DBS plans to expand small and medium businesses in China by three to five times over five years making this sector one of its key businesses in the country.
DBS, the biggest bank by assets in Southeast Asia, will allocate more than 50 percent of its business lending resources to small and medium business this year in China.
The sector is the key area it will focus in Asia, said Teresa Lin, vice chairman and chief executive officer of DBS Bank (China) Ltd. Trade finance, factoring services and equipment finance are one of the key sectors that DBS will build up in China.
The SMEs sector is one of the two business areas that the Singapore-based bank will endeavor to develop in China, along with other consumer banking, said Lin.
The bank is about to open sub-branches in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Suzhou and Shenzhen this year and plans to add a branch in Tianjin in the first half of this year.
The bank added payrolls, mainly for consumer banking, to its business last year.
The bank is targeting middle class consumers with a monthly income of more than 8,000 yuan as its consumer bank clients. It is targeting consumers with assets of more than 400,000 yuan as its top-end clients.
The bank said it plans to up its employees to 2,000 in five years from last May's 400 and it will become one of the five biggest overseas banks in China. The bank set up its Chinese mainland subsidiary in Shanghai last year.