The board of DBS Bank declared a quarterly dividend of S$0.48 per share for the third quarter of 2023, bringing the dividend for nine months to S$1.38 per share, the bank announced in a press release on Nov. 6, 2023.

Following the announcement, the share price for DBS increased from S$33.29 to S$33.60 at 1:46pm on Monday, according to Yahoo Finance.

Record total income & nine-month net profit

DBS also stated that its total income for the past quarter grew 16 per cent to a record S$5.19 billion from "higher interest margin" and "growth in commercial book non-interest income".

Additionally, its net profit for the quarter increased by 18 per cent from a year ago to S$2.63 billion.

For the period between January 2023 and September 2023, its net profit grew by 35 per cent to a new high of S$7.89 billion.

This means the bank is S$0.3 billion away from surpassing its net profit of S$8.19 billion in 2022.

Outlook for 2024

Looking ahead, DBS chief executive officer Piyush Gupta said the bank's net profit in 2024 is expected to be maintained around the record 2023 level despite economic uncertainties, which include macroeconomic slowdown and geopolitical risks, according to presentation materials.

"As we enter the coming year, higher-for-longer interest rates will be a net benefit to earnings, while our solid balance sheet with ample liquidity, prudent general allowance reserves, and healthy capital ratios will provide us with strong buffers against macro uncertainties," he stated.

Dedicate to executing measures to address digital disruptions

Gupta added that the bank will dedicate itself to executing the set of measures it recently announced to address the series of digital disruptions, for which the bank is "truly sorry".

"We are committed to strengthening our technology resilience and ensuring customer service reliability," he added.

On Nov. 1, DBS announced that it has rolled out a roadmap to strengthen its technology governance, people and leadership, systems, and processes after its banking services experienced repeated and prolonged outages in 2023.

Specifically, the bank pledged to limit the downtime where a service is completely unavailable across all digital channels.

It set a target of limiting such incidents to no more than an average of 1.5 hours per month over a three-month period.

According to DBS, it aims to deliver this commitment within the next six months and will improve on this front continuously.

Top image via Nathan/Xiaohongshu