Chart of the Day: Singapore banks are struggling with net interest margin pressure
Is this why they're expanding regionally?
According to DBS, Singapore banks are facing NIM pressures at home and hence have been expanding regionally.
Ventures in Malaysia area are a legacy for UOB and OCBC. OCBC has an upper hand in Malaysia because of its Islamic banking subsidiary.
"We saw a pick up in Indonesian returns for OCBC in 2Q13. UOB is the only Singapore bank with Thai operations. Near-term, there could be headwinds in Indonesian and Thailand operations due to modest macro prospects," DBS said.