BANKING
DBS posts record profits
DBS Group Holdings Ltd, Southeast Asia’s largest lender, posted first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ forecasts on higher net interest income and a one-time gain from selling a property investment in Hong Kong. Net income rose 3 percent to a record S$1.27 billion (US$953 million) for the three months ended March 31 from S$1.23 billion a year earlier, the Singapore-based bank reported yesterday. That compares with the average forecast of S$1.05 billion in a Bloomberg survey of five analysts. Rising domestic interest rates, which climbed to a six-year high in the first quarter, give Singaporean banks scope to impose greater charges on borrowers. That may help offset any slowdown in lending as the economy cools in a city that generated 62 percent of DBS’ revenue last year. DBS would see the full benefits from rising local interest rates from the second quarter, when the bank accounts for the gain in charges to borrowers.
GREECE
Leaders open to talks
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a telephone conversation on Sunday to maintain contact during talks between Athens and its lenders to reach a debt deal, a Greek government official said. “During their communication, they expressed their common will for a steady communication throughout the course of negotiations in order to have a mutually beneficial solution soon,” said the official, who declined to be named. Shut out of international markets and locked in talks with its EU and IMF creditors over its proposed reform-for-cash deal, Greece risks running out of cash within weeks. However, during a regular meeting at the Latvian capital of Riga on Friday, eurozone finance ministers warned its government that it would get no fresh aid until it agreed to a complete economic reform plan. The official said that the technical teams from Greece and its creditors were to hold a teleconference yesterday and convene tomorrow to speed up negotiations.
MACROECONOMICS
Spain sees 2.9% growth
Spain’s economy would grow 2.9 percent this year and next, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said. “These are not fireworks — one thing that characterizes my government is its prudence in making estimates,” Rajoy said in a speech in Madrid yesterday. Spain’s previous projection for economic growth this year was 2.4 percent, published in February. The Bank of Spain last month raised its estimate for economic growth this year to 2.8 percent, citing lower fuel and funding costs and a weaker currency. Rajoy is due to hold a general election around the end of the year.
BANKING
Bankia Q1 profit rose 12%
Bankia SA said first-quarter profit rose after the nationalized Spanish lender set aside fewer provisions for bad loans, helping to offset a decline in interest revenue. Net income rose 12 percent to 244 million euros from 217 million euros a year earlier, the lender said in a regulatory filing yesterday. The results beat the 234.5 million euro average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 12 analysts. Net interest income, or revenue generated from the difference between what banks charge for loans and pay for funding, fell to 693 million euros from 698 million euros a year ago and is down 9 percent from the previous quarter. Bankia chairman Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri is trying to pay back 22 billion euros of state aid the bank received in 2012 and stepping up credit to consumers and small businesses.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained