DBS Q2 profit up 7%; bank eyeing ‘judicious’ tech investments in months ahead

SINGAPORE’S largest bank is looking to make some “judicious investments” on the technology front, as it expects cost-to-income ratio to come down, giving it more capacity to shore up its tech capabilities and talent pool, DBS executive chief Piyush Gupta said on Thursday (Aug 4).

The bank reported a 7 per cent rise in net profit to S$1.82 billion for the second quarter ended June, fuelled largely by a 17 per cent increase in net interest income amid rising interest rates. This beat a S$1.64 billion consensus estimate from analysts polled by Bloomberg.

This comes as DBS’ net interest margin (NIM), which had been declining since 2019, rose to 1.46 per cent in Q1, up 3 basis points (bps) from the previous quarter. In Q2, NIM gained 12 bps to 1.58 per cent, as the impact of rate hikes was more fully felt. The metric compares the amount of money a bank is earning in interest on loans, with the amount it is paying out in interest on deposits.