SINGAPORE, April 30 — Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) said first-quarter quarterly profit jumped 29 per cent to a record, boosted by strong loans and a widening of its net interest margin, beating expectations.
Bigger rival DBS Group Holdings also posted record profit with both banks seeing double-digit loan growth despite a slowdown in the housing market.
OCBC earned a record S$899 million (RM2.3 billion) in net profit for the quarter, up from S$696 million in the same period a year earlier, and above an average forecast of S$727 million from four analysts.
“The momentum across our customer franchise is strong and sustaining,” OCBC CEO Samuel Tsien said in a statement.
“Our operating profit from all our key markets increased, our asset quality is sound and our capital, funding and liquidity base remains robust.” — Reuters
