OCBC records 14 percent Q1 profit
(9 May 2017 – Asia) The Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) reported a 14 percent rise in quarterly profit, led by sustained growth in its wealth management business and robust results from insurance operations.
This comes after a bigger-than-expected 18 percent drop in quarterly net profit in the previous quarter.
Singapore’s second-biggest lender said net profit came in at S$973 million (A$938 million) in the three months ending 31 March, compared to S$856 million over the same period in 2016.
Net interest income for the quarter was three percent lower at S$1.27 billion compared to S$1.31 billion a year ago as higher asset growth was offset by net interest margin compression, the bank said.
Non-interest income was up 30 percent at S$977 million, as the bank completed its S$430 million acquisition of Barclays' wealth business in Asia.
Overall wealth management income increased by 50 percent to S$724 million, from S$482 million a year ago.
Wealth management accounted for a greater proportion of the group’s total income, contributing 32 percent compared with 23 percent in the same period last year.
"We achieved broad-based loan growth, grew our private banking assets under management, and reported significantly higher fee income," CEO Samuel Tsien said.
The bank said the overall quality of its loan portfolio remained stable and although the stress in the oil and gas support services sector continued, sufficient provisions had been made.
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