Dah Sing Banking Group has long been seen as a company that does not like to play things by the numbers. Somehow investors just love it for that.
Even after last year's controversial $2.3 billion spin-off listing from parent group Dah Sing Financial Holdings (DSFH), most analysts stood by it, confident in the bank's management.
So it is no surprise that the market greeted news of the takeovers of Pacific Finance and Banco Comercial de Macau (BCM) for a combined $2.6 billion during the past two months with optimism, sending Dah Sing's share price up 10 per cent before its interim results last week.
Laying out Dah Sing's planned expansion path, managing director Derek Wong Hong-hing said that even though it could take some time for the bank to fully integrate its latest catches, more acquisitions could be on the way.
'We need a bigger size to compete more efficiently,' Mr Wong told the South China Morning Post. 'Even with the two acquisitions, our total assets will still be well below $100 billion. If you look at the more sizeable banks, their assets are always measured by several hundred billion dollars.
'Having said that, when we try to grow our size it is even more important that we maintain discipline and management quality.'