DBS First-Quarter Net Profit Rose on Strong Wealth Management Performance

By Amanda Lee

DBS Group's first-quarter net profit rose mainly due to its robust wealth management performance.

Net profit for the three months ended March increased 1.1% from the year-earlier period to 2.93 billion Singapore dollars, equivalent to US$2.29 billion, Singapore's largest bank said Thursday.

That beat the S$2.78 billion consensus estimate of analysts polled by Visible Alpha.

Total income during the quarter was up 0.7% at S$5.95 billion from a year ago. Net interest income -- the difference between what banks earn on loans and pay on deposits -- for its commercial book was 6.6% lower at S$3.48 billion.

The bank, which is also Southeast Asia's largest by assets, said commercial book net fee and commission income rose 16% to S$1.48 billion.

Its commercial book treasury customer sales and other income rose 9.85% to S$602 million.

The bank's strong wealth management performance drove its fee income and treasury customer sales to new highs, it said.

DBS declared an ordinary dividend of S$0.66 per share and a capital return dividend of S$0.15 per share for the first quarter.

"While the Iran war and its potential second-order effects have added uncertainty to the outlook, our stress tests indicate that our credit portfolio remains sound," said Chief Executive Tan Su Shan.

DBS is the first of Singapore's three major lenders to report earnings. United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. are scheduled to release their results in May.

Write to Amanda Lee at amanda.lee@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2026 20:06 ET (00:06 GMT)