Singapore’s biggest bank, DBS, announced a record first-quarter profit on Tuesday. It increased by 43%, which was more than anticipated from a year earlier due to an increase in net interest margin, continued business growth, and solid asset quality. However, the largest lender in Southeast Asia by assets claimed that its net interest margin had probably peaked in the first quarter and would now gradually decline. Additionally, it stated that the government’s most recent cooling measures may have some effect on housing loan bookings.
DBS Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta said in a statement, “We delivered a record performance and benefited from safe-haven deposit inflows during a quarter marked by increased market volatility.” The net profit for January through March increased from S$1.8 billion to S$2.57 billion ($1.9 billion), exceeding the mean forecast of S$2.44 billion made by the five analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. In the first quarter, return on equity increased to a record high of 18.6% from 13.1% in the corresponding quarter a year prior. It noted that a full-year return on equity will probably be higher than 17%.
DBS recorded a total net interest margin for the first quarter of 2.12%, up from 1.46% in the same time a year prior. DBS anticipated a net interest margin of 2.05% to 2.10% for the entire year. Singapore banks have benefited from a significant inflow of deposits during this period of global unrest due to their reputation as a financial haven.
lesser peer on the strength of robust net interest and non-interest income growth, United Overseas Bank reported on Thursday a 74% increase in core net profit in the first quarter compared to a year earlier. On May 10, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. releases its first-quarter financial results. DBS, which derives the majority of its revenue from Singapore and Hong Kong, issued a first-quarter dividend of 42 Singapore cents per share.
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