Singapore’s largest bank on Thursday (Nov 3) reported a 32 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit for the third quarter, buoyed by higher net interest margins, healthy loan momentum and a stable fee income.
DBS : D05 +0.46%’ net profit for the three months ended September stood at S$2.24 billion, beating a S$1.87 billion consensus forecast in a Bloomberg survey of four analysts.
The results translate to an earnings per share of S$3.41, compared with S$2.58 in the year-ago period. Total income for the quarter came in at S$4.54 billion, 28 per cent higher than the previous year.
Net interest income was up 44 per cent to S$3.02 billion, as the bank’s net interest margin rose to 1.9 per cent from further increases in interest rates.
Other non-interest income climbed 32 per cent to S$753 million, while net fee and commission income was 13 per cent lower at S$771 million.
Allowances for credit and other losses stood at S$178 million, with S$153 million in general allowances and S$25 million in specific allowances taken.
The non-performing loan ratio improved to 1.2 per cent, as higher upgrades and repayments had more than offset new non-performing asset formation, The Business Times reported DBS saying.
The lender declared a dividend of S$0.36 per share for the period, up from S$0.33 in the year-ago period. This brings the dividend for the nine months ended Sep 30 to S$1.08 a share.
The counter closed 0.5 per cent or S$0.16 higher at S$34.74 on Wednesday.
