By Rthvika Suvarna | Updated on Oct 12, 2026 at 11:08 AM
The market is repricing the risks around investments related to the buildup of artificial intelligence that could lead to more discipline in financing, according to DBS Group Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Tan Su Shan.
“The market has spoken,” Tan said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday. “It’s not a bad thing because now, people are asking for higher returns, and people are also looking at structures. They’re making sure that whatever money is now being hoovered into the whole AI capex ecosystem will lead to some kind of long-term ROI that can then be repaid back to debt or bond or equity holders.”
Tan, who leads Southeast Asia’s biggest lender, said weaker firms may see their credit ratings revised downwards, though this risk repricing is “healthy” as the market wants to make sure that big financial commitments are sustainable.
Her comments come as technology giants spend billions on AI, and as market gains concentrate in a handful of stocks. Interest rates are rising and bond yields around the world have surged to the highest in decades, increasing the cost of funding the enormous investment needed to build AI infrastructure. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP estimates Asia’s spending on data centers could reach $8.2 trillion by 2050.
DBS has originated about S$25 billion ($20 billion) of AI deals this year, often as lead manager on syndicated loans and has held only a fraction of that, Tan said. The financing is mostly for hardware, from semiconductors and memory chips to data centers, she added.
Tan has made AI key to her strategy since taking the helm in March last year. The Singapore-based bank is starting to see results from large AI projects that are underway to overhaul its work flows and processes, and these include fee growth and new accounts being opened at a faster pace, she said on the sidelines of DBS’ conference that focused on key topics like AI and geopolitics.
At the same event, Broadcom Inc. CEO Hock Tan said the AI boom has attracted investors whose strategies resemble those of gamblers · , suggesting some of them have little understanding of what they’re betting on. TikTok Inc. CEO Shou Chew said there needs to be better understanding of the cybersecurity risks · posed by AI.
Chew’s comments were echoed by Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong who flagged the risk that “we may lose control of this technology” and that “rogue agents, rogue actors may cause terrible harm with it.”
“What are our non-negotiables?” Wong said at the DBS conference. “Number one: safety and security. We will never compromise critical systems and sensitive information.”
The premier said that “some retrenchments may happen” as a result of companies embracing technology and said the government will continue to offer programs to support affected workers. Still, he added that “if AI accelerates at such a pace that it causes massive global unemployment, I don’t think the world can continue like that.”
Read More: Singapore’s Wong Warns AI Tech Rally Faces Eventual Correction
Both Wong and Tan also spoke about the war in the Middle East. Wong said many countries including Singapore have been more resilient than expected in dealing with the disruptions to energy supplies. Tan said the conflicts in the Middle East and involving Russia were escalating at a pace that has become worrying.
“Frankly, I find it exhausting just to look at so much tension and so much stress in the system,” she said.
Separately, the DBS CEO said the wealth management business has long term structural tailwinds as Asia creates more wealth, the capital markets deepen and intergenerational wealth transfer happens. While market swings will affect flows in the short term, net new money growth has been “consistently strong,” she added.