DBS Group reported a 37% rise in quarterly profit, supported by an improvement in asset quality at Southeast Asia's largest bank and flagged strong business momentum as pandemic-hit economies bounce back.
Singapore banks are expected to be big beneficiaries of rising interest rates while a rebound in economic growth and stable credit quality is also boosting the industry outlook.
"We look forward to the coming year with a prudently managed balance sheet that is poised to benefit from rising interest rates," DBS Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta said in a statement on Monday.
DBS, the first Singapore bank to report this season, said net profit for October-December rose to S$1.389 billion ($1.03 billion) and follows a particularly weak pandemic-hit year when profit tumbled to a three-year low in the fourth quarter.
The result compares with an average estimate of S$1.47 billion from four analysts polled by Refinitiv.
DBS, which earns most of its profit from Singapore and Hong Kong, said allowances for loan losses decreased to S$33 million in the latest quarter from S$577 million a year earlier.
($1 = 1.3464 Singapore dollars)