SINGAPORE: Singapore’s banks posted mixed second-quarter earnings on Thursday (Aug 7) with DBS maintaining its 2025 outlook and UOB resuming guidance but trimming expectations amid macroeconomic uncertainties.
DBS, Singapore and Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets, reported a 1 per cent rise in April-June net profit to S$2.82 billion (US$2.20 billion), beating a S$2.77 billion mean estimate from three analysts according to LSEG.
The increase was driven by higher total income. The bank lifted its ordinary dividend by 11 per cent from a year earlier to 60 Singapore cents per share. It also issued a capital return dividend of 15 Singapore cents per share, having not declared one at all a year ago.
However, profitability metrics softened. Return on equity fell to 16.7 per cent from 18.2 per cent a year earlier, while net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, declined to 2.05 per cent from 2.14 per cent.
UOB, Singapore and Southeast Asia’s third-largest lender, posted a 6 per cent year-on-year drop in net profit to S$1.34 billion, missing the S$1.47 billion analyst consensus by LSEG.
The decline marked its first decrease in profit since the first quarter of 2024, and was mainly due to lower net interest income. UOB declared an interim dividend of 85 Singapore cents per ordinary share, down 3.4 per cent from a year earlier.
