The Singapore-based bank issued its third-quarter and nine-month figures yesterday.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation said yesterday that its private banking and global consumer banking arm logged a 7 per cent year-on-year rise in operating profit, at S$372 million, after taking into account allowances and goodwill amortisation for the third quarter. That division of the lender includes Bank of Singapore. 

For the entire banking group, operating profit after allowances and amortisation fell by 6 per cent to S$1.318 billion, OCBC said in a statement yesterday. 

Wealth management non-interest income rose by 11 per cent year-on-year to $265 million, the Singapore-listed group announced yesterday. 

For the purpose of the report, non-interest income covers gross fee and commission income, OCBC said.

For the OCBC group as a whole, net fees and commissions for the quarter rose to a new high of S$550 million, rising by 10 per cent from a year earlier. This was driven by higher fees from wealth management, investment banking and remittance services. 

Operating costs for the quarter grew by 6 per cent year-on-year to S$1.13 billion from S$1.07 billion, mainly from an increase in staff costs associated with headcount growth as the group continued to invest in digitalisation, technology infrastructure and compliance capabilities.