Fifteen years after it first started operations in India, Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) is looking to enter the consumer banking space in India.
Fifteen years after it first started operations in India and just over a year after it got a licence to open eight branches in India, Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) is looking to enter the consumer banking space in India.
Jeanette Wong, executive director, institutional banking group, DBS, said the bank is looking for more branches to slowly step into deposit gathering, wealth management and consumer banking. “We have 10 branches now but if the RBI agrees we would love to have more. Ultimately you also need more ATMs if you want to target consumers and offer them debit cards,” Wong told DNA Money in a telephonic interview.
Wong also met RBI officials during her visit to India last week and, though she refused to share details of the meeting, she said her bank had suggested “some locations (for more branches) and is working on a timeline for India.”
“India is strategically important for us in Asia for the long term. In retail banking the value we add is our footprint in key countries in Asia. We have laid the foundation for retail, it will take time but we are not slowing down.
Wong said at 16.2% total capital adequacy ratio and 60 cents to a dollar loan to deposit ratio, the bank has the right foundation. India is one of the four markets which “holds critical importance” for DBS besides China, Indonesia and Taiwan.
“Our business in India is growing well. Five years back, we were small, there was nothing, but the last few years have been good in assets and profitability. Last year the growth in our Indian balance sheet was substantial,” she said. Wong said the bank has a Singapore $6.4 billion (about Rs 22000 crore) exposure to India currently.
Wong is particularly bullish on India and China. “If any part of the world has the ability to pull out faster from this crisis its Asia and within Asia it is China and India.
Asia is better positioned than the west and Asian banks are not overexposed to collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) and securities and not highly leveraged like the west,” she said.
CDOs are types of asset-backed securities whose value and payments are derived from a portfolio of fixed-income underlying assets.
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