OCBC posts 12% rise in Q3
(25 October 2017 – Asia) Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) has reported higher third-quarter profit on increased revenue from its lending, wealth management and life-insurance businesses.
Net income rose 12 percent to S$1.06 billion (A$1.01 billion) in the three months ended 30 September, the Singaporean bank said.
Rising income from wealth management and increased lending margins have allowed OCBC to ward off negative effects of continued problems in the regional offshore oil and gas services sector, where several local companies have defaulted on their debt.
"Our key markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China have all contributed to our broad-based income growth," Chief Executive Officer Samuel Tsien said in the filing. "However, we will remain watchful of ongoing geopolitical risks and the continuing stress observed in the oil and gas industry."
OCBC's results were helped by a 12 percent increase in net interest income to S$1.38 billion, as lending grew and its net interest margin rose by four basis points.
OCBC completed its US$227.5 million purchase of Barclays Plc's wealth-management units in Singapore and Hong Kong last year, bolstering the assets at its private-banking unit, Bank of Singapore. Wealth management fee income rose 32 percent in the quarter, partly because of the acquisition, the bank said.
OCBC's nonperforming assets rose 15 percent to S$2.98 billion in the quarter from a year earlier, because of the downgrade of corporate accounts in the oil and gas support services sector, which remained under stress, the bank said.
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