Private Inspiration: Q&A with Audra Seah of DBS Bank
Our Private Inspiration series recognizes and celebrates the triumphs of women in the world of private banking.
In this edition, we speak to Audra Seah, DBS Bank’s Managing Director and Head of Investment Advisory & Capital Market Products, Wealth Management Group.
“We should always keep an open mind when it comes to different opinions, beliefs and backgrounds. If we overvalue similarity, we limit ourselves to only what we know.”
Career
Current role
As the Head of Investment Advisory and Capital Markets Products, I look after a team of investment counselors, specialist advisers and product managers. Under the Wealth Management Group, our team of investment advisers serve clients in 3 different wealth segments: Private Bank, Treasures Private Client and Treasures. On the Capital Market Products team, we have analysts, product specialists and dealing staff, who support the relationship managers and investment advisors in providing investment recommendations and solutions, as well as execution services to our clients.
I enjoy working in this dynamic environment, where we have the opportunity to interact with a good variety of people. Besides clients, we work with various internal partners as well as external counterparts providing financial products and services. Increasingly, we have also been engaging more with counterparts providing technology solutions. It has been a continuous learning journey, as different people would share different knowledge and insights
Career highlights
Over my years in the industry, I have come up against many challenging episodes. Those moments can feel very daunting and difficult. But all the tough situations that I have managed to overcome were highlights in my career, as I have gained newfound strength and tenacity.
Career lowlight
One of the hardest periods was during the Lehman crisis in 2008. As advisors to our clients, there is a lot of ownership and responsibility attached to our roles, and it’s sometimes hard to distance ourselves emotionally when we see how they’re affected. We stayed closely by our clients throughout the crisis and thankfully survived it, which is a victory in itself – what doesn’t kill us can only make us stronger.
Personal
Out of office
I usually enjoy traveling! My family and I love to go on skiing holidays, but with the pandemic, we haven’t had the chance. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll get the opportunity to visit the slopes this year. In the meantime, while we are still stuck in Singapore, we have picked up cycling at East Coast Park.
Lockdown wind-down strategy
I know of many friends who learned how to cook and bake at home, but I’m terrified of the kitchen! Instead, I experimented by ordering lots of different types of food and sending recommendations to my different chat groups. It was a good way to keep in touch and stay connected.
During the 2 months of lockdown, I subscribed to Netflix so that we can have some form of entertainment as a family. I must have watched more TV in those 2 months than in the last 5 years!
One personal objective this year
I would like to organize my time better. The work-from-home life has been a good change and actually allows quite efficient use of time, but it also distorted my schedule and intertwined work life with home life. I hope to disentangle and delineate between the two.
Outlook
Response to the COVID-19 crisis
I guess we have all started to get in touch with our softer side. Besides focusing on our business deliverables, we were all concerned about the wellbeing of our staff and tried to maintain strong connectivity even as physical interaction was limited.
Trends this year
Sustainability and digitalization are probably two of the biggest trends to watch! Both have really come to the fore amidst the pandemic, which not only disrupted our old way of life, but also made us more aware of the social issues in our midst and rethink what role we can play in addressing these. These are strategic pillars for the bank as well, and we’ve been committed to continually upping the ante on these fronts over the years.
Greatest opportunities this year
Whilst we have seen our clients shifting towards digital over the years, COVID-19 has greatly accelerated this trend and we continue to see high adoption and usage of our digital services today. This means digital will only continue to play an increasingly important role in how we engage and advise our clients.
We see digital as a key pillar in our value proposition and moving forward, we will continue to invest in enhancing our digital capabilities and tools, and provide our clients with even better experiences.
The role of technology
We embarked on our digital transformation journey years ago – apart from investing significantly in strengthening our digital capabilities across the front, middle and back end, we also continually enhance DBS iWealth, an ‘always-on’ platform for our clients to monitor and manage their portfolios digitally.
These ongoing efforts really paid off when COVID-19 emerged and disrupted traditional ways of working, as we were well-equipped to pivot nimbly and continue serving our clients effectively. Whilst technology always has a key role in how we engage and service clients, its value is especially clear during such times of uncertainty when clients need ease of access to their portfolios, and the reassurance that their RMs are on-hand for continued support and timely advice.
Inspiration
How banking can drive inclusivity
It’s all about awareness and perception, which have improved over the years. The level of open-mindedness has also grown with each generation, and the workplace has definitely become more inclusive.
When I first started working in the banking industry, there were far fewer women in senior roles. However, things have changed – many women have since managed to make their mark, challenging traditional gender biases with their achievements and creating more opportunities for aspiring young career women. Today, it’s not at all uncommon to see women holding senior positions. In fact, here at DBS, women comprise 50% of our workforce, 40% of our senior management, and run some of our largest businesses and key functions across the bank.
How individuals, companies, and society can drive change
We should always keep an open mind when it comes to different opinions, beliefs and backgrounds. If we overvalue similarity, we limit ourselves to only what we know. Within my team, I have a number of people of different nationalities and ethnic groups. Diversity has broadened our perspective, allowing us to learn from one another. We can only bring the best talent into our organization if we embrace diversity.
Advice for your younger self
Treat school with more focus. That’s the best, most important time of your life, and I wish I had put in more effort in my studies.
I haven’t been too adventurous where my career is concerned. Maybe I could have taken more risks when I was younger and tried something totally different. Now I would never find out what I could have missed.
The information and opinions expressed herein reflect the opinion and views of the interviewee at the time of writing; they are not necessarily representative of the views of DBS Bank.
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