DBS profit rebounds

Big jump: Employees wearing protective masks at a DBS bank branch in Singapore. The lender’s full-year profit rose 44% to a record S$6.8bil (RM21.16bil) last year. — Bloomberg

SINGAPORE: DBS Group flagged strong business momentum after its profit rose to a record last year, cementing a recovery for South-East Asia’s largest lender as pandemic-hit economies rebound and boost loan growth and asset quality.

Singapore lenders are also expected to be big beneficiaries of rising interest rates, while the city-state’s economy is forecast to grow 3% to 5% this year after expanding at its fastest annual pace in over a decade in 2021.