China's common prosperity drive "good thing", says Singapore bank CEO

SINGAPORE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's common prosperity drive is a good thing that is coming at the right time, Bloomberg quoted a Singapore bank official as saying recently.

"The focus on common prosperity, how you take care of the bottom of the pyramid, that's not a bad thing. It's the right time for that," Singapore-headquartered DBS Group Holdings Ltd.'s Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta said at a virtual event on Saturday.

"We've created massive pools of inequality" globally in the last 15 to 20 years perpetuated by technology, he noted.

China's common prosperity agenda and Singapore's focus on the social safety net for the bottom of 20 percent are good things to do to achieve long-term sustainable growth, said Gupta.

He said he expects that social equity will become a greater focus of government policies and corporate agendas over the next decade.

Gupta added that applying board diversity quotas, and naming and shaming businesses that are less progressive may be necessary to make a bigger push for gender equality at companies in Singapore and across Asia.