# Development Bank of Singapore Founded (16 July 1968)

URL: https://allhistories.com/singapore/timeline/1968-development-bank-of-singapore-founded
Location: Shenton Way, Singapore
Themes: main-event

The government established the Development Bank of Singapore Limited on 16 July 1968, and it began operations on 1 September 1968. Its job was to assume the industrial lending role of the Economic Development Board and fund Singapore's industrialisation and the government's urban development projects. It began with S$100 million in capital, of which the government held S$48.6 million. The idea grew from a 1960 United Nations industrial survey mission, which recommended a development bank alongside an economic body to attract foreign investment. In April 1968 the finance minister, Goh Keng Swee, announced plans for a development bank with public equity participation. It was the first time the private sector was allowed to take a full part in financing manufacturing and industrial projects in Singapore. The 'DBS' abbreviation came from the bank's original name, and it adopted the name DBS Bank Limited on 21 July 2003. Its 1998 acquisition of POSBank, established in 1877 as the Post Office Savings Bank, gave it a large domestic customer base. By 2022 it reported total assets of S$743.4 billion and about 36,000 employees. At this point in the timeline (1968), Yusof Ishak, President (1965 – 1970), was head of state of the Republic of Singapore, independent since 9 August 1965; Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (5 June 1959 – 28 November 1990) led the government.

## Why it matters
DBS channelled public and private capital into industry and grew into Southeast Asia's largest bank, a symbol of the state-guided financial strategy.

Ruler at the Time: [Yusof Ishak](https://allhistories.com/singapore/rulers/yusof-ishak)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — DBS Bank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBS_Bank)
- [Wikipedia — Economy of Singapore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore)