DBS expects half of this technology action plan to be completed by the end of January. By the end of March, 90 per cent will be done.
“At this point, I’m quite confident that these actions will give us demonstrable outcomes and which customers will be able to see the benefits,” said the CEO of Singapore’s largest lender.
“Having said that, it’s not good to end there. Our commitment is to continue to allocate and dedicate resources towards resiliency efforts, even after that into the future.”
“SOLID” FOURTH QUARTER
On earnings, Mr Gupta said the bank had a “solid” fourth quarter, with net profit of S$2.39 billion. This is up from S$2.34 billion a year earlier, on the back of a 9 per cent increase in total income.
For the full year, the bank’s annual profit jumped 26 per cent to S$10.3 billion from S$8.19 billion in 2022. Return on equity climbed to a record high of 18 per cent from 15 per cent a year ago.
DBS has proposed a final dividend of 54 cents per share, an increase of six cents from the previous payout. This brings the ordinary dividend for the full year to S$1.92 per share, up 42 cents from the previous year.
In addition, the bank is proposing a one-for-10 bonus issue, meaning one bonus share for every 10 shares held.
The bonus shares will qualify for dividends, starting from the first-quarter 2024 interim dividend, and will increase the pace of capital returns to shareholders, the bank said.
“We decided to go for a bonus issue because it gives certainty into the future … but this doesn’t mean that this is the end of our payment back to shareholders,” said Mr Gupta, adding that DBS continues to target an earlier guidance for a baseline annual increase of 24 cents a share for dividends.
“On top of that, I think we still have opportunity to do more specials or other forms of giveback,” he added.
“We will have greater confidence towards the middle of the year when we have a better line of sight on what’s happening to interest rates and also hopefully some of our technology issues are behind us.”
