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Tag: DBS

  • DBS Issues First SORA-Based Loan for Agribusiness Industry

    DBS Issues First SORA-Based Loan for Agribusiness Industry

    This is the industry’s first SORA loan coupled with an interest rate swap, which provides certainty of interest rates.

    DBS has issued a $200 million ($146.4 million) loan to agribusiness group Wilmar International –  the agribusiness industry’s first corporate loan agreement pegged to the Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA), the bank announced on Thursday.

    The loan facility’s interest rate, which references SORA, comprises a compounded daily SORA rate calculated in arrears and an applicable margin.

    Charles Loo, Wilmar chief financial officer, said the loan will put the company in good stead to ride the wave of interest rate reforms and drive better understanding and greater adoption of risk-free rates in general, which is more stable and robust.

    SORA is a transaction-based interest rate benchmark underpinned by the SGD overnight interbank funding market. To determine the interest rate of a SORA-based loan facility, the daily SORA rates are compounded in arrears and the interest rate is determined by the end of the relevant interest period.

    Singapore plans to shift away from the SGD Singapore Interbank Offered Rates (SIBOR) in three to four years and adopt SORA as the new interest rate benchmark for the Singapore Dollar cash and derivatives market, saying this will bring more transparent loan market pricing for borrowers and more efficient risk management for lenders.

    The SORA IRS demonstrates DBS’ commitment to increase liquidity in SORA-derivatives, Andrew Ng, DBS group head, Treasury & Markets, said. This will allow clients like Wilmar to continue to hedge their loan exposures and facilitate a smoother transition into the new benchmark.

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  • DBS Finances Floating Solar Farm

    DBS Finances Floating Solar Farm

    The bank is the sole financier for one of the world’s largest inland floating solar photovoltaic systems to date. DBS Bank has provided a $40 million loan facility to Sembcorp Industries to build a 60 megawatt-peak (MWp) floating solar photovoltaic (PV) system on Tengeh Reservoir in Tuas, Singapore, the bank announced on Thursday.

    The reservoir, scheduled to begin full commercial operations in 2021, covers an area of around 32 hectares and will generate enough energy to power about 16,000 four-room HDB flats, offsetting about 32 kilotons of carbon emissions annually, which equivalent to taking approximately 7,000 cars off the roads.

    As part of its transition to a low-carbon economy, Singapore aims to achieve a solar target of at least 2 gigawatt-peak (GWp) by 2030. With this project, Sembcorp will be one of the largest renewable energy players in Singapore with approximately 240 MWp of solar capacity in the country.

    Enabling renewable energy financing is at the core of DBS’ agenda and is one of the key tenets of our sustainability strategy, Lim Wee Seng, DBS Bank’s head of Energy, Chemicals, and Infrastructure, said about the investment.

    DBS seeks to differentiate itself in renewables financing – capturing financial advisory opportunities so we shape and influence early, Lim said.

    The bank was previously an advisor for Taiwan’s largest floating solar project and also Taiwan’s largest ground-mounted solar project, and earlier this year garnered four new advisory mandates across solar, wind and geothermal assets in Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

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  • DBS to Train Staff in AI and Machine Learning

    DBS to Train Staff in AI and Machine Learning

    The bank hopes to equip its employees with skills in these areas, under a partnership with cloud services provider Amazon Web Services (AWS).

    DBS Bank will accelerate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) across its business by training its staff in these skills with the launch of the AWS DeepRacer League, the bank announced on Tuesday.

    As part of the program, DBS staff will learn the basics of AI and ML through hands-on online tutorials and will use their knowledge in programming an autonomous model race car to compete in a virtual racing environment. The bank hopes to train some 3,000 employees, including its senior leadership, by the end of the year. The league is the largest among Asian-headquartered enterprises and one of the first in the world to be organized at scale by a financial institution, the announcement said.

    Employees are also encouraged to develop their talent beyond the bank’s league and compete globally – the bank said six of its employees have already qualified for the AWS DeepRacer Championship Cup to be held in Las Vegas later this year.

