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Singapore's financial sector is among the strongest in the world, yet in terms of share performance, the sector has been underperforming other banks in the region.
Shares of OCBC are down 4 percent so far this year, on the other hand, DBS shares have risen 4.8 percent and UOB shares have risen 7 percent. Compare that to gains of 9 percent for Indonesia's Mandiri and 13 percent for Indonesia's largest lender BCA .
"Only one country which has been so consistenly underperforming Asian banks in times of good Asian growth, and that's Singapore," CLSA's Head of Regional Banks Research, Daniel Tabbush told CNBC.
CLSA is underweight banks in Singapore, and overweight the sector in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and India.
"Compared to the very high growth that you see in Indonesia or India, and the very strong levels of returns on assets or returns on equity, the Singapore banks don't really compare well," Tabbush explained.
According to CLSA's data, Singapore banks' return on average assets (ROAA) in 2010 was 0.97 percent, lower than Indonesia's 2.22 percent and India's 1.51 percent.
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