SINGAPORE - Singaporean banks' mainstay wealth businesses are set to drive growth in the near-term on interest rate cuts and hopes of a revival in the Chinese economy, even as they are expected to post a sequential decline in earnings in the third quarter.
"With the 50 basis points cut and more cuts projected, this should be positive for loans growth as borrowing costs become less prohibitive," said Neo Teng Hwee, CIO for private banking arm of United Overseas Bank (OTC: "We anticipate a double digit increase in Bank of Singapore's loan book in 2025 due to the favorable impact of lower interest rates," she said. Bank of Singapore said it was not able to provide past figures.
China's recent stimulus measures to revive the world's second-largest economy are positive for the Singaporean banks' wealth business, private bankers and analysts said. While declining rates on bank term deposits will spur rich clients to turn to high-yield wealth management products, the impact of rate cuts and China stimulus will take time to play out and be reflected in banks earnings, Maybank Investment Banking Group's regional head of financials, Thilan Wickramasinghe, said.