IT IS not every day that your phone rings and it is the chief executive of Singapore's biggest bank on the line, but that is what happened to a DBS customer recently.
"There were a couple of cases where I was actually a bit annoyed by what I saw happened to a client," says Mr Richard Stanley, now three months into his new job as CEO of DBS Group Holdings.
"I felt I had to talk to this person, so I picked up the phone and called her up."
The customer in question missed a payment because a cheque she deposited didn't get cleared in time. Three phone calls with the CEO later, they got to the root of the problem.
"It was an operating error on our part," he says ruefully. "I apologised and promised to do better. At least she had the opportunity to vent her frustration on me."
Even though he worked for 27 years in Citibank in a variety of roles, the veteran banker claims it was the first time in his career that he engaged customers so directly.
ON HIS IDEAL SINGAPORE
"My ideal Singapore is one in which we are acknowledged as the leading financial centre in Asia and, at the same time, known as a great place to live and work."
Yet according to Mr Stanley, as well as initial feedback from colleagues at the bank, this seems to be second nature to someone who comes across as Mr Popularity.
"I like talking to people and I'm a hands-on person who wants to have a good feel for the details. I can only do that by kicking the tyres myself, to a degree of course, because there're only so many hours in a day."
There's a natural effusiveness that comes across when you sit down with the new man occupying one of the hottest seats in Singapore's corporate sector.
He's 47 years old but doesn't look it. An easy charm flows from his earnest and self-effacing manner.
"You know, I still have my first Citibank performance appraisal from 1981 when I was an intern. My boss wrote, under 'Areas For Development': "Speaks with racehorse speed," he quips.
True to form, the native New Yorker whizzes through interview topics in double quick time. However, he is sometimes short on specificity, probably because he is new.
Asked whether the Singapore market is over-banked and saturated, he agrees that it is a "competitive market", but adds that "DBS has a unique advantage with its wide network and can focus on delivering better service".
On whether DBS can compete with the famous Wall Street banks in areas like investment banking, he says that the bank "has the pieces in place to compete in a wide range of areas" and singles out mid-sized companies and SMEs as areas where DBS can do more.
On what he can bring to the table after spending 27 years with Citibank, his generic reply is that he will try to bring "the best of the competition, the best of their successes and learning" - singling out risk management as an area of focus.
He lets on a little more as he talks about DBS' immediate plans for the Singapore market, including a relaunch of POSB.
Turning cautious on overseas markets in the current uncertainty and refocusing on the local market has, of late, become something of a refrain for Singapore banking chiefs. Mr Stanley is no exception.
"Coming into the job, I thought in my mind that the main opportunities were going to be in China, India, Indonesia and the other bigger markets.
"But the main surprise for me, strategically, is that we have a lot more to do in Singapore and Hong Kong, our core markets."
DBS acquired Hong Kong's Dao Heng Bank in 2001, and these two markets - Hong Kong and Singapore - now account for 90 per cent of the bank's earnings. Mr Stanley says he is "okay" with maintaining this status quo for a while.
On Singapore, he says DBS has a "very special position", which cannot be taken for granted.
"We need to respect our clients here and although we've been doing a good job, I think we can do better. We need to be strong at home before we can be strong abroad."
He talks enthusiastically about relaunching POSB, dubbed "the People's Bank" by many Singaporeans.
ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE SUB-PRIME CRISIS
"There've been several upticks in the market but we are still in a crisis. And the impact on the US economy is something that Asia cannot look beyond. I still think it's too early to sort out what the lessons are. That time will come but, in the meantime, I am flabbergasted as to what has happened."
He says he has "pleasant memories" of going down to the POSB branch every year after Chinese New Year with his Singaporean wife and two stepchildren to deposit the hongbao money they had collected into their passbook accounts.
"I want to make sure that young Singaporeans have a similar sort of feeling towards POSB when they think about their financial lives."
He dismisses the notion, espoused by some of his predecessors, that POSB accounts aren't worth focusing on because they contain low balances.
"It's a bit of a misnomer that it's only the low balance accounts that are POSB. Everyone has a POSB account, both rich and poor customers.
"There's a business impact and there's an emotional impact that we can create by relaunching and celebrating this brand," he concludes, adding that Singaporeans can expect from all of this "an enhanced focus on customer service".
But he also stresses that a renewed emphasis on Singapore and Hong Kong does not detract from the bank's ambitions in overseas markets.
He names Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia as growth markets for the bank, and chooses his words carefully when asked about China, where he spent the last eight years as Citibank's country head.
Mr Stanley was such a big hit in China that in 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Magnolia Gold Award by the municipal government of Shanghai in recognition of his services to the city.
