Local banks likely to raise interim payouts: Markit

ALL three local banks, DBS Group Holdings, United Overseas Bank and OCBC Bank, are likely to increase their interim dividends, said Markit yesterday.

The financial-services data firm said that it was forecasting dividend per share of S$0.30 for DBS, representing a 7.1 per cent growth over the year, but flat from its 2013 year-end payout; for UOB, dividend per share would be S$0.25, up 25 per cent from a year ago, while for OCBC, the forecast is for it to make a one Singapore cent step up to S$0.18.

The banks have paid relatively stable but incremental dividends over the years, Markit noted in its dividend-week-ahead report.