Singapore banks return capital but draw mixed sentiments; earnings stay resilient in Q4

THE Singapore banks posted stable earnings for the fourth quarter ended December, amid expectations that a resilient Asean economy will continue to support their growth outlook in 2025.

But investors were divided over the lenders’ respective capital return plans, which come as they attempt to lower excess capital resulting from changes to global bank capital requirements.

DBS announced a capital return dividend of S$0.15 per share to be paid out each quarter over 2025. It expects to pay out a similar amount of capital in the next two years – this is on top of its S$3 billion share buyback programme announced during its Q3 results.

UOB proposed a special dividend of S$0.50 per share – paying out S$800 million of UOB’s surplus capital – over two tranches in 2025, and introduced a S$2 billion share buyback programme.

Meanwhile, OCBC announced plans to return S$2.5 billion of capital to shareholders over two years via special dividends and share buybacks.