    We have never believed in limiting digital expertise to a small team. Instead, we passionately believe in democratizing technology skillsets among all employees, so that they can run alongside the company as we advance on our digital transformation together, Paul Cobban, DBS chief data and transformation officer, said.

    DBS said it is preparing for the next stage of its digital transformation efforts and has been leveraging AI and ML in areas such as advanced credit risk management, and to provide accurate self-service digital options to its retail customers based on their digital footprint.

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  • DBS Brings Automated Supplier Financing to Construction Sector

    DBS Brings Automated Supplier Financing to Construction Sector

    The solution aims to improve productivity and remove inefficiencies in the sector’s procurement and payment processes.DBS Bank has partnered with Singapore fintech Doxa to pioneer a procure-to-pay solution for Singapore’s construction sector, according to an announcement on Thursday.

    DBS worked with the main contractor Tiong Seng Group and its supplier network to validate the construction industry’s process flows and develop a solution to eliminate manual administrative processes that plague the industry. The solution, Doxa Connex, digitalizes and automates the majority of the manual procurement and payment processes and documentation, which could lead to a reduction in administrative fees and processing costs of at least 50 percent, the statement said.

    «Covid-19 has accelerated the need for many industries to turn to digital solutions to continue operating safely even amid manpower constraints, and the construction sector is no exception. Proactive and timely digital transformation will put construction companies in good stead for recovery and growth when economic activity picks up and demand for construction services resumes,» Chew Chong Lim, DBS managing director, and global head of real estate, institutional banking, said.

    The construction sector accounts for more than 4 percent of Singapore’s gross domestic product but has been slow to embrace technology along the construction value chain. The announcement cited a recent study by Autodesk and IDC that said only 2 percent of construction firms have automated most of their manual processes.

    Tiong Seng is keenly aware of the need to embrace Integrated Digital Delivery (IDD) in the entire value chain of the built environment sector. We have thus made digitalization one of our core drivers for industry transformation, John Keung, Chairman of Tiong Seng Contractors, said about the launch of Doxa Connex.

  • DBS Private Bank Names Fund Selection Head

    DBS Private Bank Names Fund Selection Head

    DBS Private Bank has appointed a successor to Piere DeGagne, the former head of fund selection and advisory who is leaving the bank.

    John Ng was appointed as DBS Private bank’s new head of fund selection and advisory last month to replace DeGagne, who is returning to Canada this month for personal and family reasons, according to a report from Fund Selector Asia, after seven years with the bank.

    Ng joined the bank in 2017 as its head of portfolio counseling and product strategy, then a newly created role focused on providing strategic portfolio advice and building model portfolios to cater to different market segments.

    Prior to joining DBS, Ng was with Bank of Singapore for eight years where he was responsible for the cash equity, bond, fund, and private equity research teams alongside product marketing.

  • DBS First-Half Profits Tumble

    DBS First-Half Profits Tumble

    A five-fold surge in allowances primarily focused on coronavirus-linked risks drove net profits at DBS to tumble 26 percent in the first half.

    DBS Group posted a net profit of S$2.41 billion ($1.76 billion) in the first half of 2020, a 26 percent year-on-year drop, according to a statement. This was driven largely by a five-fold increase of total allowances which reached S$1.94 billion of which S$1.26 billion has been «conservatively set aside to fortify the balance sheet against risks arising» from the ongoing pandemic.

    Singapore bank’s ex-allowance profits increased 12 percent and reached a record S$4.71 billion driven in part by a 7 percent income rise to S$7.75 billion.

    Our solid balance sheet was further fortified by a significant increase in allowance reserves, strong liquidity inflows and healthy earnings, said DBS CEO Piyush Gupta. «Notwithstanding the uncertainties, we are in a good position to continue supporting customers and the community through the difficult months ahead of us.»

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  • DBS Inks Digital Trade Financing Partnership

    DBS Inks Digital Trade Financing Partnership

    The bank will work with industry cloud software provider Infor to integrate digital trade financing capabilities into global supply chains.

    Under the partnership, the two sides will use innovative supplier financing tools, as well as Infor’s rich physical and financial supply chain data to bring new opportunities to fund suppliers and help reduce supply chain risk and friction, DBS said in a statement on Thursday.

