DBS Group Holdings has become the first listed company in Singapore to exceed a market value of US$100 billion, buoyed by a softer US dollar that magnified gains in the local stock market.
According to Bloomberg, South-east Asia’s largest bank rose as much as 0.9% during Monday’s (June 9) trading session, bringing its market capitalisation to S$129.2 billion.
This extends its year-to-date gains to over 4%.
The rise in DBS’s share price, when measured in US dollar terms, was largely driven by a weakening greenback.
So far in 2025, the Singapore dollar has appreciated approximately 6% against the US dollar.
In local currency, however, DBS has dipped slightly from its record closing high of S$46.67, set on Feb 26.
With its current valuation, DBS now ranks around 22nd globally among banks, ahead of Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group but still trailing HSBC Holdings, which is worth roughly twice as much.
Other major Asian lenders such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and India’s HDFC Bank also hold higher market capitalisations.
This milestone follows moves by Singapore’s major banks to return billions of dollars in surplus capital to shareholders, spurred by record earnings last year.
DBS has particularly benefited from growth in lending and wealth management fees.
The only other Singapore-based firm to previously achieve this valuation is Sea Ltd, which is listed in New York.
Since taking over as CEO in March from Piyush Gupta, Tan Su Shan has focused on leveraging supply-chain shifts and growing demand for foreign exchange hedging amid US-China trade tensions.
“A lot of DBS’s out-performance has been due to the larger growth of its wealth management, which is really starting to challenge top players in Asia,”
said Michael Makdad, a Senior Analyst at Morningstar.
“Despite Trump’s tariffs, the environment remains relatively benign for Singapore banks which are increasing share dividends and buybacks more than we would’ve expected a year ago.”
DBS currently ranks as the third-largest wealth manager in Asia (excluding mainland China), based on data from Asian Private Banker.
Its private banking arm attracted net new money of S$21 billion last year—marking the third consecutive year of inflows surpassing S$20 billion.
Featured image credit: DBS
