UOB to drive fee income via Asean network

Singapore

UOB Group plans to drive growth through fee income via its Asean network in the months ahead, as loan growth moderates and the bank is wary of stretching its balance sheet to lend in the "highly commoditised" mortgage market, said chief executive Wee Ee Cheong on Friday.

This comes as the bank reported an unexpected 5.7 per cent fall in net profit for the second quarter to S$762 million, down from S$808 million a year ago. This translated to annualised earnings per share of S$1.84, down 7.1 per cent from S$1.98.