Singapore's DBS Q3 profit beats view on wealth fees

DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's biggest lender, reported that higher wealth management fees drove a forecast-beating 15 percent rise in third-quarter profit, but cautioned growth will slow next year due to the impact of lower interest rates.

The Singaporean bank said on Monday it expects its net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, to fall by about 7 basis points in 2020. It was 1.90 percent for the three months ended Sept. 30. Singapore's banks face a challenging outlook as interest rates soften and lending moderates after robust growth in recent years. DBS made a net profit of S$1.63 billion ($1.20 billion) for the quarter, compared with S$1.41 billion a year earlier and an average estimate of S$1.57 billion from five analysts, according to Refinitiv data. Net interest income rose 8 percent to S$2.46 billion in the quarter and wealth management fees jumped 22 percent to S$357 million. "Growth was driven by higher fees and trading gains, good cost control and flat margins, partially offset by higher credit costs and one-offs," said Krishna Guha, an analyst at Jefferies Singapore.

DBS' revenue and profit growth will be in the low single digits next year, while fee and commission income should continue to expand in double digits, Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta said. "Next year is going to be lower growth just because the interest rate impact on our book is going to filter through," Gupta told a news conference. "Given the global environment and the interest rates headwinds, we are still quietly optimistic that we should be able to continue to deliver decent performance into next year." Last week, peer Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp posted its weakest quarterly profit this year after booking a one-off charge at its Indonesian banking unit.