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Straits Times
18-06-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
DBS aims to double Australian lending book in 5 years
DBS had signed a pact with trade agency Austrade which will help it finance more trade and investment between Australian and Southeast Asian businesses. PHOTO: REUTERS SYDNEY - DBS Group aims to double its Australian lending book in the next five years, its CEO Tan Su Shan said, as the Singapore-headquartered bank seeks to take advantage of trade links between Australia and Southeast Asia. The bank said on Wednesday it had signed a pact with trade agency Austrade which will help it facilitate and finance more trade and investment between Australian and Southeast Asian businesses, especially from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Tan said that DBS's Australian lending book was currently worth about A$11 billion (S$9.2 billion) which, she said, could double to A$20 billion in the next five years. 'Australian companies have been more domestic-centric. We are trying to change that narrative,' Tan said at a press conference on Tuesday. Referring to its Australian client AirTrunk, a data centre operator that was bought by a Blackstone-led consortium for A$24 billion last year, Tan said the company was one of the first few to invest in data centers outside of Australia. 'We'd love to rinse and repeat that with the other big Australian companies,' she said. DBS posted in May better-than-expected quarterly results, boosted by wealth management fees that jumped 35 per cent on-year to a record quarterly high of S$724 million, which the bank attributed to strong market sentiment. Assets under management at the bank, Southeast Asia's biggest, climbed 13 per cent to a record high of S$432 billion in the first quarter. Tan said while the dollar and U.S. Treasury's safe-haven status was not yet being threatened, some of the bank's clients had started to diversify away from dollar-linked investments, which has benefited Japan, among others. 'You've seen also a lot more interest in the euro and the yen. The yen has strengthened as well. So we see people now looking at where do I invest in yen?,' she said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Australia approves 40-year extension for contentious gas plant
Protesters are seen outside the Woodside Annual General Meeting at Crown Towers Perth, Burswood, in Australia on May 8. PHOTO: REUTERS SYDNEY - Australia on May 28 approved a 40-year extension to a major liquified gas plant, brushing off protests from Pacific island neighbours fearful it will inflame climate damage. The North West Shelf is a sprawling industrial complex of offshore rigs and processing factories pumping out more than 10 million tonnes of liquified gas and petroleum each year. Run by resources giant Woodside, it is one of the world's largest producers of liquified natural gas – and one of Australia's biggest polluters. Originally slated to close in five years' time, Environment Minister Murray Watt on May 28 approved an extension to keep it running until 2070. In a statement, Mr Watt said he approved the extension 'subject to strict conditions' designed to limit the impact of emissions. Neighbouring Pacific islands, already seeing their coastlines eaten away by rising seas, had urged Australia to shut down the plant. 'Pacific leaders have made it clear – there is no future for our nations if fossil fuel expansion continues,' said Tuvalu Climate Change Minister Maina Talia. 'The North West Shelf extension would lock in emissions until 2070, threatening our survival and violating the spirit of the Pacific-Australia climate partnership,' he said ahead of this week's decision. Australia insists that extending the plant – which each year emits millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas – does not tarnish a pledge to reach net zero by 2050. But it poses an awkward diplomatic problem as Australia seeks to host the UN climate conference alongside Pacific island nations in 20 26. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said liquified natural gas – a fossil fuel – would bridge the gap while more renewables were plugged into Australia's power grid. 'You can't have renewables unless you have firming capacity. It's as simple as that,' he said this week. 'You don't change a transition through warm thoughts.' The Woodside plant straddles Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, a region home to some of the country's best-preserved Aboriginal rock art. Spewing 'toxins' A monitoring programme is still trying to determine if industrial air pollution was degrading the engravings, some of which are thought to be 40,000 years old. Mr Watt said 'adequate protection for the rock art' was central to his decision. Aboriginal leaders have tried in vain to stop the extension. 'The toxins that spew out, we see this on a daily basis,' Ms Raelene Cooper said ahead of the government's decision. 'No one had a say when all this happened. Government never come to us. Woodside never come to us.' The project consistently ranks among Australia's five largest emitters of greenhouse gas, according to figures from the country's Clean Energy Regulator. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap heat as they collect in the atmosphere, fuelling climate change. AFP Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.
