Our Fortune colleagues in Asia have a new ranking out today: 2025’s Most Powerful Women Asia. Some of these leaders appeared on the 2025 global MPW list—like Asia’s No. 1, DBS CEO Tan Su Shan, who ranked No. 6 on the global list in May. This is our second-ever edition of Asia’s MPW ranking.
Tan is the first woman to lead Southeast Asia’s largest bank. In a new interview with Fortune‘s Clay Chandler, she dives into the challenges of AI, crypto, and geopolitics. “You better buckle up,” she’s told her workforce of this tumultuous year.
Some context from Clay: “DBS, originally the Development Bank of Singapore, was established by the government of Singapore in 1968, three years after the city-state declared its independence from Malaysia, and was tasked with providing long-term financing for industrial and infrastructure projects deemed crucial to Singapore’s survival.” The bank now has 38,000 employees, operates in 19 countries, and manages assets of more than $600 billion.
Tan, for her part, started her banking career at Morgan Stanley’s Singapore office after earning her degree from Oxford University in politics, philosophy, and economics. She focused on investment banking and wealth management and later joined Citi Private Bank, where she rose quickly to become head of private banking for Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei and gained a reputation as one of Asia’s savviest private bankers.
DBS became Asia’s top private bank under her leadership—and now she’s in charge of the whole thing.
It’s no surprise Tan ranks No. 1 among Asia’s female business leaders. And, thrillingly, she’ll be joining us at the annual MPW Summit in Washington, D.C. next week—stay tuned for more on that.
Tan is followed on the MPW Asia list by Luxshare CEO Grace Wang, Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou, and HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan. Explore the full list of 100 leaders here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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PARTING WORDS
"Challenge what has been because just because it's there doesn't mean it can't change."
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