DBS Group Holdings Ltd. overtook Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. to develop into Southeast Asia’s largest company by market value.
As of Thursday’s close, DBS’s market capitalisation was US$46.8 billion, while Singtel’s was US$44.86 billion.
In 2016, DBS adopted a “digital to the core” strategy, signaling that Singapore’s largest bank would deal with technology-intensive growth in addition to on clients that generate consistently higher returns on equity.
“Some of that optimism may reflect what’s happening with technology companies,” Diksha Gera, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in Singapore, said in a Bloomberg report. “DBS is among a handful of banks in the region that appear to be taking on the challenge head-on, with a broad technology transformation.”
Tech giants similar to Apple Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are among the many world’s seven largest corporations by market capitalization, boosting investors’ prospects for the industry.
DBS Chief Executive Piyush Gupta revealed its digital technique to investors and analysts last week, which detailed its intention to chop costs and boost profits, Bloomberg reported. The bank grew 42% in 2017, twice as much because the gain within the Bloomberg Asia Pacific Banks Index. Singtel gained 1.4%, lagging the 12% gain within the Bloomberg Asia Pacific Telecommunications Index.
Things won’t necessarily get any easier for Singtel. Singapore’s largest telecoms company is bracing for more competition from a brand new entrant into Singapore’s cell phone market: TPG Telecom Ltd.
Source: Fortune
