It will be the turn of DBS Group to step up to the plate when CEO Piyush Gupta faces the media later this morning to reveal his banks full year 2015 results.
As Singapore’s biggest lender, the bank could potentially be impacted harder than its local rivals Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB).
The insipid economic outlook across Greater China and exposure to the oil and gas and shipping related business could put a strain on earnings and revenue.
No Longer Number One
DBS was recently overtaken as Southeast Asia’s largest bank by Indonesia Bank, Bank Central Asia, controlled by Indonesia’s second-richest person, Budi Hartono.
The Jakarta-based bank’s shares have sustained their ascent as its Indonesian centric emphasis has buffered it from the decelerating growth in Greater China.
Attracted by Lasting Relationship?
However on the wealth management and consumer banking side, a core element of the business for DBS, the bank has shown an ambition to keep growing by throwing its hat into the ring to acquire the Asian business of U.K. Bank Barclays along with fellow Singaporean bank OCBC and Switzerland’s Julius Baer.
DBS has successfully integrated the recently acquired Asian private banking business of Société Générale. The pragmatic board of Barclays could well be attracted to building a lasting relationship with Singapore's biggest bank by selling out its regional Asian wealth business to a potential business partner.
