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SINGAPORE'S DBS Group Holdings said it may take 10 years for China to start making a meaningful contribution to the bank's bottomline.
DBS, South-east Asia's biggest bank by assets, is looking to emerging Asian markets to boost its earnings, about 90 per cent of which currently comes from Singapore and Hong Kong.
'Over the long-term, let's say 10 years, we expect something like 10 per cent (of our profits) from China because the economy is big and there is tremendous potential,' Frank Wong, DBS's chief operating officer and vice-chairman told reporters on the sidelines of a fixed-income conference on Thursday.
'Our focus is not to generate profits in the next three years rather is to build responses, open branch networks, train and hire more people,' he said.
Earlier this year Beijing allowed several foreign banks including DBS, Citigroup and HSBC to start locally incorporated businesses, which could offer similar yuan-denominated retail banking services as those offered by Chinese banks.
Mr Wong, who oversees DBS's China operations, said the bank's main focus in China is to pursue organic growth, but it would still be interested in an acquisition, although valuations may be an issue.
'We are very carefully looking at valuations,' he said.
DBS plans to boost staff in China by about three times from 650 now to 2000 in five years as it expands into 14 cities, Mr Wong said. --REUTERS
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