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DBS focuses on growth centers in Indonesia
Singapore DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asiaâs largest financial service group, which last year failed to acquire Indonesiaâs PT Bank Danamon (BDMN), will continue to expand its operations in the Southeast Asian largest economy through organic growth by focusing on Indonesiaâs growth centers
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ingapore DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's largest financial service group, which last year failed to acquire Indonesia's PT Bank Danamon (BDMN), will continue to expand its operations in the Southeast Asian largest economy through organic growth by focusing on Indonesia's growth centers.
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta told financial journalists from several other Asian countries in Singapore on Thursday that he is still upbeat about the outlook of DBS financial service operations in Indonesia.
'In the current digital era, we don't need to be physically present throughout all of Indonesia. We simply need to focus our efforts on the growth centers [major cities] and to develop digital networks, as more people now need banking, not banks,' he added.
Gupta said that digital technology and mobile telephone technology had changed the consumers' life style, including the way they deal with their banks.
'We, therefore, have decided to invest US$200 million in digital networks within the next three years in our key Asian markets; Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, India and Taiwan,' he said.
In these markets, he said, DBS would continue to expand services in corporate banking, small- and medium-scale business platforms, and wealth management.
Earlier in his briefing, Gupta said that DBS had a very solid start to the year, booking a 9 percent increase in net profits to S$1.03 billion ($825 million) in the first quarter.
Its assets totaled $335 billion and a capital adequacy ratio of 15.30 percent.
In a related development, DBS managing director and group head for consumer banking and wealth management Tan Su Shan said the bank was now finalizing a deal to acquire Societe Generale Private Banking in Asia.
'This acquisition will significantly increase the total assets under the DBS wealth management division to $57.1 billion, putting it among the five largest wealth managers in Asia outside Japan,' Shan added.
DBS, which has almost 35 branches in Indonesia, was named 'Asia's Best Bank' by The Banker, a member of the Financial Times group, and 'Best Bank in Asia-Pacific' by Global Finance, Gupta added. (vin)
