Local banks' Q3 earnings boosted by loans growth

[SINGAPORE] The three local banks posted a strong set of third-quarter earnings from robust core lending business, despite a volatile September which elicited a no beating-around-the-bush admission of getting wrong the call on tapering from DBS' chief executive Piyush Gupta.

Core banking revenues were broad-based as banks sold more loans, though United Overseas Bank (UOB) was the only one which managed to stabilise its lending margins.

UOB reported its Q3 earnings yesterday while DBS Group Holdings and OCBC Bank did so last Friday. All three recorded better than expected Q3 earnings due mainly to good growth in broad-based customer-related businesses with credit quality remaining strong.