\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-1983634680-e1720516383889.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
As of now<\/a>, U.S. voters face a choice between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump in presidential elections this November. And business leaders around the world\u2014including in Southeast Asia, which tries to balance its U.S. and Chinese relationships\u2014are plotting out what either result will mean.<\/p>\n DBS CEO Piyush Gupta, speaking to a Reuters conference audience on Tuesday, said the general view of Trump\u2019s policy suggestions is that they paint a \u201cpretty negative picture.\u201d The banking CEO pointed to the former president\u2019s call to have tariffs as high as 60%, suggesting they will lead to inflation and could push the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high. That, in turn, will put pressure on currencies around the world, with some already running at record lows against the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n Yet Gupta, who was responding to question on U.S.-China relations, saw a possible silver lining to a Trump presidency. Trump is a \u201cdealmaker\u2026not ideologically driven to anything,\u201d he said. The former president could be happy to \u201ccut deals,\u201d the DBS CEO suggested, helping him with Chinese officials who \u201calso like to cut deals.\u201d<\/p>\n DBS is Southeast Asia\u2019s largest bank by assets. With $25 billion in revenue for 2023, DBS Group Holding is ranked No. 10 on Fortune<\/em>\u2018s inaugural Southeast Asia 500, which ranks the region\u2019s largest companies by revenue.<\/p>\n Geopolitics aside, Gupta was optimistic about Asia\u2019s economic development. He noted that, with growth rates of between 4-5%, Asia is growing at double the rate of the rest of the world.<\/p>\n Under Gupta, DBS is focusing on major economies like Greater China, India, and Indonesia and has been investing in those markets. Last August, the Singaporean bank became Taiwan\u2019s largest foreign bank by assets after acquiring Citigroup\u2019s consumer banking business on the island.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Gupta revealed DBS now has close to a 19% stake in China\u2019s Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank, making it the largest shareholder in the Chinese bank. (DBS bought<\/a> a 13% stake in 2021).<\/p>\n In its annual report, DBS said its stake in Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank gives it a foothold in the \u201cGreater Bay Area,\u201d an economic area in southern China that includes the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau. On Tuesday, Gupta said he was \u201cso bullish on that region.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the DBS CEO downplayed the possibility of any \u201cearth-shattering, game-changing M&A,\u201d instead saying the Singaporean bank will look for \u201cbolt-on deals\u201d that will build out its wealth management, SME retail, and transaction services businesses. <\/p>\n \u201cAny large scale acquisition will take too long, be too messy, and distract from the future,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n When asked whether DBS\u2019s regional moves were risky, the DBS CEO replied that one had to \u201cmake a call whether you wanted to be long Asia.\u201d You can\u2019t be \u201clong Asia without having a view of North Asia,\u201d Gupta said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGoing \u2018long Asia\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n