Singapore lender OCBC Q2 profit slumps 40%, hurt by loan-loss provisions

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s second-largest lender Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp reported a larger-than-expected 40% tumble in quarterly net profit on Friday, hurt by loan-loss provisions in a pandemic-hit market and a slowdown in customer activity.

Net profit declined to S$730 million ($533.31 million) in the June quarter from S$1.2 billion a year earlier and versus the average estimate of S$980 million of five analysts, according to data from Refinitiv.

Profit rose 5% from the first quarter.

OCBC’s provisions for credit losses swelled to S$750 million in the second quarter from S$111 million a year earlier.

The results came a day after larger peer DBS Group’s quarterly profit slumped by a fifth but was above market estimates and rose on the quarter.

($1 = 1.3688 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)