Boards should ‘preset’ instead of reset: Keppel chairman Piyush Gupta
Keppel Corporation Bhd non-executive chairman Piyush Gupta urged directors to return to their core role as long-term value stewards rather than overhaul boards in response to tighter regulations and rising risk…
Source: The Business Times Singapore · August 28, 2026 at 10:31 PM · AI-assisted report
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SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA, MIDDLE EAST, 29 AUGUST 2026 —
Keppel Corporation Bhd non-executive chairman Piyush Gupta urged directors to return to their core role as long-term value stewards rather than overhaul boards in response to tighter regulations and rising risk complexity.
Market Impact
Speaking at the Singapore Institute of Directors’ annual conference on Aug 28, Gupta said a board’s primary duty is to create shareholder value, although it may also serve broader stakeholders. “The board is an agent to the shareholder, and their job is to steward the company for creating shareholder value,” he told the fireside session moderated by SID treasurer Ooi Huey Tyng.
Regulatory demands have swollen board papers—especially in banking, where audit and risk committee reports can reach 1,000 pages—making it harder for directors to focus on what matters, he said. Gupta recalled joining the DBS board years ago and finding Middle East exposure losses buried in dense reports, prompting him to require management to distill information into executive summaries. “I never wanted any director to say ‘we did not know’,” he said.
Gupta also stressed that boards must foster an “open the kimono” culture so management feels safe highlighting key issues. He and DBS chairman Peter Seah built trust through offsites that included spouses and families, a practice that initially drew scepticism but later encouraged candid dialogue. “If you want an environment where everybody is honest, you have to feel you are in a circle of friends,” he said.
On board composition, Gupta argued that skills should match company needs rather than quotas. “It’s not just ‘did you have three women on the board?’” he said. Domain expertise and serving executives with current operating experience—such as Schneider Electric CEO Olivier Blum on the Keppel board—are critical, he added. Directors must also keep learning, he said, because deep expertise can quickly become outdated.
DBS CEO Tan Su Shan echoed the point on agility, warning that strategies set a year ago may need to pivot quickly. CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust chairman Teo Swee Lian said boards should look beyond individual silos to consider diversified business lines and geographies so one “engine” under strain does not stall the enterprise.