    The first program under the partnership provides a faster and more cost-efficient digital trade financing to suppliers in an apparel company’s supply chain ecosystem, which comprises mostly small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The next program, planned for late 2020, aims to improve the pre-shipment finance by using supply chain data as the primary conduit to assess risk and creditworthiness.

    Infor’s Nexus platform has more than 68,000 businesses, including market leaders in aerospace, healthcare delivery, automotive suppliers, industrial distributors, as well as global banks, retailers, hotel brands, luxury brands, and more.

    Our collaboration with Infor enables greater transparency into complex supply chains and provides insights into the transaction patterns between an anchor and its ecosystem of suppliers, DBS’ Sriram Muthukrishnan said about the partnership.

    The bank’s group head of trade product management noted that quicker and more cost-efficient financing to suppliers provided earlier in the cycle, as compared to conventional post-shipment supplier financing programs, is especially relevant today, given the environment characterized by prolonged trade disruptions and tighter credit lines, where optimal working capital management is key to survival.

  • DBS Nabs AIA’s Digital Chief

    DBS Nabs AIA’s Digital Chief

    DBS hires AIA Group’s former head of digital to lead its bancassurance business in Hong Kong.

    Lo Wing Yiu joins DBS Hong Kong has the head of bancassurance, according to a statement, succeeding Terry Li who spent four years with the business. Prior to joining DBS, Lo was AIA’s head of digital and previously, he also held various senior insurance roles with the likes of Standard Chartered, HSBC, and AXA.

    Our bancassurance business in Hong Kong has been going from strength to strength, and we are well-positioned to drive the next phase of our growth here, said Ajay Mathur, managing director, and head of consumer banking group and wealth management, Hong Kong, at DBS.

    As we continue to build on our digital capabilities and enhance our market-leading customer experience, we are confident that Lo will successfully lead the bancassurance business to new heights.

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  • DBS Launches Income Fund for Retiree Investors

    DBS Launches Income Fund for Retiree Investors

    The multi-asset Schroder Asia More+ fund includes a unique decumulation share class targeted at retiree investors.

    DBS Bank on Friday announced the launch of a new fund with Schroders that offers investors an income-generating solution with exposure to a range of investment growth themes across Asia, including technology, consumption, logistics and financial services.

    The fund is available in three share classes – accumulation, distribution, and decumulation – to cater for different investment objectives. The decumulation share class is designed for retirees and investors whose goals have shifted from accumulating wealth to drawing down from assets, and has an intended payout of 6.88 percent per annum, while drawing down from their capital over the long term.

    The concept of decumulation is still relatively new in Singapore, and we hope that this product will get more Singaporeans to think about managing retirement savings in their twilight years, Lim Soon Chong, regional head of investment products and advisory, DBS Consumer Banking and Wealth Management, said about the new fund.

    According to the announcement, the fund was developed using insights gained from the Schroders Global Investor Study, which revealed that Singapore investors have rising income expectations from their investment portfolios and that many are overly optimistic about how long their retirement savings will last.

    The embedded resilience features in this product will help it navigate through the current climate of uncertainty while generating income, through a combination of investing in new emerging growth drivers and income-generating assets, Lily Choh, deputy CEO, Singapore, and head of distribution, Southeast Asia, Schroders, said.

    Customers will be able to invest in Schroder Asia More+ from S$1,000 ($717). The dynamically managed fund has no lock-in period and low management costs, and is approved for investment using funds from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Supplementary Retirement Scheme. Although primarily invested in Asia, it is weighted towards Singapore-based assets. Investors may choose to invest in  SGD, AUD, or USD.

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  • DBS Offers Framework for Sustainable Development

    DBS Offers Framework for Sustainable Development

    The bank said its new framework will help clients on their journeys to more sustainable business models while providing timely transition finance and increasing transparency for transactions and projects.

    DBS has launched the world’s first sustainable and transition finance framework and taxonomy and will offer transition financing as part of the bank’s efforts to help clients from key industries to transition to a low-carbon economy, the bank announced on Tuesday.

