DBS employees are getting a windfall after the bank reported a “record performance.” The Singaporean bank is paying workers a one-time bonus of 1,000 Singapore dollars ($737) on top of regular performance bonuses to all staff, except senior managers, after the bank’s stellar year.
The bonus, which is pegged to the purchasing power parity in the economies where DBS staff are employed, will cost the bank an additional 32 million Singapore dollars ($23.6 million).
The bank, ranked No. 10 on the Southeast Asia 500, reported a net profit of 2.6 billion Singapore dollars ($1.9 billion) for the final quarter of 2024, a 10% year-on-year increase.
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Over the full year, DBS reported 11.4 billion Singapore dollars ($8.4 billion) in profits, up 11%.
“We achieved a record financial performance in 2024 with return of equity of 18%, one of the highest among developed market banks,” said the bank’s outgoing CEO, Piyush Gupta, in the statement.
DBS’s performance was driven by its wealth management business and an increase in loans.
The bank expects net interest income to grow in 2025, even assuming two further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, noted Michael Makdad, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar.
Shareholders will also see an increase in dividends, after the DBS board proposed a final dividend of 60 Singapore cents ($0.44) per share.
In addition, the bank plans to introduce a capital return dividend of 15 Singapore cents ($0.11) to be paid out over the 2025 fiscal year, and to pay out a similar amount in the following two years.
DBS shares rose by just over 2.5% in early morning trading on Monday. The bank’s shares are up over 50% over the past 12 months.
Incoming and outgoing CEOs
Monday’s quarterly report is the last with CEO Piyush Gupta at the helm. Gupta, who’s served as CEO since 2009, will retire at the bank’s upcoming annual general meeting on March 28.
Tan Su Shan, who is currently deputy CEO, will become the first woman to run Southeast Asia’s largest bank when she takes over as CEO at the end of March.
Gupta went to DBS after 27 years at Citigroup, where he served as CEO for Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Gupta has pushed the bank to focus on economies like Greater China, India, and Indonesia.
“I feel good about where the bank is and am confident it will reach further heights under Su Shan’s leadership,” Gupta said on Monday.
Tan moved to DBS from Morgan Stanley in 2010 after getting a call from Gupta shortly after he became CEO. She’s credited with expanding DBS’s consumer banking, wealth management, and institutional banking businesses.
DBS is the first of Singapore’s “Big Three” banks to report its earnings this year. UOB, No. 11 on the Southeast Asia 500, is expected to report on Feb. 19, and OCBC, No. 12, will report on Feb. 26.
Clarification, Feb. 10, 2025: This article has been updated to clarify that the one-time bonus is in addition to regular performance bonuses.