DBS (Development Bank of Singapore)

[theasiareport]

Working on a series of articles that teach investors how to run through the financials of banks which work quite differently from normal companies.

Singapore Bank Series (UOB,OCBC,DBS) How do banks really make money? 

[cyclone]

DBS posts record profit on lending gains, raises bar for Singapore banks

By Anshuman Daga
APRIL 29, 2019 / 7:16 AM

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Southeast Asia’s biggest lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd beat market estimates to post a record quarterly profit, as strong lending income offset weakness in wealth management, brokerage and investment banking fees.

DBS, the first Singapore bank to kick off the sector’s results, posted an 8.5 percent rise in first-quarter net profit from a year earlier, and said the macro-economic environment had stabilized.

“By and large, I’m relatively sanguine about the business momentum,” CEO Piyush Gupta told a news conference. DBS maintained its forecast of mid-single-digit loan growth for this year and stable net interest margins, a key gauge of profitability.

The lender’s shares advanced 2.8 percent to their highest since June 2018, outperforming a 0.9 percent rise in the broader market.

“Overall, core driver was in line with expectations, we expect similar trends for peers as well,” Jefferies analyst Krishna Guha said in a report. “We were positively surprised by strength in trading gains,” he said.

United Overseas Bank reports results on May 3 followed by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp a week later.

DBS reported a net profit of S$1.65 billion ($1.21 billion) for the three months to end-March, up from S$1.52 billion a year earlier and an average estimate of S$1.48 billion from four analysts, according to Refinitiv I/B/E/S.

After three years of strong loans growth, Singapore’s banks are gearing up for tougher times as the city-state’s export-reliant economy slows.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dbs-r...S5009?il=0

See also :
1. https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/1Q19_perf...eID=556573
2. https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/1Q19_pres...eID=556576
3. https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/1Q19_CFO_...eID=556574
4. https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/1Q19_CEO_...eID=556575

[Dosser]

DBS and DBS-Vickers sites were not operating at the start of trading this morning due to 'technical issues'. They had a scheduled maintenance yesterday and looks as if they have not managed to get their sites properly up and running again in time for the start of trading, which is very frustrating and could lose a good bit of money for those of us locked out of the market by failure of the trading platforms.  Trading is going on on SGX, so looks as if the problem is at DBS end, rather than SGX. Not impressed- wondering if it is time to switch to a more competent organisation? What are other valuebuddies experience of IT failures on other platforms?

[Porkbelly]

Hi Dosser

Yes, am facing the same here. Using DBS-Vickers platform.
Am not happy with their site.
Told them previously about inability to view the entire page ( using Firefox browser ) and
they claim no issue on their end.

I think I will drop them and use others..

[dreamybear]

DBS must bulk up or lose fintech turf in S-E Asia
Sat, Oct 05, 2019 - 5:50 AM

SOUTH-EAST Asia's largest lender happens to be its most tech-savvy. Why then is Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd missing out on some of the region's hottest deals in digital banking?.....

The No 1 challenger is Citigroup.

This week, the US bank won the mandate to issue the first co-branded credit card for South-east Asian e-commerce. Alibaba Group Holding's Lazada operates online stores in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Back in June, ride-share behemoth Grab Holdings announced a similar card partnership. That, too, was snagged by Citi.

This matters intensely. The Internet economy in South-east Asia, a region of nearly 650 million people, is on track to exceed US$100 billion this year before tripling by 2025, according to research released Thursday by Alphabet Inc's Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Co Financing.....

DBS has less than S$24 billion in assets in South and South-east Asian markets - mainly comprising Indonesia, India and Malaysia's offshore financial centre at Labuan....

Read more : https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion...n-s-e-asia

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Investors 'have little choice' but to go to stocks: DBS
Published Oct 4, 2019, 11:57 am SGT

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Stocks still look particularly attractive in a world of ultra-low bond yields, according to South-east Asia's largest bank DBS Group Holdings.

Equities are a better risk-reward play than bonds, which are looking expensive after this year's big rally, chief investment officer Hou Wey Fook wrote in his fourth-quarter asset allocation report. He recommends dividend shares and gold as well as hybrid European AT1 securities.....

Dividend stocks are favoured as bond proxies because "the constant dividend stream acts as a volatility dampener", Mr Hou wrote. He likes Singapore real-estate investment trusts, large China banks and European oil majors, he said......

Read more : https://www.straitstimes.com/business/ba...stocks-dbs

[karlmarx]

From a broad valuation perspective, stocks are still alright. But whether you make money or not depends on your strategy.

Diversifying widely through low-cost funds that replicate indicies, and making periodic purchases (i.e. DCA), is probably the safest strategy, requiring least effort, to provide above interest/inflation returns.

For the 'active-conservative investors,' building a very diversified portfolio of Graham-type cheap stocks is also safe and rewarding. Part of the reason that people do not experience success - and hence dismiss Graham-type stocks -- is that they over-weight such stocks in their portfolio. Another reason is that the Graham-type stock they bought isn't really as undervalued as they think it is. If you can fill your portfolio with 20 different stocks that are like hupsteel (before it was bought out) -- undoubted undervaluation, consistent dividends, conservative business/management -- you should do quite well. But probably only slightly better than an index.

For the 'active-aggressive investors' who build their portfolio based on concentrating individual picks, it should be recognised that this is one of the most dangerous and difficult ways of building wealth. Since the GFC, there has been market corrections on the broad general level, the specific industry level, and the individual stock level. Every correction has taken out a particular segment of investors who are over-exposed to certain sectors. This is followed by new investors entering the market, and over-exposing themselves to another seemingly promising sector. Which of course, is followed by a correction that wipes them out. And then new investors emerge again, going into the next sector. And it goes on and on.

Somehow, the market always wipes out the sectors that are crowded. It is almost like a curse. And as much as investors remind themselves that they need to be contrarian to succeed, they cannot help but gather in the crowds to feel secure.

Aspiring 'active-aggresive investors' should do some research on the successes/failures of those who have attempted the same thing, before jumping in.

[dydx]

What is DBS's exposure to Hong Kong? Now that Hong Kong is in such a mess, business confidence and the sense of ownership/belonging of its residents can only go down further. Property prices will fall, and many companies - especially SMEs - will fold. It is inevitable that banks with a significant credit exposure and branch network will suffer losses on their mortgage lending and when the commercial borrowers can't repay their loans.

[dreamybear]

Hong Kong protestors set big fire to DBS Bank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gnuh03nd24

As a Singaporean who passes by DBS branches quite frequently in SG, it looks so surreal to see this happening.

[Squirrel]

Hong Kong protestors set big fire to DBS Bank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gnuh03nd24

As a Singaporean who passes by DBS branches quite frequently in SG, it looks so surreal to see this happening.

I believe they came out to clarify it’s the neighboring unit that was on fire.

[D123]

First Grab, now Razer.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...illennials

https://www.zdnet.com/article/grab-singt...k-licence/

Not enough has been discussed about digital banks and their potential challenge to incumbent banks. Even if they are unlikely to be major disruptors to incumbent banks' businesses (due to brand power, network effects, inertia etc.), they will definitely steal some of the future growth in the sector due to their ability to structure a banking business that better fits existing consumer trends and regulations without all the legacy issues. This often means lower operating costs with the additional cost savings passed on to customers. One to watch.