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A talk by DBS Bank CEO Piyush Gupta with a room full of Indian bank employees recently circulated online to highlight the issue of the concentration of foreign professionals in banks, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
It was first posted on a Facebook page last September, and was titled “Eyesight Test: Find a Singaporean or Chinese in this DBS photo,” suggesting the bank favored foreigners over Singaporeans here, added PM Lee.
Describing it as “fake news,” he said the photo was taken in India, where the bank had opened a new office. It was taken in Mumbai in September 2017.
“The image recently resurfaced and went viral, which just shows that during tough times, this topic is more nerve-racking,” said PM Lee.
“This past September was a different world. A lot of people got offended, they got nervous and berated DBS, they set them on fire.”
He said: “The person who posted the message surely knew it, but he irresponsibly misused the wefie to imply that DBS in Singapore was not being fair to Singaporeans.”
Even then, PM Lee added, the damage was done. He noted that with the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the economy and professionals, managers, executives and technicians facing greater uncertainty in their jobs, the issue of the number of foreign professionals in particular industries can easily be played.
“We know that there are some people who are causing this,” he said.
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