
Chart of the Day: Check out this amazing downhill trend Singapore banks are walking on
Underlying earnings to drop 10%.
According to Barclays, the reporting season for Singapore banks is due to begin on 31 July with UOB. The analysts expect underlying earnings (ex. one-off items) to rise 7% y/y but fall by 10% q/q for the Singapore banks in aggregate for 2Q14, mainly as a result of seasonally lower client activity, lower trading and investment gains q/q and some margin pressure on China-related business.
Here's more from Barclays:
We expect other operating trends to be largely stable: loan growth 2-3% q/q, fee income growth 2-3% q/q and credit costs to remain low.
We expect modest margin pressure (down 1-3bps q/q), largely driven by lower interbank rates and easier liquidity conditions in China which could put pressure on China-related loan, interbank and investment securities yield especially for DBS and OCBC, which benefited from sharp margin expansion in 1Q14.
For UOB and OCBC, we expect some margin pressure in Malaysia and Indonesia q/q due to deposit competition. We expect fee income growth of 2-3% q/q driven by steady growth in loans/credit cards, trade-related fees and markets-related income.
Singapore stock market average daily turnover in 2Q14 rose by 3% q/q.