http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...s-ceo-20141101

No stress in DBS' S'pore home loans: CEO

Published on Nov 1, 2014 12:36 AM


THE largest local bank has given its Singapore mortgages a clean bill of health.

DBS Group Holdings chief executive Piyush Gupta said the bank has not identified any stress in its Singapore home loans.

Housing non-performing loans (NPL) came in at $110 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30 - unchanged from the previous quarter and down from $119 million in the same period a year earlier.

It is doing better in this segment than the other two local banks. OCBC and United Overseas Bank (UOB), which both reported quarterly earnings on Thursday, saw housing NPLs rise. OCBC's third-quarter housing NPL was $272 million, up from $253 million in the previous quarter and $227 million last year. UOB's housing NPL was $502 million, up from $447 million in the previous quarter and $295 million last year.

DBS' mortgage book here could grow by about $3.8 billion this year, up from original forecasts for a loan growth of between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, Mr Gupta said.

One reason is that a larger percentage of its loans goes to those buying HDB homes as well as those buying units to live in, rather than for investment purposes, he said.

Another is that DBS seems to have defended its turf well.

"The outflows have been much, much softer than we expected. Typically, you'll lose (some) amount of mortgage growth because of refinancing out, because of property sales, disposals," he said.

"That activity has slowed down and therefore, the attrition is much, much slower than we anticipated," he added.

He said Credit Bureau Singapore data showed DBS' delinquency rate for home loans is "substantially better". Its delinquency rate is 30 basis points lower than the industry average.

MOK FEI FEI