As with so many banks in the reporting cycle, the fall in provisions for credit losses when set against a year ago helped significantly lift the bottom line.

DBS Group yesterday said it logged a record first-half 2021 net profit of S$3.71 billion ($2.75 billion), surging by 54 per cent year-on-year, aided by a big drop in provisions for credit losses, and improved business momentum.

As with many other banks, the Singapore-based group has had to set aside less money to guard against the damaging impact of COVID-19 than was the case a year ago. “New NPA [non-performing assets] formation and specific allowances fell to pre-pandemic levels and general allowances were written back,” the bank said. Total allowances for credit and other losses stood at S$89 million in the first half of 2021, against S$1.935 billion a year before.

Return on equity rose from 9.5 per cent a year ago to 14.0 per cent, the bank said.

For the first half of 2021, consumer banking/wealth management income, however, fell by 12 per cent from a year ago to S$2.71 billion. The impact of lower interest rates was partially offset by housing loan and wealth management loan growth as well as higher income from investment products, bancassurance and cards, DBS said. 

Asset quality improved as the severity of the pandemic eased, DBS Group said. New non-performing asset formation fell to pre-pandemic levels and was offset by repayments in both the first and second quarters of 2021.

The Common Equity Tier-1 ratio - the international measure of capital strength - rose 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter to 14.5 per cent at the end of June.