What does it say about DBS when it organises a hackathon to recruit 100 budding technologists?

SINGAPORE (Mar 29): It tells you something about the priorities of Southeast Asia's largest bank when it announces a hackathon to quickly recruit 100 budding technologists.

DBS Group Holdings hired the same number last year, but this year its needs are spread over a wider skill set, including user-interface design and mobile-application development, even scrum mastery, which, I understand, has nothing to do with rugby.

All banks hire techies to manage back-end applications. However, the transformation at Singapore's DBS is both customer-centric and increasingly material for investors. The return on equity from traditional, brick-and-mortar banking customers is 18% , while it's 27% for digital, according to a presentation by DBS CFO Chng Sok Hui at a Credit Suisse investment conference.

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