Analysts argue that there are differences set Singapore banks apart from SVB

Analysts remained sanguine on the outlook of Singapore’s banks, arguing that there are several fundamental differences which set local lenders significantly apart from SVB:

Maybank Securities Singapore head of research, Thilan Wickramasinghe:

“(SVB’s collapse) was more of an old-fashioned liquidity crisis than really a solvency crisis like what we saw during the GFC. So I think the systemic risk is relatively low, especially for Singapore banks. A large part of SVB’s client base is startups. Singapore banks’ customer bases tend to be mostly large corporates, as well as more premium clientele.”

“One of the areas we would be watching for is second- and third-degree impact from -Singapore banks’ exposure to private equity companies, who may have startups that might be facing a liquidity crunch.”

“At the same time, we may have some corporates with some deposits in SVB. But at this stage, we do not think this is a major risk.”