In an era defined by macroeconomic uncertainty, digital disruption, and geopolitical fragmentation, two of the world’s most influential banking leaders, Group Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony O. Elumelu and the newly appointed CEO of Development Bank of Singapore (DBS Bank), Tan Sushan delivered a forward-looking keynote at the Quarter Economic Forum. Their dialogue, moderated by Bloomberg’s Jennifer Zabazaja, offered penetrating insights into how global financial institutions are recalibrating for resilience, agility, and growth in a volatile economic landscape.
Tan, steering DBS through a period marked by rising interest rate differentials, inflationary pressures, and regional supply chain reconfigurations, underscored the strategic imperative of scenario-based risk management. DBS, she explained, has adopted a dynamic stress-testing framework to assess a wide range of macroeconomic outcomes, enabling the bank to maintain balance sheet integrity while enhancing client confidence. “Volatility in rates and currencies is no longer the exception—it is the operational baseline,” she said, emphasizing that monetary tightening cycles and currency realignments are now permanent features of the global financial architecture.
The Singaporean bank, a pioneer in digital banking transformation, is also responding to the de-dollarization trend. With 89% of global trade now occurring outside the United States, and intra-Asian trade flows expanding, Tan revealed that more corporates are settling transactions in alternative reserve currencies like the euro and the Chinese yuan (CNY), driven by hedging strategies and regional trade agreements. “Clients are increasingly leveraging cross-currency solutions to diversify away from USD exposure,” she noted.
For Elumelu, the African banking narrative is one of untapped potential. With UBA operating across 24 African markets, he positioned financial infrastructure development as foundational to Africa’s long-term growth and economic sovereignty. “Banking infrastructure is as critical to Africa’s renaissance as roads and power grids,” he said. His vision entails deepening domestic capital markets, building interoperable payment systems, and increasing access to retail and SME banking to unlock the continent’s latent consumer and production capacity.
Currency volatility, a perennial challenge for frontier and emerging markets, remains central to risk management strategies on both continents. Tan pointed to DBS’s proprietary digital tools like FX Secure, which allows corporate clients to lock in forward rates, reducing foreign exchange exposure during turbulent periods. “Preparedness is profitability,” she remarked, highlighting the bank’s outperforming FX and trading desks in Q1 as a case in point.
Echoing this, Elumelu maintained that exchange rate predictability—more than favorable valuation—holds the key to attracting long-term foreign direct investment (FDI). He welcomed recent stabilization efforts around the Nigerian naira, but urged policymakers to pursue systemic monetary reforms to insulate African economies from external shocks such as commodity price swings and global liquidity crunches.
On the technology front, both leaders agreed that artificial intelligence (AI) is not merely a back-office upgrade, but a transformative force reshaping customer engagement, compliance, and operational efficiency. Tan cited DBS’s use of generative AI in automating processes like trade finance documentation and contact center support, freeing up human capital for strategic decision-making and client advisory roles. “This isn’t about cost-cutting—it’s about elevating the human experience in banking,” she asserted.
Elumelu linked digital innovation to Africa’s demographic dividend, where over 700 million people are under the age of 25. He advocated for digital financial inclusion, expanded energy access, and targeted funding for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) as levers for job creation and economic empowerment. He pointed to UBA’s growing Gulf partnerships, particularly with the UAE, as successful case studies in south-south cooperation aimed at strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems.
As the session closed, both executives struck a visionary tone. Elumelu called for a shift from aid dependency to investment-led development: “Africa doesn’t need aid, it needs catalytic capital, long-term investment, and trade partnerships that respect our potential.” Tan, meanwhile, championed innovation as a natural response to global disorder: “Disruption breeds creativity. Asia’s pragmatism and Africa’s dynamism will define the future contours of global finance.”
Their shared vision reinforced a central message: that in a world of escalating complexity, the future of banking belongs to institutions that are agile, inclusive, digitally empowered, and globally connected. The Global South is no longer on the sidelines of financial transformation, it is poised to lead it.
