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SINGAPORE: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) posted a 13 per cent decline in quarterly profit for the three months ended September, as compared to a year ago.
The bank reported net profit of S$402 million for the third quarter, down from S$463 million last year.
The decline was largely attributed to increased allowances which offset growth in the bank's operating profit.
Net allowances for the quarter rose to S$156 million, up from S$39 million a year earlier.
OCBC said the allowances were mainly for its holdings of debt securities which suffered losses following unprecedented upheavals in the global credit markets.
In the same period, total core income rose nine per cent to S$1.1 billion.
Net interest income grew 21 per cent, underpinned by healthy loan growth and better interest margins.
In the first nine months of the year, OCBC's net profit fell 12 per cent to S$1.4 billion, while total core income improved three per cent to S$3.2 billion.
The bank said it is well-placed to deal with the challenges ahead, given its strong capital, funding and liquidity position.
OCBC said its Tier 1 capital increased to S$14 billion as at September 30, following successful issues of Tier 1 preference shares during the third quarter.
Its customer deposits also grew by 11 per cent year-on-year to S$95 billion.
The bank noted that since mid-September, it had seen higher net inflows of customer deposits, following heightened risk aversion around the world in the wake of the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers.
- CNA/yt
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