraging the Pivotal solution to build next-generation credit risk management systems and funds transfer pricing systems for the bank, among other systems.

The move to adopt the cloud platform for application development underlines DBS’ commitment to digitally transform its operations from the front office to backend processes, advancing its march to become a software company. As part of the collaboration, Pivotal is also working with DBS to equip the bank’s application development team with the next-generation software development services of Pivotal Labs, entrenching the culture of software innovation, usually associated with Silicon Valley’s most influential companies, right in the heart of a Singapore-headquartered bank.

“The banking industry has long been saddled with legacy systems that can hinder the speed of innovation,” said Lionel Lim, Vice President and Managing Director, APJ, Pivotal. “DBS is a progressive bank that is laying the right foundation to digitally transform their operations to innovate like a software company.”