* Q3 net down 38 pct on bad debt charges

* takes S$319 million impairments on bad debt

* shares recover after 9 percent fall (Updates with OCBC comment, closing share price)

DBS Group (DBSM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Southeast Asia's biggest bank, said it will cut 900 jobs, or 6 percent of its staff, after posting a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly profit as losses from bad debts quadrupled.

DBS and its peers in Asia such as Bank of China, which largely escaped the credit market meltdown that crippled Western banks, are now hit by slowing economies, sliding property prices and a sharp fall in capital market activity. DBS shares, which slumped nearly 9 percent in early trade after it said profits fell 38 percent, recovered to close up 2.7 percent. DBS shares have almost halved this year, falling more than its rivals.

"DBS confronts a challenging outlook -- we have a weak macroeconomic and credit cycle and brand damage from structured products," said Matthew Wilson, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in Singapore.

"The job cuts will be across businesses and functions and at all levels," he told a news conference. "The reasons for these cuts is to allow DBS to be a much leaner and more streamlined organisation for many years to come."