Deposit growth in Singapore still sluggish in May at 7.8%

With slower deposit growth vs loan growth, loan-to-deposit ratio surpassed 90% in May 12, says DBS.

According to DBS, while y-o-y momentum continued to moderate to 22.5% (Apr 12: 24.0% y-o-y), m-o-m growth in May rebounded at 2.2% which brought YTD May 12 loan growth to 5.8%. The recovery arose from business loans which contracted m-o-m in Apr 12. Meanwhile, housing loans was fairly stable at 1.2% m-o-m and 15.0% y-o-y (Apr 12: 0.9% m-o-m; 15.3% y-o-y).

Here's more from DBS:

Stable but sluggish deposit growth. Deposit growth remained sluggish in May 12 at 7.8% y-o-y (Apr 12: 7.7% y-o-y) but rebounded m-o-m to 0.7% (Apr 12: -0.6% m-o-m). Such trends were evident in the 1Q12 bank results. Banks appear to be pacing deposits with loan growth. As we believe S$ liquidity remains ample, banks do not appear to be aggressively competing for deposits. With slower deposit growth vs loan growth, loan-to-deposit ratio surpassed 90% in May 12.