Singapore’s largest bank reports 37% on-year jump in second-quarter profit, beats expectations

SINGAPORE — DBS Group Holdings, the largest bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia, reported on Thursday second-quarter earnings that beat expectations as the economic recovery in its home market takes hold.

The bank’s net profit for the April-to-June quarter jumped 37% from a year ago to 1.7 billion Singapore dollars ($1.26 billion). That beat an average forecast of 1.42 billion Singapore dollars, according to analyst estimates on Refinitiv.

But compared with the previous quarter, net profit was 15% lower.

DBS shares in Singapore rose around 0.6% in early trade following the release of its financial results.

“Business momentum and asset quality have both been better than expected as the economic recovery from the pandemic takes hold,” the bank’s Chief Executive Piyush Gupta said in a statement.

“While risks remain, our pipeline remains healthy and we expect business momentum to be sustained in the coming quarters,” he added.

DBS announced a dividend of 33 Singapore cents per share for the second quarter. That’s an increase from 18 Singapore cents per share in the previous quarter after the Monetary Authority of Singapore lifted a cap on dividend payments.

Here are the other highlights from the earnings report:

• The bank’s provisions for potential loan losses fell to 79 million Singapore dollars in the second quarter, compared with 849 million Singapore dollars a year ago.
• Net interest margin, a measure of lending profitability, was 1.45% in the second quarter. That’s lower than 1.62% a year ago.
• Customer loans rose to around 397 billion Singapore dollars in the first six months of 2021, 6% higher than the same period last year.

A day before DBS released second-quarter earnings, its smaller Singaporean peers — Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank — reported financial results that beat estimates.

OCBC, Singapore’s second-largest bank, reported a 59% year-on-year increase in net profit to 1.16 billion Singapore dollars in the second quarter. UOB’s net profit for the period was around 1 billion Singapore dollars, 43% higher than a year ago.