DBS Group Holdings Stock Price Today (DBSDY)
2023.02.24 12:58
Financial holding company DBS Group Holdings is based in Singapore and primarily operates through DBS Bank.
The Development Bank of Singapore (Singapore Development Bank) was the name that was used when the bank was established on July 16, 1968. The 1960 United Nations mission led by Dutch economist Albert Winsemius to investigate the possibilities of industrial development in Singapore was the driving force behind the establishment of the bank.
The government owned more than 40% of the shares in the bank. A real estate company, a commercial bank, and a brokerage office were all established at the bank in 1969, 1986, and 1989, respectively. Singapore’s industry, urban infrastructure, and tourism were developed by the Bank with public funds and foreign investment.
Since the 1970s, the bank has formed partnerships with Japanese and American financial institutions, particularly Daiwa Securities, Sumitomo Bank, and Nomura Merchant Bank, to become an active participant in the Asian stock and currency markets. In 1977, DBS opened its first overseas branch in Tokyo. By 1986, it had 589 correspondent accounts in 721 countries. DBS listed Japanese securities on the Singapore Stock Exchange in the middle of the 1980s.
DBS began expanding its influence in Asia toward the end of the 1980s, particularly in China, Indonesia, and Thailand. DBS and Tat Lee Bank loaned $420 million in 1993 to help China’s automotive industry grow (through the creation of a joint venture between Volkswagen and First Automobile Works).
The bank was a major player in the placement of shares in the domestic market. In 1987, it was responsible for 83.6 percent of the S$670.8 million in initial public offerings of shares on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The asset management division started actively participating in the Asian stock markets in 1990.
DBS’s assets (US$39.3 billion) made it the largest bank in Southeast Asia by 1994. DBS made the decision to take advantage of the difficult financial situation that many Asian banks were in as a result of the Asian financial crisis. Purchases included substantial stakes in Thai banks (Thai Dhanu Bank), Indonesian banks (Bank Buana Indonesia), Philippine banks, and others.
When DBS acquired Postal Savings Bank of Singapore (Post Office Savings Bank) in 1998, it became the largest bank in Singapore in terms of the number of ATMs it operated (737 on the island). The British colonial authorities established the Postal Savings Bank in 1877, but its services began to lose popularity in the middle of the 1950s, prompting a series of reorganizations and changes in subordination.
In 1992, DBS Bank purchased a 10% stake in one of the local banks to enter the Hong Kong market. Three banks were acquired between 1999 and 2001, and in 2003, they merged into a subsidiary of DBS Bank (Hong Kong). The bank’s name was changed to the abbreviation DBS Bank in response to the expansion of its activities throughout the same year. The Islamic Bank of Asia, a subsidiary bank established in 2007, aimed at providing banking services in the Middle East that do not violate Sharia law.
