SINGAPORE, Feb 17 — Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp , Singapore’s second-biggest lender, posted a 21 per cent rise in quarterly net profit, beating expectations, helped by higher trading income and gains from its insurance unit.

OCBC’s net profit came in at S$960 million (RM2.87 billion) in the three months ended December, versus S$791 million a year earlier and above an average forecast of S$872 million from six analysts polled by Reuters.

OCBC’s bad debt charges for loans and other assets rose 25 per cent to S$193 million in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, reflecting an industry-wide trend of rising bad debt as Asian economies slow. — Reuters