HONG KONG: DBS Bank (Hong Kong) said its lending business will become its major revenue driver in 2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis that took a toll on the bank's wealth-management income in the first half of this year.

Linda Wong, DBS's managing director and head of consumer banking for Hong Kong and the mainland, said investment activities in Hong Kong experienced a significant plunge early this year, after the slump in global equity markets in the fourth quarter of 2008.

"As the equity market is likely to remain volatile in the first quarter of next year, we will adopt a back-to-basic strategy and focus more on developing our traditional banking services," Wong said.

She added that wealth-management income driven by the trading of stocks, funds and structural products has bottomed out in the third quarter.

Despite the 30 to 50 percent drop in overall consumer banking revenue in the industry, DBS expects its consumer banking business to show strong growth in the fourth quarter.

"Our consumer banking business has begun to bottom out in the second quarter, while gradually recovering in the third quarter," Wong said.

Wong said DBS currently ranks fifth in the consumer banking business in Hong Kong.

She added that loans and traditional deposits are now the major focus of DBS's consumer banking business, while the bank has also gained some good returns from its personal and mortgage lending this year.

DBS will also hire more frontline sales and marketing staff in its call center and branches to catch up with the development in consumer banking services.

The bank now has 350 staff working in its new call center at One Island East in Quarry Bay, which can accommodate 460 staff if required.

Henry Wu, senior vice president of customer center & self service channels at consumer banking, said around 70 percent of customers in DBS prefer to conduct securities trading on the Internet, while 30 percent choose to settle on phone.

He said the bank expects more customers would opt for Internet banking services, as the demand for direct and immediate banking services increases.

(HK Edition 12/08/2009 page4)