A few days after having agreed to buy the Indonesian wealth business of HSBC, OCBC issued its first-quarter 2026 results, including its wealth management figures. The lender is parent of Bank of Singapore.
The figures show that the wealth and private banking side of
the business contributed a large slice of overall income and
profit.
The wealth management businesses of Singapore-listed OCBC logged a rise in
first-quarter 2026 fees at S$422 million ($332.9 million), rising
34 per cent year-on-year and also higher than the Q4 2025
result of $363 million, it said last Friday.
As reported last week, OCBC has agreed to buy the Indonesian
wealth business, fitting with the lender’s New Frontier
strategy.
Wealth management income, comprising income from private banking,
premier private client, premier banking, insurance, asset
management and stockbroking, was S$1.48 billion, up 11 per cent
year-on-year, and contributed 39 per cent to the group’s total
income, higher compared with 37 per cent a year
before.
Global consumer and private banking business accounted for 26 per
cent of all operating profit in the quarter, rising from 23 per
cent a year earlier.
Assets under management on the wealth management side
were S$342 billion, rising 12 per cent from S$306 billion a
year ago, driven by net new money inflows across all wealth
segments.
“We delivered a good start to 2026, with group net profit rising
5 per cent year-on-year to S$1.97 billion, underpinned by
resilient performance across banking, wealth management and
insurance as we execute our Next Frontier strategy,” Tan Teck
Long, group CEO, said in a statement. “We achieved a new high for
noninterest income, led by our wealth business, which helped us
offset lower net interest income amid a low-interest rate
environment.”
“Looking ahead, global conditions remain uncertain amid
geopolitical tensions and elevated inflation risks. Much of the
near-term outlook will depend on how the war in the Middle East,
with its impact on energy supply and prices, evolves, while the
ongoing trade tariff situation is also being closely monitored,”
Tan Teck Long said.
Group figures
At group level, group net profit of S$1.97 billion represented a
5 per cent year-on-year gain, and up 13 per cent on the previous
three months. Pre-tax profit was S$2.41 billion, rising 5 per
cent. Net interest income fell 5 per cent to S$2.22 billion;
noninterest income, however, rose sharply – 23 per cent – to
S$1.6 billion. Operating costs rose 6 per cent.
At the end of the quarter, the bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 ratio
– a standard measure of a bank’s capital buffer – stood at 15.2
per cent.