Flat consumer lending a drag on Aug bank loans growth

Singapore

FLAT growth in consumer loans in August affected overall bank lending compared to July, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore showed on Wednesday.

Loans through the domestic banking unit (DBU) - which essentially captures lending in all currencies but mainly reflects Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$613 billion in August, up 0.5 per cent from July. In July, bank lending stood at S$610 billion, up 0.6 per cent from the month earlier.

From a year ago, bank lending in August was up 1.5 per cent, weaker than the 2.2 per cent year-on-year gain posted in July. In this case, both business and consumer lending were weaker than the year-on-year growth seen in July. This brought the average loans growth to 1.9 per cent for the first eight months of 2015, noted Selena Ling, head of treasury re…