After a sterling 2024 when Singapore's biggest bank by assets booked record net profits, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said that the bank needs to have "agility" and "nimbleness" to navigate a "choppy" 2025 amid unpredictable tariff and monetary policies from the U.S.
Speaking in an exclusive interview to CNBC's JP Ong, Gupta said "we are actually quite conscious of the fact that the Trump administration could use economic tools as [a] weapon, and therefore tariffs and tax policies, etc., can change."
"Interest income is always difficult to predict because the impact of rates is manifold," Gupta said, adding that DBS had originally projected four rate cuts by the Fed in 2025, but has reduced that forecast to two cuts in its earnings report released Monday.
Following the stellar results, the bank proposed a final dividend of 60 Singapore cents per share for the fourth quarter, an increase of six cents from the previous payout.
This would mean that DBS' total dividend for the 2024 financial year will stand at SG$2.22 per share, a year-on-year increase of 27%.
On top of the regular dividend, DBS announced a new "capital return" dividend of 15 Singapore cents per share for each quarter in 2025, as part of measures to manage excess capital.
"In the subsequent two years, it expects to pay out a similar amount of capital either through this or other mechanisms, barring unforeseen circumstances," the bank added.
CNBC