    The bank said the framework will form the bedrock for DBS to engage with clients who are furthering their sustainability agenda and serve as a reference to guide clients to adapt and build resilience in the face of climate change, resource scarcity, and address critical global issues such as social inequality.

    At the same time, the taxonomy outlines the way DBS manages transactions that are classified as Green, Transition and/or contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), and summarises eligible economic activities.

    DBS said it will take a prudent, scientific approach to evaluate the transitional qualities of the economic activities and whether clients have a strategy to adapt their businesses to meet the threat of climate change and to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

    There are many interpretations of what constitutes transition finance. The bottom line is we cannot afford to dismiss clients who carry out activities which are less than dark-green but are nonetheless part of the mainstream economy instrumental to getting us below 1.5-degree temperature increase, Yulanda Chung, head of sustainability, institutional banking, said.

    Every transitional step towards reducing carbon footprint will make a significant, cumulative difference over time, Chung added.

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  • DBS Inks Taxi Tie-Up

    DBS Inks Taxi Tie-Up

    DBS and ComfortDelgro, which operates a fleet of about 10,000 taxis in Singapore, have entered into a strategic partnership to enhance payment services for their customers in Singapore, the bank announced on Thursday.

    With the partnership, ComfortDelGro is the first public transport operator to be integrated into DBS’ «PayLah!» ecosystem, which serves 1.7 million users in Singapore. Customers can access and pay for their taxi bookings directly and seamlessly on the platform.

    «This marks a significant milestone in our journey to inject dynamism into our mobile ecosystem platform, where we leverage technology and artificial intelligence to proactively piece together individual journeys for our customers. In doing so, we can provide personalized nudges and contextualized offers which they will welcome as thoughtful reminders,» Jeremy Soo, DBS’ Singapore head of consumer banking, said in the announcement.

    The two parties previously partnered to introduce QR code payment for taxi rides in 2017, which helped pave the way for consumers in Singapore to use QR code payments widely in everyday transactions. According to the bank, 20 percent of QR code transactions took place within the transport segment before the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • DBS Joins Blockchain Trade Finance Network

    DBS Joins Blockchain Trade Finance Network

    DBS joins blockchain network Countour to tap into the platform’s digitalized trade finance capabilities.

    DBS becomes Singapore’s first lender to join blockchain firm R3’s Corda to provide end-to-end letter of credit (LC) settlement to clients. Via the Corda network, the bank expects shortened settlement time, reduced paperwork and simplified processes.

    In addition, the platform also enables digitalized real-time negotiations, post-endorsement sharing with banks and real-time tracking of transactions with a full audit trail.

    Joining Contour’s growing ecosystem of banks and partners aligns with DBS’s ongoing efforts to drive greater efficiencies in trade and unlock strategic value for its corporate customers, DBS said in a statement.

    In the midst of an ongoing coronavirus pandemic, numerous banking sub-segments have been capitalizing on the opportunity for greater openness to digital solutions and an accelerated rate of adoption. Trade finance is no exception and any solution that can speed up cash flow collection in a secure fashion is likely all the more welcome in the current environment.

    This is more than simply digitizing a historically paper-based service, said John Laurens, DBS’s group head of global transaction services. It’s about transforming the way industries work by providing greater transparency, security and speed to build sustainable trade ecosystems that are able to weather the peaks and troughs of economic cycles and are resilient in times of crisis.

    DBS joins BNP Paribas, Bangkok Bank, ING, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citi Ventures as other members of Singapore-based Countour’s blockchain trade finance network.

  • DBS Q1 Profit Falls as Bank Makes Covid-19 Allowances

    DBS Q1 Profit Falls as Bank Makes Covid-19 Allowances

    While the bank’s first-quarter income grew 13 percent to cross $4 billion for the first time, pre-emptive allowances it has made for uncertainty due to Covid-19 has resulted in its lowest profit in six quarters.

    DBS Bank’s first-quarter net profit is down 29 percent year-on-year, at S$1.17 billion ($830 million), as it set aside general allowances of S$703 million for risks arising from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.

