Tue, Apr 28, 2015 page15

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  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.
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