During the quarter, the banks had reported large new non-performing loans (NPL) from their exposure to the oil and gas sector. Across the board, the banks posted declining net interest margins, which were mitigated by positive loan growth, healthy non-interest income and greater expenditure management. “UOB saw the strongest loan growth of 7% y-o-y as it has traditionally been less reliant on trade loans,” said Koh. For non-interest income such as fee income, DBS recorded an 18.8% growth, while OCBC recorded a 4.9% growth and UOB recorded a 1.4% growth. Shares of DBS, OCBC and UOB are trading at S$14.93, S$8.43 and S$18.53 on Thursday.

Source: The Edge Markets November 03, 2016 07:16 UTC