SINGAPORE: DBS CEO has leukemia, chairman runs bank for now

DBS CEO has leukemia,
chairman runs bank for now

By Saeed Azhar
SINGAPORE,
Jan 29 (Reuters)

DBS Group's (DBSM.SI) chief executive Richard Stanley has leukemia, creating a leadership vacuum at Southeast Asia's largest bank when its two key markets are suffering from recessions.

Koh Boon Hwee, the Singapore bank's chairman, will take charge after Thursday's shock announcement that Stanley would be absent for up to six months for medical treatment.

Analysts said Stanley's absence after just over eight months at the helm the bank, would be worrying if it went beyond the six months the bank had stated.

"At the moment we don't see a major shift in direction unless he stays away for a bit longer than six months," Daphne Roth, anal yst at ABN AMRO private bank "Beyond that they will have to find a replacement."

Stanley, 48, previously head of Citigroup (C.N) China, was hired in May last year with an aim to expand the bank's reach beyond its two core markets Singapore and Hong Kong. [ID:nSP332811]

He cut 900 jobs last year to slash costs, sold preference shares last year and last week completed a S$4 billion rights ($2.67 billion) issue, which was oversubscribed.

DBS last month predicted its fourth-quarter profit may fall from the previous three months and analysts have warned that the lender, which makes 90 percent of its profit from Singapore and Hong Kong, could be hit by loan losses due to the worsening economic outlook. Continued...