Reportedly, OCBC (Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd.), which is Singapore’s second-largest listed bank, stated its quarterly profit dropped by 6%, impacted by a one-off charge for its Indonesian division that overshadowed progress for its lending and wealth management businesses. Particularly, higher wealth management fees aided offset a challenging atmosphere as Singapore intently dodged a slump in the third quarter owing to the trade battle between the U.S. and China—which are the two of the city-state’s largest export markets. In a statement, CEO Samuel Tsien reported, “Our performance for this quarter highlighted the aggressive strength of our assorted business franchise.”
He added, “International and national economic development persisted to slow down, and geopolitical event perils have surged. We shall stay alert and will uphold prudent risk management conducts while executing disciplined cost management.” The net profit was reported at $861 Million (S$1.17 billion) for the July–September quarter, which is the lowest level in three-quarters but on track with S$1.19 billion average projection of five analysts, as per to data from Refinitiv. The net wealth management fees increased by 11% on yearly basis, whereas OCBC’s net interest margin advanced by 5 basis points (1.77%) and net interest income jumped 6% (S$1.60 billion).
Similarly, OCBC was in news for seeking more green loans to maintain its dominance in the Southeast Asia region. Reportedly, OCBC plans to expand its banking to environment-friendly ventures following this year making the largest exposure to green loans amongst its Southeast Asian equivalents. The lender has built a team of five to target sustainable financing following foraying in green loans in the last year and is planning to add bankers, asserted Mike Ng, Head of Structured and Sustainable Finance at OCBC. To this point in 2019, OCBC participated in green lending worth $500 Million, according to data collected by Bloomberg.
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