Singapore's OCBC first-quarter profit rose by almost a third compared with a year earlier. The wealth management business made a strong contribution.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) reported net profit of S$1.11 billion for the first quarter of 2018, the Singapore-based bank said on Monday. The figure is an increase of 29 percent from the same period last year.
OCBC's private bank, Bank of Singapore, increased assets under management by 19 percent to S$133 billion ($102 billion) as of March 31, 2018. They had stood at S$119 billion year ago.
Sustained Growth
Wealth management income, which includes revenue from insurance operations, contributed 31 percent to the group total. With stronger income growth the cost-income ratio also dropped from 45.9 percent to 44.2 percent.
«The group’s income growth was broad-based, loan growth was sustained, assets under management growth continued and allowances were much lower,» said Samuel Tsien, the CEO of OCBC. «We remain vigilant to geopolitical events including increased global trade tensions.»