    The bank’s total income of S$4.03 billion, however, was up 13 percent on year and 16 percent on quarter, on the back of broad-based growth in non-trade corporate loans and fee income, as well as gains from investment securities. Fee income grew 14 percent from a year ago to a new high of S$832 million, led by a 28 percent increase in wealth management fees, a 17 percent rise in loan-related fees, and a 64 percent increase in investment banking fees, though card fees fell 8 percent due to lower transactions across the region. Non-interest income grew 39 percent from a year ago to S$712 million.

    Expenses grew by 4 percent from the year before, but was still 3 percent lower on quarter to S$1.56 billion, from lower general expenses and staff costs. Profit before allowances grew 20 percent to S$2.47 billion.

    Its balance sheet was bolstered with reserves growing by 29 percent to S$3.23 billion, as the bank is anticipating a «deeper and more prolonged economic impact» from the pandemic.

    The magnitude of the crisis will be greater than 08-09 and Sars, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said in a media briefing on Thursday, with the bank expecting increased credit risks going forward. However, it maintains a positive business outlook, with resilient loan growth, record deposit inflows, and upside from non-interest income.

    As a result of the uncertain economic outlook, DBS expects a full-year profit before allowances to be around 2019 levels after factoring in declines for the next three quarters, Gupta said, noting that its operating performance in the first quarter has given DBS a strong head-start.

    We will maintain a solid balance sheet with ample capital, liquidity, and loss allowance reserves that give us strong buffers to absorb external shocks, Gupta said in the statement.

    The board announced a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per ordinary share, unchanged from the quarter before. It will be paid together with the dividend for Q4 2019 on 26 May.

    DBS said it would continue to assess the prospective impact of the pandemic on financial performance, credit costs, and capital ratios, and adjust its dividend policy as appropriate.

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  • DBS Sets Date for AGM

    DBS Sets Date for AGM

    The bank will pay its final dividend of S$0.33 per share on May 26, after approval at the AGM. DBS Bank will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) by electronic means on April 30. As no physical attendees permitted in light of ongoing «circuit breaker» measures, shareholders should pre-register to be able to watch and/or listen to the proceedings online, the bank said in a statement on Thursday

    Originally scheduled for March 31, DBS said it would postpone its AGM, following government measures that imposed stricter measures to enforce safe distancing in social settings, given the Covid-19 virus outbreak.

    Earlier this month, Singapore Exchange Regulation said it would automatically extend by 60 days the deadline for all issuers with financial year-end on or before 31 March 2020 to hold their AGMs.

    The date of UOB’s AGM has not been fixed, it is likely to hold its meeting on April 30. UOB investors are due to approve a final dividend of 55 cents a share and a special dividend of S$0.20 per share at the AGM.

    OCBC also said it would defer its AGM, originally scheduled for April 30, to a future date to be determined. The bank was due to pay a final dividend of S$0.28 per share on June 5, with the record date on May 26.

     

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  • DBS Adds Online Classes to Relief Portfolio

    DBS Adds Online Classes to Relief Portfolio

    The Singaporean lender continues to provide innovative digital support to locals affected by the ongoing pandemic alongside financial relief. To help cope with the crisis, DBS will offer free online supplementary classes for primary and secondary school students. In terms of financial relief, home loan payment relief and free Covid-19 relief insurance coverage will be provided, the latter of which has already attracted 600,000 customers.

    And for SMEs, the bank rolled out a 6-month principal repayment moratorium on property loans and collateral-free digital business loan of up to S$50,000 ($35,000).

    While the Covid-19 situation is an unfolding one, it is apparent that some sectors and individuals are being hit particularly hard,» said Shee Tse Koon, Singapore country head at DBS, adding that more relief measures will be announced next week. As the largest bank in Singapore, DBS is committed to joining the industry to help Singaporeans and SMEs tide through these challenging times.

    More than just providing pure financial support, DBS has stood out for its creative approach to providing potentially effective relief.

    In addition to online classes, the bank recently rolled out a homegrown digital food delivery platform to help its F&B SME client base boost revenues in dire times of need. Interested users will be supported by the bank for end-to-end processes from marketing and e-menus to payment and physical delivery.

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