By Yantoultra Ngui

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -DBS Group, Singapore's biggest bank, posted on Thursday a 2% fall in net profit in the first quarter from a year earlier, the first drop since the first quarter of 2022, mainly due to higher tax expenses from implementation of the 15% global minimum tax.

DBS, which is also Southeast Asia's biggest lender by assets, said January-March net profit declined to S$2.9 billion ($2.24 billion) from S$2.95 billion a year earlier.

This however beat the mean estimate of S$2.82 billion from two analysts, according to LSEG data.

($1 = 1.2940 Singapore dollars)