Which Singapore bank pays its staff the most?

This lender enjoys higher income from its institutional banking and treasury markets units.

Staff costs per head at DBS hit S$31,598 in Q1 which makes the lender the most generous Singapore bank in terms of company wide remuneration, according to an article from efinancialcareers.

Total employee expenditure divided by total headcount of UOB and OCBC hit S$24,765 and S$22,598 respectively over the same period. 

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"DBS's Q1 remuneration advantage partly reflects its comparatively high bonuses, which are typically paid in that quarter," the report noted. On an annual basis, however, DBS still leads the pack after shelling out S$118,591 per average employee in 2018, according to its financial statement.

The report attributes the high compensation figures to the DBS' high-earning investment bankers whose pay and bonuses drive up the average figure for the whole firm. Data from Dealogic cited by eFC show that DBS ranks third in Southeast Asian IB revenue in 2018 whilst OCBC ranked eighth place and UOB failed to crack the top ten. 

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The Institutional Banking unit of DBS is also slightly larger than similar departments at OCBC and UOB with the unit hauling in an operating income of S$1,499m in Q1, compared with S$1,020m at UOB (Group Wholesale Banking) and S$893m (Global Corporate/Investment Banking) at OCBC.

DBS' Treasury Markets division, which generated income of S$293m in Q1, is also larger than similar markets divisions of UOB (S$144m) and OCBC (S$195m).