DBS Q2 profit jumps 17% after record net interest income

This article is more than 12 months old

Jul 30, 2019 06:00 am

SINGAPORE DBS Group Holdings beat market estimates with a 17 per cent increase in second-quarter profit as rising interest rates in Singapore and Hong Kong pushed the biggest South-east Asian lender's net interest income to a record high.

DBS, the first Singaporean bank to kick off the sector's results, maintained its mid-single-digit per cent loan growth forecast for the year.

Analysts, however, say the outlook for banks is getting challenging, with interest rates declining and Singapore's economy growing at its slowest annual pace in a decade in the second quarter due to a drop in manufacturing output and exports.

DBS chief Piyush Gupta said the results "reflected the strengths of an entrenched broad-based franchise that is well placed to nimbly navigate market volatility."

- REUTERS