OCBC Q3 profit falls 27% in absence of one-off gain

Singapore

OVERSEA-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC Bank) beat analyst expectations with a third-quarter net profit of S$902 million but the earnings were 27 per cent down from the year-ago period's S$1.23 billion, which included a one-off gain.

Stripping off the S$391 million one-off gain in Q3 2014 which arose from the group's increased stake in Bank of Ningbo, the Q3 core profit of S$902 million was 7 per cent higher than the S$841 million a year ago. It also beat an average forecast of S$883 million from six analysts polled by Reuters.

This notwithstanding, the subdued results of OCBC, the first of the local banks to post results for the July-September quarter, reflect the slowing economic environment. Bad loans rose to 0.9 per cent…