Donald Trump, if elected the President of the United States of America, could be a beneficial move for China as he is a ‘dealmaker’, said DBS CEO Piyush Gupta.
Gupta made the statement during an interview at the Reuters NEXT forum in Singapore on Tuesday.
He was answering a question on the US-China relationship post the American presidential elections, which is scheduled for November this year.
“Trump is a dealmaker … he will be happy to be cutting deals and I think that’s something that’s helpful because the Chinese also like to cut deals,” Gupta said, as quoted by CNA.
Trump, the 45th President of the USA, is the presumptive Republican nominee. He will lock horns for control of the Oval Office with current President and Democrat presumptive nominee Joe Biden. However, an underwhelming debate performance from the POTUS has triggered calls for Biden to step down for a younger candidate to take on Trump in the 2024 polls.
Biden, however, has remain steadfast. He has vowed to continue the campaign and fight Trump in the November elections.
Meanwhile, Gupta sounded optimistic about the growth in Asia, stating that the region maintained an economic growth rates of 4 percent to 5 percent, which was almost double compared to other regions in the world.
DBS, Singapore and Southeast Asia’s largest bank by asset size, is now the largest shareholder in China’s Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank.
Asked if DBS wanted to increase its ownership stake, Gupta said, “It’s a nice bank, it’s wholly in Shenzhen … we are the largest shareholder, it’s in the small to medium enterprise (SME) space, it has nothing in property or real estate, it’s relatively clean.”
“Over time as it grows, there is an agenda for it to IPO. We are so bullish on the Greater Bay Area … we think activity is good. We think it’s a great platform.
“But before we do that there is opportunity for two-way flow of business, and frankly our returns on our investment are great,” he added.