Specific allowance declined from lower new non-performing loans in 1Q, but total allowance increased to $163 million mainly due to the release of general allowance in the previous quarter.
United Overseas Bank (UOB) reported a core net profit of $1.57 billion for the 1QFY2024 ended March 31. Net profit including the one-off integration cost for the Citi acquisition of $1.49 billion was up 6% q-o-q but down 2% y-o-y. Despite this, net profit came in above the Street's $1.4 billion estimate as indicated by Bloomberg.
The beat was underpinned by trading and investment income, and higher net fee income, a trend that echoed DBS Group Holdings' 1QFY2024 results. Net interest income (NII) fell 2% y-o-y and q-o-q to $2.36 billion. Net interest margin (NIM) of 2.02% in the first quarter was unchanged q-o-q but down by 12 basis points y-o-y. Cost-to-income (CIR) ratio of 41.9% was lower q-o-q but up 1 percentage point y-o-y.
