Genuine curiosity, strong business acumen key to building relationships in SME banking: DBS’ Sharon Tan

[SINGAPORE] Having genuine curiosity about her customers’ businesses is key in the relationship-driven world of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) banking, said DBS’ Sharon Tan.

Tan, who took on the role of head of SME banking at the bank in April, noted that all SMEs are in different life stages, so it is crucial to understand the unique challenges of each business to create relevant solutions for them.

She also expects a strong business acumen would help – being knowledgeable in a wide variety of industries gives her a better understanding of SMEs across different sectors.

“If we are able to put ourselves in (our) customers’ shoes and think about what will help them, then we will be able to go beyond being just product-driven,” she said.

Tan said she relates to SME owners to a certain extent, given that her father owned an SME in the paper file business – a sunset industry.

“I saw how he started the business, grew the business, and then eventually thought about how he should transform it,” she said.

“There are many different stages of the life cycle that a business can be at – so I’m always curious to know which phase (a client is) at, so we know how to help them.”

Here are some excerpts of her conversation with The Business Times:

How did you end up in your role?

I started as a management associate at DBS, but my career began in POSB, which was quite different as it had a mandate of doing good. It made me think that it’s possible to do well and do good at the same time. Wherever I went next, I wanted to be in a job where I can make an impact.

After that, I went to do regional cards and consumer finance at DBS, where we tried to bank the unbanked in Indonesia and India.

Then, I moved to become the chief operating officer for Singapore, where I also tried to create programmes for the community and businesses, such as the Heartland Merchant package.

That became a nice segue to my current role in SME banking. SMEs form 99 per cent of our enterprises and a large workforce for Singapore. So it is very meaningful for me to help small businesses expand and overcome their everyday challenges.

What is a key trend that you see in your area?

It depends on the stage of the life cycle that the SME is at today. Generally, SMEs need to think about how to future-proof and transform themselves.

For example, environmental, social and governance is no longer just an option for SMEs. Business owners are telling me it’s not a choice anymore, because of consumer demands. We’re also starting to see companies become more purpose-driven.

Another key aspect would be SMEs rethinking their supply chains. We are increasingly moving away from hyper globalisation to a regional supply chain.

How does this affect your role?

Because SMEs tend to have fewer resources than large companies, this is where banks can step in to help.

For ESG, bigger companies might find it easier to be on the journey of decarbonisation, but SMEs will have more questions. This is how we created a programme to take them through the journey, step by step.

We can also help clients who are thinking about expanding beyond Singapore to other markets.

SMEs are also familiarising themselves with new digital tools. Now, it has gone beyond just going online, to looking at the different forms of online channels through which you can promote your products.

The interesting thing about SME owners is that they are very passionate about their business. So it is therefore important that we work with them, understand them and try to help them. This is the part similar to retail business, where there is a lot of heart in the business.