DBS Third-Quarter Profit Rises 11% To $610m

Source : TODAY, Friday, October 26, 2007

DBS Group Holdings Ltd, South-east Asia's biggest bank by assets, said third-quarter profit rose 11 per cent as economic growth led to an expansion in lending.

Net income rose to $610 million for the three months ended Sept 30, from $552 million a year earlier, the bank said today in a statement to the stock exchange. That is higher than the median estimate of $600 million by seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Estimates ranged from $503 million to $640 million.

"Net interest and fee income reached records as DBS captured the benefits of the region's continued growth in a wide range of customer businesses," the bank said in the statement.

DBS reported the profit after one-time items including gains from the sale of buildings in Hong Kong, an allowance write-back for a Singapore property and impairment charges for its 16 per cent stake in TMB Bank in Thailand.

The charge reflected the further reduction in the market valuation of TMB to $270 million as of the end of September, DBS said.

The bank's customer loans rose 23 per cent to $104.7 billion on demand from home-buyers in Singapore, where apartment prices have risen 23 per cent since the start of the year, set for their biggest annual increase in eight years.

None of DBS's $2.36 billion of CDOs as of the end of September is in default. DBS has set aside $70 million for the $275 million of CDOs that had exposure to US subprime home loans. — bloomberg