Bad home loans flow through to UOB NPLs

[SINGAPORE] United Overseas Bank's non-performing loans (NPL) surged in the second quarter as payments by some high-end property buyers deteriorated.

Industry observers believe the situation could worsen as they do not expect significant improvement in the sluggish residential market over the next 12 months.

UOB said yesterday that NPL rose 11.2 per cent or S$232 million over the previous quarter to S$2.31 billion, and was up 7.3 per cent over a year ago.

But the NPL ratio was stable at 1.2 per cent in 2Q14, (1.1 per cent in Q1, 2014 and 1.2 per cent in Q2, 2013) as total loans rose to S$193 billion, up 11.7 per cent year-on-year and 2.4 per cent on quarter. The increase in NPLs was due to Singapore housing loans limited to a few accounts, and loans in Thailand and Indonesia, said Wee Ee Cheong, UOB chief e…