After a strong result in the first quarter of 2021, the Singapore-based bank said its wealth management business could not quite match it a year later.

Singapore-based DBS late last week reported a first-quarter 2022 net profit, including one-time items, of S$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion), falling 10 per cent on a year ago but up 29 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2021.

The profit result came on the back of a 3 per cent dip in Q1 total income from a year ago, standing at S$3.747 billion.

Costs rose 4 per cent year-on-year to S$1.644 billion; allowances for credit and other losses rose to S$55 million from S$10 million a year earlier.

Results were moderated by a high base for wealth management and treasury markets activities a  year ago, when buoyant market sentiment and clear market momentum had driven income from both activities to exceptional levels. 

DBS said the net interest margin increased three basis points to 1.46 per cent as interest rates rose.

Wealth management fees fell 21 per cent to S$408 million with declines in investment product sales mitigated by higher bancassurance income.

The Common Equity Tier-1 ratio – a standard international measure of a bank’s capital buffer – declined by 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter to 14.0 per cent, which included a previously-announced temporary 0.4 percentage point impact from the digital disruption in November 2021.