DBS forms a Taiwan subsidiary

It was created as part of a so-called greater China strategy.

The Taiwan subsidiary began operations last month, and DBS will use it to gain further headways into the Taiwan market and, relatedly, into Hong Kong's and China's.

"The formation of the wholly owned subsidiary, DBS Bank (Taiwan), is a demonstration of the bank's firm intent to continue its solid growth momentum in the market. It also underlines DBS’ commitment to executing on its Greater China strategy, which is to intermediate the increasing business, trade and investment flows between Taiwan, Hong Kong and China," the company said in a release.

"DBS has been enjoying strong growth momentum in Taiwan. In 2008, DBS was the first Singapore bank to make a major investment in Taiwan with the acquisition of the “good bank assets” of Bowa Commercial Bank. The acquisition, which turned profitable in 2009, was transformational, bolstering DBS’ Taiwan footprint from a single branch to 40 branches," it added.

"Between 2007-2011, DBS Bank (Taiwan)’s total revenues have grown about four times to NTD 4.7 billion. Total loans rose by three times to NTD 158 billion and total deposits expanded by 18 times to NTD 172 billion. Staff headcount has surged to over 1,400," it said further.

"Going forward, the bank will broaden its customer base by focusing mainly on growing the Treasures priority banking and SME business. In the SME space, DBS Taiwan will introduce SME centres this year to better serve customers and help them grow their businesses. In the consumer banking space, there are plans to deepen customer relationships through the cross-sell of investments, insurance, mortgages, credit cards and unsecured loans," said DBS Bank (Taiwan) general manager Jerry Chen.

DBS also has a clear vision of what it plans to focus on the greater Asian region in the near future.

"On DBS’ strategic agenda are: entrenching its leadership in Singapore, re-energising Hong Kong and re-balancing the geographic mix of its franchise. DBS is also focused on strengthening its regional wealth management business, SME, Treasury & Markets and Global Transaction Services business," the company said.