NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
for the year ended 31 December 2011
These Notes are integral to the financial statements. The consolidated financial statements for the year ended
31 December 2011 were authorised for issue by the directors on 9 February 2012.
1 DOMICILE AND ACTIVITIES
The Company, DBS Group Holdings Ltd, is incorporated and domiciled in the Republic of Singapore and has its
registered office at 6 Shenton Way, DBS Building Tower One, Singapore 068809.
The Company is listed on the Singapore Exchange. The principal activity of the Company is that of an investment
holding company and the principal activity of its main wholly- owned subsidiary, DBS Bank Ltd the Bank, is the provision of
retail, small and medium-sized enterprise, corporate and investment banking services.
The financial statements relate to the Company and its subsidiaries the Group and the Group’s interests in associates
and joint ventures.
2 SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
2.1 Basis of preparation
The consolidated financial statements of the Group are prepared in accordance with Singapore Financial Reporting
Standards FRS including related Interpretations promulgated by the Accounting Standards Council ASC. In accordance
with Section 20119 of the Companies Act the Act, the requirements of FRS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition
and Measurement in respect of loan loss provisioning are modified by the requirements of Notice to Banks No. 612
“Credit Files, Grading and Provisioning” issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The financial statements of the Company are prepared in accordance with FRS including related Interpretations to FRS
INT FRS promulgated by the ASC. As permitted by Section 2014B of the Act, the Company’s income statement has not
been included in these financial statements.
The financial statements are presented in Singapore dollars and rounded to the nearest million, unless otherwise stated. They
are prepared on the historical cost convention, except as disclosed in the accounting policies below.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with FRS requires management to exercise judgement, use estimates and
make assumptions that affect the application of policies and reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expenses.
Although these estimates are based on management’s best knowledge of current events and actions, actual results may
differ from these estimates. Critical accounting estimates and assumptions used that are significant to the financial
statements, and areas involving a higher degree of judgement and complexity, are disclosed in Note 4.
On 1 January 2011, the Group adopted the new or revised FRS and INT FRS that are applicable in the current financial year.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the relevant transitional provisions in the respective FRS
and INT FRS.
The adoption of these new or revised FRS and INT FRS did not result in substantial changes to the Group’s and Company’s
accounting policies and had no material effect on the amounts reported for the current or prior financial years.
FRS 24 Amendments: Related Party Disclosures The revised standard simplifies the definition of a related party.
It clarifies its intended meaning and eliminates inconsistencies from the definition.
The amendment also removes the requirement for government- related entities to disclose details of all transactions with the
government and other government-related entities and replaces it with a requirement to disclose information which is
considered sufficient for the financial statement users to understand the effects of related party transactions. For
example, the nature and amount of each individually significant transaction needs to be disclosed.
The following amendments to FRS and INT FRS are of a technical or clarifying nature and their adoption does not have
any material impact on the Group’s financial statements.
FRS 32 Amendments Financial Instruments: Presentation
INT FRS 119 Extinguishing Financial Liabilities
with Equity Instruments
2.2 Group accounting
