All eyes are on Singapore’s banks after the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) urged the big three banks to limit their dividend payments to 60% of last year’s total annual dividend. DBS Group Holding Ltd (SGX: D05), who was among the first of the trio to report its earnings yesterday, provided us with some insight. As expected, the bank declared a quarterly dividend of S$0.18, down 45% from the S$0.33 in its previous quarter. DBS Group will be offering a scrip dividend option for investors as well. But that’s not all that we learnt from the quarter. Here are 10 things you should know:

1. Net interest income for the quarter fell by 5% year on year to S$2.3 billion.

2. Loan growth came in at a healthy 7% year on year. However, net interest margin plunged to 1.62% from 1.91% a year ago due to a lower global interest rate environment.

...