UOB shares slide over 5% after Q3 profit misses forecasts

United Overseas Bank (UOB) saw its share price drop more than 5% on Wednesday, trading around S$38.46 after opening over 5% lower. The decline followed the release of its third-quarter results, which showed a net profit of S$1.25 billion – a 182.2% year-on-year increase but below the S$1.38 billion consensus forecast from six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The bank reported earnings per share of S$2.98 on an annualised basis, up from S$1.01 a year earlier. Net interest income rose marginally by 1% to S$2.28 billion, while the net interest margin narrowed to 1.68% from 1.82% a year earlier. Record fee income from wealth management, cards and loan-related businesses helped offset flat interest margins, and customer-related treasury income hit a record level due to strong demand for hedging solutions.

Trading volume for UOB reached 11.4 million shares, roughly double that of its peers DBS and OCBC, which posted volumes of 1.5 million and 1.3 million shares respectively. The other two local banks are slated to announce their Q3 results later in the week, and both were down over 1% in early Wednesday trading amid a broader market weakness.