UOB profit up 28% to $602mln

Yet net interest income fell 2.6% to S$884mln while non-interest income dropped 30.7% to S$382 million.

United Overseas Bank Ltd., Singapore's third largest bank by assets, Tuesday posted a 28% rise in second quarter net profit on the back of improving asset quality, but failed to post any gains in its key net interest and non-interest income.

Net profit for the three months ended June 30 was 602 million Singapore dollars (US$445 million), up from S$470 million a year earlier, Singapore's third largest bank by assets said in a statement.

The result was in line with the average estimate of S$600 million from five analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires, although it was supported mostly by improving asset quality rather than any recovery in operating income.

Like its Singapore and Hong Kong peers, UOB has struggled to make money from its mortgage book with the globally low interest rate environment weighing on loan yields.

"On the macro front, the de-leveraging process in the West is still working through," UOB Chief Executive Wee Ee Cheong said in a statement.

View the full story in the Wall Street Journal.