One of the many indices published by STOXX is the “Dow Jones STOXX Global Dividend 100 Index”. This index “offers investors the ideal tool to track high-dividend-yielding companies in the Dow Jones STOXX Global 1800 Index, a broad yet liquid benchmark index that covers the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific”.

The 100 stocks in this index is comprised of 40 stocks from the Americas and 30 stocks each for Europe and the Asia-Pacific. In this post, lets take a look at two components representing Singapore.

1.DBS Group Holdings Ltd. (DBSDY) is the largest bank in Singapore as measured by assets. DBS trades on the OTC markets in the USA. The current yield is 8.06%. On Dec 22, the company announced that it will raise $2.8B in a rights offering. The press release said”Proactive capital raising, initiated from position of strength, will make DBS one of the best capitalised banks in Asia”.

With very little or no exposure to the subprime mess in the US, DBS has a Tier 1 Ratio of 9.7% as of September 30, 2008. After the right issue, the Tier 1 Ratio will increase to 11.8%. These ratios are well above the minimum required by regulatory authorities.

2.United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOVEY) has “500 offices in 18 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America”. UOVEY trades on the OTC as well.It pays a dividend of 3.21%. Annual EPS growth in the last 5 years is 16.27%.