PREVIEW-DBS profit growth to stand out among SE Asian banks

* What: Singapore's Q3 earnings, Malaysia's Maybank's Q1

* When: Singapore Oct 28-Nov 6, Malaysia mid-Nov

* Earnings momentum improving on strong markets, economies

SINGAPORE, Oct 26 (Reuters) - DBS (DBSM.SI), Southeast
Asia's biggest bank, is set to shine among its regional peers
in the third quarter, when most bank earnings benefited from an
improving economic climate and buoyant capital markets.

DBS is expected to report around a 27 percent jump in net
profit in the three months to September, the first expansion
since the second quarter of 2008 and its best profit growth
since late 2006, as it was better at taking advantage of strong
markets and managing bad debts.

With equity volumes up 30 percent year-on-year, banks are
benefiting from gains in trading and broking fees, and credit
quality is improving as economies recover from weakness seen in
the first half of the year, analysts said.

"We expect improved macro conditions and government
support schemes to filter through to asset quality, which will
significantly reduce credit charges," CLSA analyst Thilan
Wickramsinghe said in a note.

Citigroup's Robert Kong said he would also look at how
Singapore banks are managing their costs as they look to
selectively hire bankers and boost expenditure to tackle a
faster-than-expected pickup in business volumes.

Analysts said Malaysia's top two lenders Malayan Banking
(Maybank) (MBBM.KL) and CIMB (CIMB.KL) are expected to report
higher fee-based income and loan growth with the country's
economic recovery.

"We expect a strong non-interest income contribution for
CIMB, partly from the rebound in debt and capital markets,"
said Macquarie analyst Tay Chin Seng.

Public Bank (PUBM.KL), Malaysia's third-largest lender, was
the first Malaysian bank to release its quarterly earnings,
reporting net profit of 639 million ringgit, up 3.7 percent
from a year ago, helped by strong loan growth.

SINGAPORE - ESTIMATED Q3 NET PROFIT AVG (S$ mln)

Q3 2009 CHANGE (PCT) VS Q3 2008 NO OF ANALYSTS

DBS 480 26.6 379 6

UOB 463 -2.5 475 6

OCBC 278 -30.8 402 6

* OCBC result will include a S$218 mln ($157 million)
writedown linked to products from its insurance unit

(Data based on a Reuters poll)

MALAYSIA - ESTIMATED FULL-YEAR NET PROFT AVG (mln ringgit)

2010 CHANGE (PCT) VS 2009 ANALYSTS

Maybank* 2,813 307 691.9 20

2009 CHANGE (PCT) VS 2008

CIMB 2,538 30 1,952 20

* Maybank's financial year runs from July to June.
($1=1.391 Singapore Dollar)
(Estimates are from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S)
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar in Singapore and Julie Goh in Kuala
Lumpur; Editing by Jean Yoon)