(6 February 2018 – Singapore) DBS has posted earnings of S$1.19 billion (A$1.14 billion) for the fourth quarter, up 31 percent from the previous year.
The Singaporean bank’s total income grew 10 percent to S$3.06 billion, while net interest income rose 15 percent to S$2.1 billion.
Excluding one-time items – mainly from integration costs of ANZ's wealth management and retail banking business – net profit would have grown 33 percent to S$1.22 billion.
In a statement, DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta said the results were a testament to the quality of the bank's multiple business engines and the nimbleness of its execution.
“We enter the coming year with sustained momentum across our businesses and, more fundamentally, in our digital transformation,” he said. “The significant increase in dividends reflects the quality of our earnings, the strength of our balance sheet and the improved returns we are generating for shareholders.”
For the fourth quarter, the bank halved its amount of total allowances to S$225 million, saying that residual weak oil and gas support service exposures have been dealt with in the previous quarter.
Its non-performing loan rate was unchanged at 1.7 percent from the previous quarter.
Gupta told reporters that he sees the deep exploration sector to be structurally impaired and that it is unlikely oil prices will hit US$80 a barrel.
But the bank will not exit the oil and gas space, and remains actively participating in restructuring, he added.
For the full year, DBS recorded a three percent growth in net profit including one-time items to S$4.37 billion.