'Very robust growth:' CEO of Singapore's largest bank says 2021 was one of the best years

cnbc.com:

Singapore's largest lender DBS Group reported a record full-year profit for 2021, and its CEO Piyush Gupta told CNBC last year was «one of the best years» he's seen.

«That has been a solid year, perhaps one of the best years I've seen in a long time. And that includes a very robust growth in the balance sheet,» Gupta told CNBC's «Capital Connection» after the earnings numbers were out.

The bank on Monday reported that full-year net profit for 2021 rose 44% to a record of 6.8 billion Singapore dollars ($5.04 billion).

Fourth-quarter net profit rose 37% from a year ago to SG$1.39 billion ($1.03 billion). That, however, missed an average estimate of SG$1.47 billion from a Reuters poll.

Gupta also highlighted the bank's loans growth, which jumped 9% for the year — the fastest since 2014, according to the bank.

«We had outstanding deposit growth,» he said, adding there's been a SG$140 billion surge in the bank's current account savings account base in the last two years.

That took its current account and savings account (CASA) ratio to total deposits to a record 76%. The metric is a measure of a bank's profitability.

«Now, as you can imagine, that portends really well for a rising interest rate environment,» he said.

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In other highlights, DBS' net interest margin for the year, a measure of lending profitability, fell 17 basis points to 1.45%.

The annualized dividend, to be approved at the annual general meeting in March, is set to rise 9% to SG$1.44 per share,