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DBS set to replace foreign managers with local staffers

DBS Group Holdings Ltd (星展集團), Southeast Asia’s largest bank, will replace more than 30 expatriate managers in Taiwan who helped integrate the acquisition of Bowa Commercial Bank Co (寶華銀行) with locals.

The managers, who came from DBS’ Hong Kong and Singapore branches, may start returning as early as next year after their projects are completed, said Philip Lim (林偉業), the company’s head of Taiwan consumer banking. Expatriate executives also have the option of remaining in Taiwan on local pay packages, he said.

“We laid the foundation by implementing DBS culture and rules, and now the locals would be better to manage the bank,” Lim, who will leave Taiwan mid-next year, said in an interview in Taipei.

The Taiwanese government paid DBS NT$44.5 billion (US$1.37 billion) to take over Bowa’s assets last year, according to a statement on the Financial Supervisory Commission’s Web site. DBS has a network of 40 branches in Taiwan after the acquisition.

The cost of employing a local may be around two-thirds of that of an expatriate worker, said Lim, whose package includes housing and payment of local tax.

“Local staff will cost less than staff from overseas but we will always pay for good hires,” Lim said.

Business in Taiwan returned to profit this year after posting a loss of NT$67 million last year, Jerry Chen (陳亮丞), head of DBS Taiwan, said on July 28. In the first eight months of this year, the unit had a pretax profit of NT$438 million, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Commission.
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