Southeast Asia's largest bank, the Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings has maintained a positive outlook for the coming months, as it feels that the global economic crisis appears to be bottoming in the group's key markets - Singapore and Hong Kong.

Reporting a 28 percent year-on-year fall in the group's first-quarter net profit on Friday, the company - despite its optimistic front - said that it would likely continue to see bad loans.

The company statement said that the 2009 first-quarter net profit figures fell to 433 million Singapore dollars, as against 603 million dollars the year before; the fall resulting from the bigger allowances that the company made for bad debt!

Despite the fall, the net profit figures surpassed the analysts' expectations of 347 million Singapore dollars, as the net interest income also depicted a 2 percent rise to 1.06 billion dollars. The chief measure of profitability for banks - the net interest margin - dropped to 1.99 percent, compared to 2.04 percent in the preceding quarter.

In a briefing after posting the results, the DBS Group Chairman, Koh Boon Hwee, said: "Given continuing uncertainties over how protracted the downturn will be, we will remain vigilant in managing our balance sheet." However, hinting at a 'turnaround for the better,' Hwee also added: "The deterioration has stopped getting worse... I feel we are at a bottom."