UOB profit up 28% to $1.08b in Q2

Earnings were boosted by net interest income which hit $1.54b.

UOB maintained its positive growth momentum after the bank’s profits surged 28% YoY to $1.08b in Q2 on the back of strong operating income, according to its financial statement.

Also read: UOB raises One Account deposit rates by 0.55%

Net interest income rose 14% YoY to $1.54b amidst steady loan growth which hit 10% in Q2. Net interest margin, a common indicator of profitability, also rose 8 basis points to 1.83%.

Net fee and commission income also hit $498m amidst robust growth in loan-related, fund management, credit card and trade-related fees.

The bank declared an interim dividend per ordinary share of 50 cents.

However, the bank’s total expenses also grew by 10% YoY to $1.02b amidst higher staff expenses and IT-related investments. UOB’s cost-to-income ratio stood at 43.6% in Q2.

“Testament to our focus on generating sustainable growth, our second quarter results are built on the healthy growth momentum in the first quarter,” Wee Ee Cheong, deputy chairman and CEO at UOB said in a statement.

The government's cooling measures are expected to hit UOB the hardest of its peers due to its greatest exposure in property-related lending. The bank's housing loans are estimated at 27.9% whilst OCBC and DBS are at 27.6% and 21.4% respectively, according to UOB Kay Hian.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia