Best bank - DBS Bank
Best equity house - DBS Bank
Best debt house - DBS Bank
Best M&A house - CSFB
Competition continues to increase in Singapore's banking market as foreign banks pile in. And as the number of foreign players increases, lending opportunities are shrinking. Even the mortgage market is now mirroring the corporate lending market on its downward spiral. This is bad news for the big three domestic banks: DBS, UOB and OCBC. According to analysts there is no bank that stands out across the board. And on the consumer side of the business it is especially difficult to differentiate.
However, the consensus is that the bank dealing most effectively with these challenges is DBS. Seeing its traditional revenue streams coming under the most pressure, it has been forced to look to other businesses such as wealth management. For example, in attempting to offer customers alternative investments, it has increased sales in its wealth management business from S$1.6 billion in 2001 to over S$3 billion (US$1.8 billion). The growth surge is definitely helped by its strong consumer franchise. It claims to have close to a 60% market share in savings deposits.