Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Development Bank of Singapore (A+/Stable/A-1) are unaffected by the flat year-on-year after-tax net profit reported for the third quarter ended September 2002 by the bank's parent group, DBS Group Holdings. The bank accounts for the bulk of the group's assets, revenues, and profits. Profitability in the nine months ended September 2002 did, however, decline year on year, mainly because of increased loan loss provisioning and the amortization of goodwill charges arising from the 2001 acquisition of Dao Heng Bank Ltd. Standard&Poor's normally deducts all goodwill against equity when calculating capitalization ratios, and accordingly, tends to focus on net after-tax profit before goodwill is amortized. If goodwill amortization
