In view of the foregoing, DBS Group Holdings announced today that it will restrict the number of attendees at the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held on31 March 2020 at 2pm and offer an option for DBS’ shareholders to watch a live webcast of its AGM online.

Due to the constantly evolving Covid-19 situation in Singapore, we may be required to change our AGM arrangements at short notice. Shareholders should check our DBS website for updates on our AGM.

Participate in the AGM via live webcast

Shareholders will be able to watch the proceedings through a live webcast via their mobile phones, tablets or computers. The webcast option will also help broaden the reach of DBS’ AGM by catering to shareholders who:

i) are unable to attend the AGM due to the requirement to keep the number of participants at the AGM to below 250;

ii) wish to watch the AGM proceedings but are concerned about the risk of Covid-19 transmission when attending large scale events;

iii) are unable to attend the AGM due to Covid-19 restriction orders; and/ or

iv) are overseas or unable to take leave to attend the physical AGM.

Shareholders are strongly encouraged to adopt this option. To do so, they will need to complete the following steps:

(a) Pre-register at the following website https://go.dbs.com/agm2020 by 2pm on 28 March 2020 to enable DBS to verify their status as shareholders. Following the verification, authenticated shareholders will receive an email by 30 March 2020. The email will contain user ID and password details, as well as the link to access the webcast of the AGM proceedings. Shareholders who do not receive an email by 30 March 2020, but have registered by the 28 March 2020 deadline should contact our share registrar, Tricor Barbinder Share Registration Services (a division of Tricor Singapore Pte. Ltd.) at (65) 6236 3550 and (65) 6236 3555.

(b) Submit proxy forms to vote: As our constitution currently does not allow shareholders to submit their votes online, shareholders who watch the webcast of the proceedings will not be able to vote online. Instead, they will have to submit a proxy form to appoint a person present at the AGM to vote.

Accordingly, shareholders who pre-register to watch the webcast live and wish to vote have to submit their proxy forms in advance and appoint “Chairman of the Meeting” as their proxy. The proxy form must be deposited at the office of our share registrar, Tricor Barbinder Share Registration Services (a division of Tricor Singapore Pte. Ltd.) at 80 Robinson Road #11-02, Singapore 068898 by 2pm on 28 March 2020.

Shareholders who held shares before 26 February 2020 would have received a hard copy of the proxy form together with the Notice of AGM. Alternatively, a copy of the proxy form can also be obtained here or from the investors’ page on the DBS website.

(c) Submit questions for the Board of Directors: Shareholders who pre-register to watch the live webcast may also submit questions related to the resolutions to be tabled for approval at the AGM via the pre-registration website at https://go.dbs.com/agm2020. All questions must be submitted by 2pm on 28 March 2020. We will endeavour to address these questions during the AGM proceedings.

Participate in the AGM in person (attendees restricted to below 250)

As we are required to restrict the number of attendees at the AGM to below 250, we will be imposing a pre-registration requirement.

Due to this restriction, we strongly encourage that shareholders who do not wish to ask questions in person at the AGM to participate via the webcast option outlined above.

Mandatory pre-registration of attendance: Shareholders who would still like to attend the AGM in person, or appoint proxies to attend the AGM in person on their behalf, have to take the following steps:

(a) you must pre-register at https://go.dbs.com/agm2020 and indicate whether you will be attending in person, or appointing a proxy to attend on your behalf:

(1) if you would like to pre-register your proxy’s attendance, you will need to separately submit a proxy form appointing that person as your proxy to our share registrar, Tricor Barbinder Share Registration Services (a division of Tricor Singapore Pte. Ltd.) at 80 Robinson Road #11-02, Singapore 068898 by 2pm on 28 March 2020;

(2) if you have already submitted a proxy form, you are still required to pre-register your proxy’s attendance online; and

(3) if you hold DBS shares under a securities sub-account with a depository agent (for example, with a nominee company), you will also need to contact your depository agent as soon as possible to appoint you as a proxy;

(b) after verification, authenticated shareholders (or their proxies) who can attend the AGM will receive an email confirmation of attendance by 30 March 2020. The email confirmation will be sent to the email submitted on the pre-registration page;

(c) on the day of the AGM, shareholders (or their proxies) who had registered online are required to bring their original NRIC/ passport and email confirmation and register their attendance at the AGM venue. Shareholders (or their proxies) who do not have the email confirmation will not be allowed entry into the AGM venue.

Pre-registration of attendance is on a “first come first served” basis. Once the limit on the number of attendees who can attend our AGM in person is reached, this will be indicated on the pre-registration website and shareholders will not be able to pre-register their (or their proxies’) attendance. Shareholders who are not able to pre-register their (or their proxies’) attendance are encouraged to register to watch the live webcast.

Other precautionary measures to be implemented at the AGM: In addition to the restriction of the number of attendees at the AGM to under 250, DBS will be undertaking the following precautionary measures to safeguard the health and well-being of shareholders (or their proxies) who are attending the AGM in person.

(a) Temperature screening/ health and travel declaration forms:
Temperature screening (in addition to the venue’s thermal monitors) and the compulsory submission of travel and health declaration forms will be required. Any shareholder/ proxy who is detected to have a fever, or is exhibiting flu-like symptoms, will be denied entry.

(b) Safe distancing measures:
Seats in the AGM venue will be placed at least 1 metre apart, and to facilitate contact tracing, we may assign seats to shareholders (or their representatives) who are in attendance. We will also have a queue management system where we will be spacing out of persons in the queue by at least 1 metre apart.

(c) No gift vouchers and refreshments:
To reduce close contact between attendees at the physical AGM, no gift vouchers, food and beverages (other than bottled water) will be provided. Instead, to give back to the community, DBS will be donating the amount that was budgeted for these items to healthcare workers at the frontline of the fight against Covid-19. As part of DBS’ continued efforts to sustainability, all used plastic bottles at the event will be collected and recycled to ensure zero waste.