(Aug 7): Singapore’s top lenders are riding a wealth management boom that’s propelled their stock prices rally to records and helped second-quarter profit beat expectations.
Wealth fees at DBS Group Holdings Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank Ltd all jumped to all-time highs. DBS saw a 42% increase to S$919 million (US$716 million or RM2.93 billion), while those at OCBC rose by 44% and UOB’s by more than 29%. The performance helped to support earnings at a time when lending income is softer amid lower interest rates in the country.
OCBC, which is Singapore’s best-performing stock this year with a 50% advance, saw its share price hit a fresh record on Friday. DBS’s stock also touched a new high, bringing the gains for the year to about 34%. Meanwhile, UOB’s share price slipped about 2% after increasing by more than 20%.
The banks’ gains underscore rising flows from the rich into Singapore, which is vying with Hong Kong to attract wealthy clients amid the prolonged war in the Middle East and turbulence across the world. At the same time, the lenders have been expanding their presence in Hong Kong with plans to hire relationship managers.
DBS has been seeking to bank customers when they are younger and starting to grow their wealth, so that the relationship stays when the clients become richer. “We’re building these wealth engines a lot earlier and onshore in their home markets,” chief executive officer Tan Su Shan said in an interview with Bloomberg Television this week. Taiwan is the market with the most potential for the wealth management business over the next two to three years, she added.
At OCBC, CEO Tan Teck Long, who took the role at the beginning of this year, is counting on wealth management to be among the bank’s main growth engines.
The country’s second-largest bank delivered a 22% profit growth on Friday and upgraded this year’s outlook. That echoed the upbeat performance of larger rival DBS the day before, which said total income for this year is expected to exceed last year’s levels.
OCBC’s Tan raised the 2026 loan growth target, and is expecting an expansion in total income even with the anticipated slight decline in lending income. The bank maintained its 50% ordinary dividend payout ratio.
UOB, which also reported on Friday, met estimates as profit rose 10% with the results underpinned by wealth management fees.
It maintained its 2026 targets, that now expects low single-digit fee income growth. The bank also flagged new non-performing assets formation of S$902 million, which it attributed to a “single real estate account” in Greater China. Still, allowances for credit and other losses fell 24% in the quarter.
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