Covid-19

The brave new world after the coronavirus crisis will see a highly digitalised economy that is also greener and more sustainable, said UBS regional chief Edmund Koh. Mr Koh, who is president of UBS Asia Pacific, added that some industries such as aviation, travel and entertainment will find it challenging while others such as e-commerce and logistics might thrive. He told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview: "We have always maintained that some industries would do well, such as e-commerce, high technology like 5G and automation, logistics like delive...

SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - DBS on Thursday (April 30) guided that its oil-and-gas (O&G) lending portfolio at $23 billion makes up its single-largest loan exposure to impacted industries made vulnerable by the Covid-19 pandemic, and that it expects further allowances set aside specifically for O&G support services. This comes as the bank reported a 29 per cent fall in Q1 net profit that brought its earnings to its lowest level since 2017. Singapore’s largest bank opened the results season for the local trio with a large bump in allowances set aside to prep...

HONG KONG (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) - HSBC Holdings' first-quarter profit nearly halved from a year-ago, missing estimates, after boosting provisions against bad loans as the coronavirus pandemic hits borrowers worldwide. Europe's biggest bank by assets said profit before tax came in at US$3.21 billion (S$4.56 billion) for January-March, down from US$6.21 billion a year ago and below an average analyst forecast of US$3.67 billion compiled by the bank. The bank increased its expected credit impairment charges by a hefty US$2.4 billion to US$3 billion due to the im...