By Yantoultra Ngui
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Singapore’s second-biggest lender Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) reported on Wednesday a better-than-expected 39% jump in first-quarter profit from a year earlier on the back of strong net interest income growth.OCBC, which is also Southeast Asia’s second-biggest bank by assets, said January-March net profit rose to a record S$1.88 billion ($1.42 billion) from S$1.36 billion a year earlier. That beat the mean estimate of S$1.74 billion from five analysts polled by Refinitiv. Singapore’s banks have been benefiting from strong inflows from wealthy customers amid global economic uncertainty because of the city-state’s status as financial safe haven.
“Our loan portfolio was resilient and our wealth management business continued to attract net new money inflows,” OCBC Group Chief Executive Officer Helen Wong said in a statement.
Larger peer DBS Group, reported last week a 43% jump in first quarter net profit that was also a record, citing a higher net interest margin, sustained business momentum and resilient asset quality. Smaller peer United Overseas Bank reported last month a 74% surge in core net profit in the first quarter from a year earlier on the back of strong net interest and non-interest income growth.
OCBC, which counts Singapore, greater China and Malaysia among its key markets, said net interest income rose 56% to S$2.34 billion in the first quarter from a year earlier. It reported a total net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, of 2.30% for the first quarter, up from 1.55% in the same period a year earlier.
($1 = 1.3245 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Tom Hogue, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jamie Freed)