DBS plans to take in more than 500 young local talent this year across its Management Associate, Internship and Traineeship programmes as AI reshapes banking work.
The intake will bring the total number brought in through these programmes to close to 1,600 between 2024 and 2026.
DBS has hired 112 Management Associates in 2026, more than double its average annual intake across 2024 and 2025.
The 12-month programme gives participants structured training, business exposure and hands-on experience across banking, operations and technology.
DBS also expects to take in more than 400 interns this year, giving students exposure to real projects and technology-led financial services.
The bank plans to recruit a similar number of trainees as last year, when it welcomed 44 fresh graduates under its six-month Graduate Industry Traineeship programme across business, support, technology and operations roles.
DBS CEO Tan Su Shan said,
“AI is enabling young graduates to learn faster, contribute earlier, and take on higher-value work from the outset.
Innovative programmes such as the Young Talent Programme for AI in Finance, shaped by DBS’ extensive experience in AI and workforce transformation, further enhance the career readiness of young graduates, and we look forward to partnering with IBF and industry partners to collectively future-proof Singapore’s banking talent pipeline.”
DBS also highlighted Clarissa Jew, a Singaporean data scientist who joined its Management Associate Programme in 2024 after graduating from Nanyang Technological University with a degree in data science and AI.
She noted that DBS’ internal AI tools, including CodeBuddy and DBS-GPT, have helped her debug code and understand business context faster, giving her more time for problem framing, experiments and solution design.
Featured image: Clarissa Jew, who joined DBS through its Management Associate Programme in 2024 and now works as a data scientist. Source: DBS.
