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4 May, 2021 Author Rebecca Isjwara
DBS Group Holdings Ltd. may stay on the hunt for more acquisitions to fuel growth as its small, though high-value, home market of Singapore poses limits on its ambitions of becoming a leading Asian bank, analysts say.
DBS, Southeast Asia s biggest bank by assets, has recently made substantial investments in the large and upcoming markets of Asia, including China and India. It announced on April 20 that it will acquire a 13% stake in Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank, making it the largest shareholder of the Chinese lender. In November 2020, DBS acquired ailing Indian lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd.
Singapore Panel Proposes Shift Away From Libor by End-April (1)
The Southeast Asian financial center still faces challenges in the transition to a Libor alternative, given the limited historical use of the domestic interbank funding market, said Philip McNicholas, Asean FX and rates strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.
However, as SORA is based on an average of past overnight lending rates, it may bolster the interbank lending market depth and liquidity, producing better and more efficient price discovery.
A spokesperson for the Association of Banks in Singapore said that the banks represented in the steering committee subgroups on business/syndicated loans and consumer products are on track to meet the timelines.
The pandemic is far from over, but Singapore’s biggest bank is already off to the races.
DBS Group Holdings Ltd.’s recent S$1.1 billion ($828 million) purchase of a 13% stake in a rural Chinese bank gives a flavor of the aggressive deal-making investors can expect, as Citigroup Inc.’s exit from retail operations in Asia outside Singapore and Hong Kong puts assets on the block.
The Citi sale couldn’t have come at a better moment. DBS Chief Executive Piyush Gupta must be thinking hard about what he could snag from his former employer: India? Indonesia? Both? He doesn’t have the luxury of time. On its home turf, DBS is relatively safe for now. But new-age virtual banks, one from ride-hailing app Grab Holdings Inc. and another from mobile-games maker Sea Ltd., are coming to Singapore. Grab’s record $40 billion merger with a blank-check company gives it balance-sheet muscle, which it is bound to flex against DBS.
➤ The company managed more than US$1 billion in assets as of January from three markets.
➤ The company raised series D funding of US$25 million on April 26.
StashAway Hong Kong head Stephanie Leung.
Source: StashAway
Singapore-headquartered StashAway is the latest robo-adviser to enter the Hong Kong market, formally launching its services on April 5. As of January 2021, the company managed more than US$1 billion in assets from the three markets it operated in: Singapore, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. It is also in talks with Thailand s financial regulator to obtain a license to offer its services. StashAway closed a series D funding round for US$25 million led by Sequoia Capital India LLP on April 26, bringing its total paid-up capital to US$61.4 million.
Roboadvisor StashAway seeks to tap Hong Kong s mass-affluent after $25m funding spglobal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from spglobal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.