The Republic’s second-largest bank Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp reported a nearly 14 per cent rise in quarterly profit, largely led by sustained growth in its wealth management business and robust results from insurance operations.

From January to March, net profit was S$973 million, up 14 per cent from S$856 million a year ago, and 23 per cent higher than S$789 million in the previous quarter. Net interest margin, however, contracted 13 basis points to 1.62 per cent from 1.75 per cent a year ago, largely attributed to reduced customer loan yields and excess liquidity.

“We achieved broad-based loan growth, grew our private banking assets under management, and reported significantly higher fee income,” OCBC CEO Samuel Tsien said in a statement on Tuesday.

The bank said the overall quality of its loan portfolio remained stable, and “although the stress in the oil and gas support services sector is continuing, sufficient provisions have been made”.

Total net allowances for loans and other assets for the first quarter were S$168 million, as compared with S$167 million a year ago.

As at March 31, total non-performing assets of S$2.87 billion were slightly lower than S$2.89 billion in the previous quarter but higher than S$2.22 billion a year ago. The overall non-performing loan ratio was 1.3 per cent, unchanged from the previous quarter.

OCBC is the last Singapore bank to report results after DBS Group beat market estimates and United Overseas Bank posted an increase in quarterly profit.

Earnings per share came in at 24 cents in the first quarter, beating Bloomberg’s consensus of 20.5 cents, said Ms Margaret Yang, market analyst at CMC Markets Singapore.

The positive results sent OCBC’s share price up to S$10.46, its highest level since July 2015. This represented a year-to-date return of 17.26 per cent.

While the domestic economy has improved, the recovery has not been broad based, and “we remain watchful to the persistent headwinds in the operating environment”, said Mr Tsien.