OCBC sees margin pressure on Indonesian loan book

Singapore

THE more concerted push by the Indonesian government to limit loan rates to less than 10 per cent in recent times has put pressure on the net interest margin (NIMs) of OCBC's loan book in the country, said the bank's chief Samuel Tsien. (see amendment note)

This pressure "is continuing", said Mr Tsien on Monday, with the bank hopeful though that the weaker NIM performance will be held up by the expanding NIMs in the other markets of Singapore, Malaysia, and China.

Mr Tsien was speaking to reporters after the bank reported a 29 per cent boost in net profit for the first quarter to S$1.11 billion that met expectations based on a Bloomberg poll of analysts. This translated to annualised earnings per share of S$1.073 for the quarter, up from 82.1 Singapore cents in…