Singapore: The largest banks in Singapore, DBS Group, posted a 2 % increase in fourth quarter net profit, surpassing aspirations, and maintained advice for net interest income for 2024 at levels similar to those of last year.
Our company abilities will put us in great place to maintain our performance in the upcoming season, DBS Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta said in a statement, “while interest levels are expected to loosen and political tensions persist.”
According to the slides that go along with his results, Gupta anticipated return on equity ( ROE ) to be 15 % to 17 % for this year and fee income growth at double digits in addition to maintaining net interest income at roughly 2023 levels.
A crucial profitability indicator, the full-year net interest margin ( NIM), is anticipated to be slightly lower than the fourth quarter NIM of 2.13 percent.
Due to higher interest rates, Singapore’s businesses, the largest in Southeast Asia, are predicted to report higher earnings for the third quarter. However, growth speed is expected to decrease as central banks turn toward price reductions and turbulent markets weigh on the money sector.
According to DBS, the first Singaporean lender to report this earnings season, a 9 % increase in total income caused the net profit for the months of October and December to increase to S$ 2.39 billion ( US$ 1.78 billion ) from S$ 2.34 billion earlier.
According to LSEG data, this exceeded the median estimate of S$ 2.37 billion provided by four experts.
A last dividend of 54 cents per share and a one-for-ten extra matter were proposed by DBS, the largest banks in Southeast Asia.
The NIM increased from 2.05 percent a year earlier to 2.13 percent during the third.
Full-year annual income increased by 26 % to S$ 10.3 billion from S$ 8.19 billion in 2022. Return on equity increased to a record high of 18 % from 15 , or 1 %, the previous year.
Despite record 2023 gains to explain a number of digital disruptions during the year, the company’s CEO and other team management committee members ‘ variable compensation was collectively cut by 21  from the past year.
According to DBS’s statement, Gupta received a deeper cut of 30 %, or S$ 4.14 million.