DBS in the Community
Our commitment to the community
At DBS, we are committed to be a caring and responsible partner in the communities in which we live and work, by making a significant positive impact on improving the quality of life. We believe in helping people to be the best they can be, so that they, in turn, help themselves achieve their goals.
As a bank that lives and breathes Asia, we recognise the importance of educating the young because they hold the key to Asia's future.
We believe each one of us can reach out to a child and help him understand his worth and believe in himself. We hope to help and empower the children of Asia so they can have a happier childhood and a brighter future.
In February 2008, in conjunction with DBS' 40th anniversary, Project 40/40 was launched to encourage staff to create, develop and execute their own community projects to benefit the children of Asia. The target was 40 projects to be completed over 40 days.
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Staff demonstrated their can-do spirit in action for the community, and in the end, the initiative had to be renamed Project 80/40 because the number of projects doubled. 80 projects were completed over 40 days with 1,300 staff touching 8,300 young lives in 11 markets. Close to SGD 200,000 was raised.
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On 1 June 2008, more than 1,000 staff and corporate partners took part in the DBS Children's Charity Run. This event raised SGD 140,000 for the Singapore Children's Society.
In another fund raising event - Hair for Hope, six staff shaved their heads and raised close to SGD 15,000 for the Singapore Children's Cancer Foundation.
Our people are passionate about supporting causes and took the initiative to take part in these events on their own accord outside work hours.
Beyond children, DBS is also supporting the growth of social entrepreneurship in Singapore. In March 2008, DBS Bank launched the DBS Social Enterprise Special Package which is specially tailored to social enterprises. This is the first of its kind in the industry and offers social enterprises preferential rates on business loans and unsecured overdrafts, as well as fee waivers for a slew of services, among other benefits.
DBS and POSB also made available our wide distribution network for Singaporeans to donate towards crisis relief efforts in 2008. In Singapore, our 900 DBS/POSB ATMs, 490 AXS stations and DBS Internet banking channels were made available for the public to donate to victims of the Cyclone Nargis and Sichuan earthquake, on 9 May and 16 May, 2008, respectively. DBS and POSB customers made more than 27,000 donations amounting to close to SGD 3.7 million and all donations were channelled to the Singapore Red Cross.
DBS also donated SGD 40,000 to the Red Cross Myanmar Cyclone Fund, while DBS Bank China (Ltd), a fully-owned subsidiary of DBS Group Holdings, contributed RMB 1 million to the China Red Cross towards disaster relief efforts for the earthquake victims.
During the Sars outbreak in 2003, and in the aftermath of the killer tsunami that devastated coastal areas across South and Southeast Asia in 2004, DBS also made available its Internet banking and ATMs to facilitate customers who wished to contribute to various funds to support the relief agencies. At that time, DBS customers contributed over SGD 1.8 million to the Singapore Red Cross' Tidal Waves Asia in less than three days after the bank opened up its self-service banking channels to facilitate public donations.
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At DBS, we believe that active community participation and business profitability complement one another.
We see an outpouring of can-do spirit in our staff - the same spirit and energy that they bring to customers and colleagues everyday - in action for the community.
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Click the links to read more about these initiatives: