However, a firmer U.S. and China may lift prospects for the three banks, which are among the largest lenders in Southeast Asia.
“Given that Singapore is an open economy, those things will definitely help… The government is more opened to venture capital firms, so investors are coming here in a bigger way. It’s about tapping those segments and grow the balance sheets from there,” Guha said.
But sounding a more pessimistic tone, S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ivan Tan said in a note on Wednesday that Singapore is only at the early stages of a credit cycle downturn, and things are likely to get worse in 2017 and 2018.
“Sluggish loan growth and higher credit costs, offset by higher net interest margins, will culminate in modest to flattish profit growth,” said Tan, who forecast the loan books for the banks to grow 3 to 5 percent in 2017.
