Buying bits of a bank is complex at the best of times. When it involves one of the planet’s most highly charged territorial disputes, it takes a truly daring chief executive to take the plunge. Piyush Gupta of $65 billion Singaporean lender DBS Group appears to be that CEO, whether he thinks of himself that way or not.
have retreated, or when banks fall into distress. Gupta’s recent buys include a 13% stake in China’s Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank and a rescue of India’s Lakshmi Vilas Bank.
Gupta’s response is pragmatic – brutally so. He has consistently said that the bank spent a lot of time thinking through the geopolitical risk. And in a war, he pointed out earlier this month, the fate of its newly acquired consumer bank would be the least of DBS’ worries. He has a point, and it makes the deal look more logical than contrarian: as an Asia-centred financial institution, DBS has much greater exposure than its Western rivals to conflict in the region even without Citi’s cast-offs.
Besides, sitting still isn’t an option. American banks are seeking growth too, bolstered by huge balance sheets and windfall profits from the pandemic. Fraser and her peers have been renewing efforts to open doors in China, some recently visiting Hong Kong. Citi and Goldman Sachs Singapore’s DBS Group said on Nov. 3 that it expects its acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer business in Taiwan to close in August.
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