SINGAPORE, Oct 31 ― DBS Group Holdings Ltd reported a third straight quarter of profit growth as Southeast Asia’s largest lender boosted interest income and fees from wealth management and credit cards.
Net income rose 17 per cent to S$1 billion (RM2.56 million) for the three months ended September 30 from S$862 million a year earlier, the Singapore-based bank said in an exchange statement today. That beat the S$975 million average of four analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta is seeking growth in overseas markets and from fee-generating businesses such as wealth management to counter the lowest lending margins in Southeast Asia. DBS acquired Societe Generale SA’s Asian private-banking business this year.
“Performance in wealth management and trade finance is going particularly well for them, and we expect it to continue into 2015,” Paul Dowling, principal analyst at Sydney-based bank research firm East & Partners Pty, said by phone before the results. “DBS is also tracking well in terms of deposit and lending volumes.”
Net interest income, the difference between what DBS makes on deposits and pays on loans, grew 14 per cent to S$1.6 billion, the lender said. Its net interest margin widened for the third straight quarter to 1.68 per cent from 1.6 per cent a year earlier.
The bank joined its two Singaporean rivals in reporting higher third-quarter earnings. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp said yesterday profit climbed 62 per cent to S$1.23 billion, as it absorbed loans from its Wing Hang Bank Ltd acquisition and booked a gain from a stake in a Chinese bank. United Overseas Bank Ltd’s profit rose a higher-than-estimated 19 per cent to S$866 million.
Shares of DBS gained 7.2 per cent this year in Singapore to yesterday’s close of S$18.33. The benchmark Straits Times Index advanced 2.1 per cent in 2014. ― Bloomberg
