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Andy Mukherjee

How Robots and Tariffs Spoiled the DBS Party

A gloomier world, and growing automation, hit the Singapore bank’s trading income.

Piyush Gupta has adjusted his outlook for trade loans. — Piyush Gupta has adjusted his outlook for trade loans.
Photographer: Wei Leng Tay/Bloomberg

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August 2, 2018, 5:56 AM UTC

Not so long ago, Singapore’s biggest bank used to be gung-ho about its trading operations. So much so that when DBS Group Holdings Ltd. moved its headquarters of nearly four decades, it made sure the dealing room was 40 percent larger.

It must have been a rather empty hall in the June quarter.