Singapore's DBS to inject 1million USD into China DBS

Singapore's largest home-grown bank DBS Bank plans to inject an additional 2.3 billion yuan (365. 1 million U.S. dollars) into DBS China, in a move that will increase the subsidiary's registered capital by close to 60 percent, the bank said on Wednesday. The capital injection, subject to regulatory approvals, will be the first by the bank since the Chinese subsidiary was incorporated five years ago with a capital of 4 billion yuan (634. 9 million U.S. dollars). The bank's China subsidiary plans to continue investing in its rapidly growing franchise to expand its network and boost its headcount, infrastructure, consumer and corporate internet banking platform and other technology developments. The Chinese mainland market has now come to be the third largest revenue contributor to the bank, after Singapore and China 's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said Melvin Teo, chief executive officer of DBS China. Teo said the bank has established a firm foothold in the areas of corporate banking, trade finance, cash management, treasury and markets, as well as wealth management. The profit from its Chinese mainland operations in 2011 doubled from a year ago to more than 500 million yuan (79.4 million U.S. dollars). It opened eight new outlets on the Chinese mainland last year and acquired 16,000 new clients. It now has 25 branches across 10 major cities and aims to have as many as 50 by 2013. The bank opened its first branch on Chinese mainland in January this year in the western city of Chongqing. The bank has been ambitious to become one of Asia's largest banks, saying that its strategic goal is for the Chinese market including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to be one of its three key growth drivers. This market now accounted for around 30 percent of DBS' revenues, said DBS Group Chairman Peter Seah. The other two growth drivers for the bank will be Southeast Asia and South Asia, respectively. "I believe that in order to be a leading Asian bank, we have to be a key player in China. In 2011, our net profit exceeded 3 billion Singapore dollars (2.4 billion U.S. dollars), a historic first for the banking sector in Singapore," Seah said.