DBS Bank

DBS Bank Ltd

Type	Public
Industry	Banking
Founded	1968
Headquarters	Singapore
Key people	Peter Seah, Chairman Piyush Gupta, CEO
Products	Financial Services
Operating income	$7 billion SGD (2010) [1]
Employees	over 14,000
Website	www.dbs.com

DBS Bank Ltd SGX: D05 (Chinese: 星展银行有限公司; pinyin: Xīngzhǎn Yínháng Yǒuxìan Gōngsī) is a bank incorporated in Singapore. It was previously known as The Development Bank of Singapore Limited, before the present name was adopted in July 2003 to reflect its changing role as a regional bank.

The bank was set up by Government of Singapore in June 1968 to take over the industrial financing activities from the Economic Development Board. Today, its branches numbering more than 100 can be found island-wide. DBS Bank is the largest bank in South East Asia by assets and among the larger banks in Asia. It has market-dominant positions in consumer banking, treasury and markets, asset management, securities brokerage, equity and debt fund-raising in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Acquisition of POSBank

In 1998, DBS Bank merged with POSBank, giving it a dominant market share with over four million customers.

Shareholders

The largest shareholders as of 10 February 2006 are:

1. DBS Nominees Pte Ltd: 357,492,056, 23.86%
2. Raffles Nominees Pte Ltd: 263,390,352, 17.58%
3. Maju Holdings Pte Ltd: 234,497,040, 15.65%
4. Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd: 185,673,795, 12.39%
5. Citibank Nominees Singapore Pte Ltd: 110,584,014, 7.38%
6. HSBC (Singapore) Nominees Pte Ltd: 107,052,860, 7.14%

Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd, a company wholly owned by Minister for Finance (Incorporated), is deemed interested in the 234,497,040 shares held by Maju Holdings Pte Ltd, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd.

International Operations

DBS has branches and offices in China, Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, United Kingdom and United States.

Hong Kong

Main article: DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited

DBS started its operations in Hong Kong in 1999 by acquiring Kwong On Bank from Leung's family & Japanese-based Fuji Bank, and renamed it as DBS Kwong On Bank. It acquired Dao Heng Bank (and its subsidiary Overseas Trust Bank) in 2001. The three banks were later merged under the trading name of DBS.

China

DBS has 8 branches and 7 sub-branches in China. These are located across the country in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Tianjin and Dongguan. In December 2006, DBS Bank received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to prepare for local incorporation in China. DBS is the only Singapore bank among nine foreign banks to receive this approval. In 2010, it also became the first Singapore bank to issue UnionPay debit cards in China.

Taiwan

In May 2008, DBS integrated Taiwan's Bowa Bank into its operations after acquiring the "good bank assets" in February. There are 40 distribution outlets across the country, half of which are based in Taipei.

India

As of Nov 2010, DBS has 12 branches in India, located at cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Nashik, Cuddalore, Moradabad, Pune, Salem, Surat and Delhi. [2] DBS India had a 37.5% stake in DBS Cholamandalam Finance, a non-bank financial institution, in April 2009, it transferred its shares to the parent company Tubes Investments of India Limited thus it terminated its shared holder agreement in Cholamandalam DBS .

Indonesia

DBS has a 99%-owned subsidiary, PT Bank DBS Indonesia, with 39 branches and sub-branches in 11 cities.

The Islamic Bank of Asia

Main article: The Islamic Bank of Asia

DBS Bank launched The Islamic Bank of Asia (IB Asia) on May 7, 2007 after receiving official approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a full bank licence. IB Asia's founding shareholders include majority stakeholder DBS and 34 Middle Eastern investors from prominent families and industrial groups from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

DBS iB Secure Device and Internet Banking

DBS iB Secure Device showing code number

Starting in late 2006, the bank began releasing to its Internet banking customers a Dual Factor Authentication device to assist in thwarting phishing attacks. The DBS iB Secure Device is a hardware device with a key fob form factor that generates a password that is linked to the log-on name. The password changes every sixty seconds and once used is no longer valid. The institution Code for DBS is 7171.

Mobile Banking

On 15 April 2010, DBS Bank launched mobile banking service, mBanking, to both DBS and POSB customers. It allows customers to view their banking and credit card accounts, transfer funds and pay bills via their mobile phones. Customers will need to download an application from the company website to use this service

mBanking was already soft-launched on both DBS and POSB websites on 10 April 2010 with more than 2,300 downloads.

Customers using mBanking will be protected by DBS Bank's 'money-safe' guarantee. The bank promised reimbursements if there are any unauthorised transactions.

External links

• Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) Official site
• DBS Hong Kong
• Cholamandalam DBS Official site