OCBC's full-year profit rose almost 20 percent, driven by wealth management and insurance. The Singaporean lender still faces stress from oil and gas loans.
Singapore's second-largest bank last year had a profit of S$4.15 billion, up from S$3.47 billion a year earlier. OCBC, which recently disclosed private banking expansion plans in the Middle East, said it will pay shareholders a S$0.37 cents dividend, up from S$0.36 cents last year.
Like larger rival DBS, OCBC took a series of provisions against bad loans in the third quarter. Specific net allowances for loans jumped to S$1.06 billion for the quarter from S$235 million a year earlier. The rise came from exposures to the offshore support services and vessels sector, «which continued to be under stress,» OCBC said in a statement.
«Our banking, wealth management and insurance business lines delivered record earnings, however there are geo-political events and financial market volatilities that we need to remain watchful of,» OCBC boss Samuel Tsien said.
Growing Wealth Contribution
The bank's private banking arm, Bank of Singapore, bolstered assets under management by 25 percent to S$132 billion, up from S$115 billion a year ago, when it received a boost from acquiring Barclays' Asian wealth unit in 2016.
The group’s full year 2017 wealth management income, comprising income from insurance, private banking, asset management, stockbroking and other wealth management products, leaped 43 percent to a new high of S$3.25 billion. As a proportion of the group’s total income, wealth management income contributed 34 percent, compared to 27 percent a year ago.
