Singapore-based DBS Group, Southeast Asia's biggest lender, has been selected by the Taiwan government as the preferred bidder for failed Bowa Commercial Bank, following the failure of a government auction on 31 January. DBS joins other global banks and private equity investors, including HSBC, Citigroup, Standard Chartered and Carlyle Group, to acquire banks in Asia's third-largest wealth management market and fourth-biggest banking market. DBS, which will receive T$44.5 billion ($1.4 billion) from the Taiwan government to rescue the failed bank, has previously made unsuccessful attempts to buy banks in China, Taiwan and South Korea in the past few years. The acquisition will provide DBS with 43 branches in Taiwan, up from one existing office, and will help it to expand beyond its core markets in Singapore and Hong Kong, where it earns 90 per cent of its profit. "We intend to fully leverage our extensive footprint in Hong Kong, and our growing presence in China, to intermediate the increasing trade and investment flows between Taiwan, Hong Kong and China," DBS chairman Koh Boon Hwee said in a statement. In December, HSBC agreed to rescue The Chinese Bank, another failed Taiwan bank, in return for T$47.5 billion in Taiwan government funds and a major cash infusion.