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Thursday 13 February 2014

DBS misses profit expectations on bad debt charges, OCBC beats fourth quarter forecast


(Reuters) - DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's biggest bank. posted a 6 percent increase in core quarterly profit, missing expectations as it took higher provisions for bad debt charges.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI), Singapore's second-biggest bank, beat analysts forecasts by posting an 8 percent rise in quarterly profit helped by strong loan growth.
DBS, Southeast Asia's biggest bank, earned S$802 million ($633.3 million) excluding exceptionals in the three months ended December, compared to the S$843 million average forecast of six analysts polled by Reuters.
It earned S$760 million a year earlier. Including one-off items such as the sale of its stake in a lender in the Philippines, DBS posted a net profit of S$973 million.
OCBC reported a net profit of S$715 million in the three months ended December, compared to an average forecast of S$676 million by six analysts. OCBC earned S$663 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Singapore banks are facing a slowdown in mortgages in the wake of central bank's crackdown on the housing market, which has fueled strong loan growth for domestic banks since 2010.