And in 2002, he was named by financial magazine The Banker (China) as one of the 10 key individuals in China's financial services sector, the only foreigner to receive this recognition.
"China is a tremendous opportunity, but it's a difficult market," says the banker, whose greatest disappointment is that he did not pick up Mandarin in the eight years he was there.
"A phrase I often used, especially in the early years, was that in China, nothing is possible but actually everything is possible."
He reiterates that DBS' growth strategy there will be "organic", meaning that the bank will grow the business over time with the branches and licences that it obtains.
This is opposed to an acquisitions route, where DBS takes over a local bank or buys a strategic stake in one.
"I don't think it's feasible in the foreseeable future to control a local bank," he explains.
As for taking a stake in a Chinese bank, as some of his Singapore rivals have done, Mr Stanley says that is a good move if it is a purely financial investment.
But he adds that it is "always a challenge" to find the strategic benefits of such a tie-up.
"I think the Chinese have done a very good job in recent years in reforming their banking system. The major reason for that is that they've done a great job internally," he says.
"When you look back to 2002 or 2003 at the way the Chinese banks were then and compare that with what they are today, it's unthinkable how quickly they've become the largest banks in the world by market capitalisation.
"That, combined with the regulatory system, means that there is a lot of pride. It tells me that China will always find its own way. It will seek help from outside but in terms of handing over the keys, I don't see that in the future."
He is equally emphatic when you ask his opinion about the current financial turmoil in global banking.
"This is the worst crisis I've seen, certainly in my career. And if you look back in economic history, it's one of the worst crises since World War II," he says.
"The amount of imbalances and wealth that is being destroyed in these markets is monumental, and I think we have quite a way to go before the crisis is over."
ON OFFICE CULTURE IN SINGAPORE
"There is a high degree of formality in this organisation that I'm not used to. The day when my secretary calls me by my first name, I will have accomplished something. I'm not used to being called Mr Stanley. You need a certain degree of formality obviously running a place of this size but my style is very informal. You have to have a few laughs during the day and enjoy yourself."
He adds that he does not for a moment believe that Asia has decoupled from the United States economy and will do well on its own.
"I think globalisation has made the world's economies more integrated, so the economic challenges in the US will have an impact. We already see it in China where the demand for its exports has come down."
Still, he is upbeat about taking over and steering the bank through what seems to be troubled days ahead.
"I believe in times like these, you get the greatest opportunities to differentiate yourself to clients," he says.
The father of three stiffens with pride when he is asked about his family's reaction to his appointment.
The son of a civil engineer father and a housewife, who grew up in Long Island, New York, pauses for a moment, then says quietly: "My family was very proud - both my family here and my family back in the US."
"It was an unmitigated 'yes'. This job? There was no doubt that I wanted it and was going to take it. And I'm very happy to be here."
Mr Stanley is, of course, no stranger to Singapore. He was briefly Citibank's country officer here back in late 2004 for five months, but his real romance with the Republic started 18 years ago when he was posted here on his first-ever overseas posting.
By then, he had been with Citibank for several years after graduating from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1982 with a BA in Economics.
Based at UIC Building in Shenton Way as head of the US bank's financial institutions group, he noticed a girl working across the street in an advertising firm whenever he walked out for lunch.
One day, he approached Ms Koh Li Peng, a former model and beauty queen (Miss Singapore in 1984 and Mrs Singapore in 1988). A few years later, she became his wife.
When the local media found out about his appointment, they focused on his famous other half. Mr Stanley says the attention took both of them by surprise.
"My wife is a private person. She wasn't that comfortable with the coverage and she really doesn't seek to be in the spotlight," he says.
But he perks up considerably when asked about their three children aged 19, 18 and six.
"My kids have got their own thing going on. I have to say this: I'm very proud of them. My eldest boy is in national service, Officer Cadet School. In fact, just this morning he came back from a training tour in Taiwan.
"My daughter is going to Boston next month to university and my little boy's six."
Mr Stanley admits to being a workaholic. He puts in long workdays but draws the line at going to the office on weekends.
"I'd rather be sitting in my home working on the computer, reading papers or writing e-mail with my children around," he says.
"The younger boy likes to be around me. I think if you can work and still be within physical sight of someone you love, then it's a good thing."
The 14-handicapper plays golf every weekend with friends he made here 18 years ago on the golf course - pals who have no business connection to him at all.
It's part of a familiar tableau he says he always knew he would return home to.
"Settle here? I hope so. That was always in my plan. Long before DBS became apparent to me as a place for me to work, I had planned to come back here at some point.
"I feel like this is home. How does a person define home? To me it's having friends who know you very well. Knowing a place, feeling very comfortable in it and having life experiences here."
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Aug 13, 2008.
