Rises to interest rates helped the bank's income, but lower fee and commission earnings offset some of the gains.

Singapore-based DBS yesterday said it logged a net profit of S$3.616 billion ($2.62 billion) in the six months to 30 June, declining a touch (-3 per cent) from the same period a year before. Net interest income gained as interest rates rose, but fee, commission and other income declined.

Costs rose 5 per cent over the reporting period, the bank said in a statement. The rise in costs to S$3.30 billion was due to higher staff costs. The cost-income ratio was 44 per cent.

Within wealth management, DBS said that net fee and commission income fell sharply, down by 21 per cent to S$745 million in the six-month period. Pre-tax profit in the consumer banking/wealth management division rose to S$1.043 billion from S$791 million a year before. A big rise in net interest income helped drive some of the profit improvement. 

The group's Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a standard measure of a bank’s financial buffer – stood at 14.2 per cent at the end of June, a slight decline from a year before.

“Net interest margin rose for the first time in three years and accelerated in the second quarter, while business momentum and asset quality were sustained. While the macroeconomic outlook remains uncertain, we will benefit from rapidly rising interest rates and have proven nimble in capturing business opportunities,” DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta said. “The income growth will improve the cost-income ratio in the coming quarters even as we judiciously invest for the future. Our ongoing stress tests indicate that asset quality continues to be robust.”