SINGAPORE: DBS Group flagged strong business momentum after its profit rose to a record last year, cementing a recovery for Southeast Asia's largest lender as pandemic-hit economies rebound and boost loan growth and asset quality.
Singapore lenders are also expected to be big beneficiaries of rising interest rates.
"We look forward to the coming year with a prudently managed balance sheet that is poised to benefit from rising interest rates," DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said in a statement on Monday (Feb 14), adding that the bank expects mid-to-single digit loan growth or better this year, after reporting a 9 per cent increase last year.
DBS, the first Singapore bank to report this season, said net profit for October-December rose to S$1.39 billion and follows a particularly weak pandemic-hit year when profit tumbled to a three-year low in the fourth quarter.
The result however missed an average estimate of S$1.47 billion from four analysts polled by Refinitiv, and was also 18 per cent lower than the third quarter, hit by a 41 per cent drop in non-interest income.
DBS, which earns most of its profit from Singapore and Hong Kong, struck a deal last month to pay S$956 million to buy Citigroup's consumer business in Taiwan, as it shores up regional acquisitions to power growth.
The Singapore lender's full-year profit rose 44 per cent to a record S$6.8 billion as a 9 per cent growth in loans, the highest in seven years, and a surge in wealth management and transaction banking services fees offset the impact of lower interest rates.
Allowances for loan losses decreased to S$33 million in the latest quarter from S$577 million a year earlier.
Buoyed by the improved outlook for banks, investors have pushed up Singapore bank stocks this year, with DBS and smaller rival UOB trading at record highs.
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Singapore lenders are also expected to be big beneficiaries of rising interest rates.
"We look forward to the coming year with a prudently managed balance sheet that is poised to benefit from rising interest rates," DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said in a statement on Monday (Feb 14), adding that the bank expects mid-to-single digit loan growth or better this year, after reporting a 9 per cent increase last year.
DBS, the first Singapore bank to report this season, said net profit for October-December rose to S$1.39 billion and follows a particularly weak pandemic-hit year when profit tumbled to a three-year low in the fourth quarter.
The result however missed an average estimate of S$1.47 billion from four analysts polled by Refinitiv, and was also 18 per cent lower than the third quarter, hit by a 41 per cent drop in non-interest income.
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DBS, which earns most of its profit from Singapore and Hong Kong, struck a deal last month to pay S$956 million to buy Citigroup's consumer business in Taiwan, as it shores up regional acquisitions to power growth.
The Singapore lender's full-year profit rose 44 per cent to a record S$6.8 billion as a 9 per cent growth in loans, the highest in seven years, and a surge in wealth management and transaction banking services fees offset the impact of lower interest rates.
Allowances for loan losses decreased to S$33 million in the latest quarter from S$577 million a year earlier.
Buoyed by the improved outlook for banks, investors have pushed up Singapore bank stocks this year, with DBS and smaller rival UOB trading at record highs.
Continue reading...