Double-digit growth in fee income cheered Singapore banks in Q4

Thanks to wealth management and capital market services.

Singapore banks were on a roll in Q4, as fee income grew 17%, 10%, and 23% YoY for OCBC, UOB, and DBS respectively.

For the full year, figures hit are 19%, 12%, and 12%, respectively.

Jefferies Singapore said the growth was driven by wealth management and capital market linked areas, like investment banking (IB) and fund management.

UOB also benefited from fees linked to credit cards. OCBC enjoyed strong growth in profits from life assurance, mainly in Q4 on the back of 23% growth in premiums and higher investment income from realized gains.

According to DBS' results, higher fee income was driven by wealth management fees from higher unit trust and other investment product sales.

Including trading income and gains from investment securities, overall non-interest income grew 23% and 8% for OCBC and UOB, respectively. DBS' non-interest income went up 1% for the whole year.