Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, the Singapore-based bank, saw a 15 per cent rise in net profit for the second quarter 2011 to S$577 million, from $503 million in previous year. 

Net income was up also 15 per cent at S$827 million compared to the same quarter in 2010, while non-interest income grew 13 per cent to S$586 million. The results were driven mostly by broad-based growth in loan, trade-related, and wealth management activities, the company said in a media release. 

Fee income rose 20 per cent S$299 million from higher trade-related income and fees linked to Renminbi-settled trade, as well as fund management and other wealth management-linked earnings. Life assurance earnings from Great Eastern Holdings, its insurance arm, surged 53 per cent to S$106 million.

Results for Bank of Singapore, its wholly-owned private banking subsidiary, were published within the brokerage figures. The segment recorded S$192 million in operating profit minus allowances and amortisation for the first half of 2011, down from S$264 million in the previous year. Revenues from wealth management, which accounted for 24.8 per cent of the total revenue, were up 29 per cent year-on-year to S$350 million in the quarter. As of 30 June 2011, assets under management are at $29.6 billion, up 12 per cent.

OCBC Bank's key markets are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Greater China.