DBS new FT Indian CEO Piyush Gupta, who reported to have pocketed S$4.2 million in just 2 months after joining DBS on Nov 2009, failed to impress on its Q1 result considering rival OCBC's sterling performance in the same period. Cheaper Better Faster? 
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE64508D20100507
DBS Q1 disappoints after OCBC's bumper performance
* Analysts disappointed as OCBC profit jump had raised hopes
* Loan growth lags OCBC, bad-debt falls less-than-expected
* DBS shares drop 2 percent early amid broad market weakness (Adds details of results, analysts' comments, share price moves)
By Saeed Azhar
SINGAPORE, May 7 (Reuters) - DBS (DBSM.SI), Southeast Asia's biggest bank, disappointed the market with its first-quarter profit as it struggled to match rival OCBC's (OCBC.SI) loan growth and bumper profit.
CEO Piyush Gupta, who joined DBS in November, faces a stiff challenge in turning the bank into a leading Asian player through a strategy of cutting risk and expanding outside of Singapore and Hong Kong.
A 23 percent rise in first-quarter profit did not impress investors who were hoping for more from DBS after OCBC came out two days ago with its best quarterly profit in nearly four years. DBS shares opened more than 2 percent lower on Friday, partly hurt by shaky global markets.
DBS's net interest income fell 1 percent as it only managed to grow loans by 3 percent compared with OCBC's 12 percent from a year earlier, and bad-debt charges dropped less than what some analysts were expecting.
"Weak net interest income and higher specific provisions led to below-expectation earnings," Leng Seng Choon, an analyst at DMG & Partners Securities, who had forecast DBS's profit at S$590 million, said in a note.
Citigroup said in a note DBS could have significantly topped up provisions against loans possibly linked to Dubai, where the bank had exposure to Dubai World [DBWLD.UL].
DBS's Jan-March net profit rose to S$532 million ($380 million) from S$433 million a year ago. Five analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast on average a profit of S$523 million.
DBS, which makes most of its money from Singapore and Hong Kong, said it was seeing good momentum for its business. Analysts expect an economic rebound will help turn around earnings this year for Singapore banks. [ID:nSGE643091]
GUPTA'S CHALLENGE
But they do not see a quick fix for the bank which faces regulatory bottlenecks that may prevent it from expanding aggressively in China, India and Malaysia. DBS is also seen needing an acquisition strategy for Indonesia.
Analysts hope that Gupta, a former Citigroup (C.N) banker who was paid S$4.2 million ($3.02 million) in his first two months in the new job, will be able to improve DBS's consumer banking business.
Gupta, 50, is also making a big push into wealth management, which was underscored by his recent hire of Morgan Stanley's (MS.N) influential Southeast Asian private banker Tan Su Shan.
But he is up against OCBC CEO David Conner, another former Citigroup banker, who recently made a high-profile acquisition of the Asian private banking unit of ING (ING.AS) to challenge global banks.
Singapore bank shares have weakened this year after a sharp rally last year when financials globally recovered from a slump in 2008 triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
DBS shares have fallen about 6.5 percent so far this year, against a 7 percent drop in shares of OCBC and a 4 percent fall in the benchmark Singapore index .
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE64508D20100507
DBS Q1 disappoints after OCBC's bumper performance
* Analysts disappointed as OCBC profit jump had raised hopes
* Loan growth lags OCBC, bad-debt falls less-than-expected
* DBS shares drop 2 percent early amid broad market weakness (Adds details of results, analysts' comments, share price moves)
By Saeed Azhar
SINGAPORE, May 7 (Reuters) - DBS (DBSM.SI), Southeast Asia's biggest bank, disappointed the market with its first-quarter profit as it struggled to match rival OCBC's (OCBC.SI) loan growth and bumper profit.
CEO Piyush Gupta, who joined DBS in November, faces a stiff challenge in turning the bank into a leading Asian player through a strategy of cutting risk and expanding outside of Singapore and Hong Kong.
A 23 percent rise in first-quarter profit did not impress investors who were hoping for more from DBS after OCBC came out two days ago with its best quarterly profit in nearly four years. DBS shares opened more than 2 percent lower on Friday, partly hurt by shaky global markets.
DBS's net interest income fell 1 percent as it only managed to grow loans by 3 percent compared with OCBC's 12 percent from a year earlier, and bad-debt charges dropped less than what some analysts were expecting.
"Weak net interest income and higher specific provisions led to below-expectation earnings," Leng Seng Choon, an analyst at DMG & Partners Securities, who had forecast DBS's profit at S$590 million, said in a note.
Citigroup said in a note DBS could have significantly topped up provisions against loans possibly linked to Dubai, where the bank had exposure to Dubai World [DBWLD.UL].
DBS's Jan-March net profit rose to S$532 million ($380 million) from S$433 million a year ago. Five analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast on average a profit of S$523 million.
DBS, which makes most of its money from Singapore and Hong Kong, said it was seeing good momentum for its business. Analysts expect an economic rebound will help turn around earnings this year for Singapore banks. [ID:nSGE643091]
GUPTA'S CHALLENGE
But they do not see a quick fix for the bank which faces regulatory bottlenecks that may prevent it from expanding aggressively in China, India and Malaysia. DBS is also seen needing an acquisition strategy for Indonesia.
Analysts hope that Gupta, a former Citigroup (C.N) banker who was paid S$4.2 million ($3.02 million) in his first two months in the new job, will be able to improve DBS's consumer banking business.
Gupta, 50, is also making a big push into wealth management, which was underscored by his recent hire of Morgan Stanley's (MS.N) influential Southeast Asian private banker Tan Su Shan.
But he is up against OCBC CEO David Conner, another former Citigroup banker, who recently made a high-profile acquisition of the Asian private banking unit of ING (ING.AS) to challenge global banks.
Singapore bank shares have weakened this year after a sharp rally last year when financials globally recovered from a slump in 2008 triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
DBS shares have fallen about 6.5 percent so far this year, against a 7 percent drop in shares of OCBC and a 4 percent fall in the benchmark Singapore index .
