SINGAPORE – Amid fears of an artificial intelligence bubble, much has been made of recent reports suggesting that AI has yet to generate returns for companies investing billions into adopting the tech. 

But that’s not what the chief executive of Southeast Asia’s largest bank is seeing — she says her firm is already reaping the rewards of its AI initiatives, and it’s only just the beginning. 

“It’s not hope. It’s now. It’s already happening. And it will get even better,” DBS CEO Tan Su Shan told CNBC  on the sidelines of Singapore Fintech Week, when asked about the promise of AI adoption.  

DBS has been working to implement artificial intelligence across its bank for over a decade, which helped prepare its internal data analytics for recent waves of generative and agentic AI. 

Agentic AI is a type of artificial intelligence that relies on data to proactively make independent decisions, plan and execute tasks autonomously, with minimal human oversight.

Tan expects AI adoption to bring DBS an overall revenue bump of more than 1 billion Singapore dollars (about $768 million) this year, compared to SG$750 million in 2024. That assessment is based on about 370 AI use cases powered by over 1,500 models throughout its business. 

“The proliferation of generative AI has been transformative for us,” Tan said, adding that the company was experiencing a “snowballing effect” of benefits thanks to machine learning. 

A major area in which DBS has applied AI is in its financial services to institutional clients, with AI used to collect and leverage data for clients in order to better contextualize and personalize offerings. 

According to Tan, this has resulted in “faster and more resilient” teams. The CEO believes that these uses of AI have contributed to a recent uptick in the bank’s deposit growth as compared to competitors’.

The company also recently launched a newly enhanced AI-powered assistant for corporate clients known as “DBS Joy,” which assists clients with unique corporate banking queries around the clock. 

MIT released a report in July that found 95% of 300 publicly disclosed AI initiatives, encompassing generative AI investments of $30–$40 billion, had failed to achieve real returns. 

However, at least in the banking sector, there are signs that the tides are turning. 

While DBS doesn’t differentiate spending in generative AI from other in-house investments, other major banks have recently offered this comparison. 

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stated in an interview with Bloomberg TV last month that the bank is already breaking even on its approximately $2 billion of annual investments in AI adoption. That represents “just the tip of the iceberg,” he added.

Those expectations are shared by DBS, which plans to continue to accelerate its AI development to become an AI-powered bank.

The ultimate goal, according to Tan, is for its generative AI to develop into a trusted financial advisor for clients, including retail users who are expected to interact with personalized AI agents through the DBS banking app. 

The bank already has over 100 AI algorithms that analyze users’ data to provide them with personalized “nudges,” such as alerts on incoming shortfalls, product recommendations, and other insights. 

The company has launched several AI reskilling initiatives across departments this year and has even deployed a generative AI-powered coaching tool to support these efforts. 

This will help the company automate mundane work and refocus its staff on building and maintaining human-to-human relationships with customers, rather than reducing headcount, Tan said. 

“We’re not freezing hiring, but it does mean reskilling. And that’s a journey. It’s a never-ending journey … a constant evolution.”

U.S. markets had their worst day since Oct. 10. That marks a sharp reversal for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which shed 1.65% to settle at 47,457.22, a day after it closed above 48,000 for the first time. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 lost 1.66% and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.29%.

The slump in stocks can partly be traced to a turnaround in sentiment regarding artificial intelligence. Tech behemoths such as Nvidia, Broadcom and Oracle slumped, with the last losing more than one-third in value since it rocketed 36% in September.

Investors, it seems, are growing worried over the high valuations of tech names, as well as the gigantic amount of capital expenditure they are committing to — with some, like Oracle, having to take on debt to fulfil those obligations.

Uncertainty over an interest rate cut in December is also putting a downer on Wall Street. It’s a coin toss as to whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will ease monetary policy then, according to the CME FedWatch tool. That’s a huge difference from a month ago, when traders were pricing in a 95.5% chance of a December cut.

Not having October’s employment and inflation numbers, and possibly never getting them, means the Fed lacks visibility into the state of the economy — and whether it should try to support the labor market or continue reining in inflation.

After all, flying blind makes it hard to see where you’ll land. As of now, that applies both to the Fed and investors trying to navigate the still-hazy ambitions of tech companies.

Wall Street cools on Oracle’s buildout plans as debt concerns mount: ‘AI sentiment is waning’

Two months ago, Oracle’s stock soared 36% to a record after the company blew away investors with its forecast for cloud infrastructure revenue. Since then, the company has lost one-third of its value, more than wiping out those gains.

The mood of late has turned, with investors questioning whether the AI market ran too far, too fast and whether OpenAI can live up to its $300 billion commitment to Oracle over five years. Of the big cloud companies in the GPU business, Oracle is expected to generate the least amount of free cash flow, said Jackson Ader, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

— Seema Mody

StubHub shares plunged 20% in extended trading on Thursday after the company reported quarterly results for the first time since its initial public offering in September.

Here’s how the ticket vendor did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

• Loss per share: $4.27
• Revenue: $468.1 million vs. $452 million expected

During a conference call with investors, StubHub CEO and founder Eric Baker said the company wouldn’t provide guidance for the current quarter.

Baker said that the company takes “a long term approach,” adding that the timing of when tickets go on sale can vary, making it hard to predict consumer demand. StubHub plans to offer outlook for 2026 when it reports fourth-quarter results, he said.

“The demand for live events is phenomenal,” Baker said. “We don’t see anything with consumer demand that’s any different.”

Revenue increased 8% in its second quarter from $433.8 million a year earlier, the company said.

StubHub reported a net loss of $1.33 billion, or a loss of $4.27 per share, compared to a net loss of $45.9 million, or a loss of 15 cents per share, during the same period last year. StubHub said this reflects a one-time stock-based compensation charge of $1.4 billion stemming from its IPO.

Gross merchandise sales, which represent the total dollar value paid by ticket buyers, rose 11% year over year to $2.43 billion.

The company faced tough comparisons from a year earlier, when results were boosted by Taylor Swift’s massively popular Eras Tour. Excluding that impact, StubHub said GMS grew 24% year over year.

Founded in 2000, StubHub primarily generates revenue from connecting buyers with ticket resellers. It competes with Vivid Seats, which was taken public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2021; SeatGeek; and Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment.

“We are building a truly differentiated consumer product that improves the experience for fans while unlocking better economics for venues, teams, and artists through open distribution,” Baker said in a statement. “We’re early in that journey, but our progress so far gives us great confidence in our strategy and the long-term value we’re creating.”

StubHub raised $800 million in its long-awaited IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, which came after it delayed its debut twice. The most recent stall came in April after President Donald Trump‘s announcement of sweeping tariffs roiled markets. The company restarted the process to go public in August when it filed an updated prospectus.

On Thursday, the company’s stock closed at $18.82. Shares are now down roughly 20% from the IPO price of $23.50.