Direct impact of trade tariffs affects about 3% of OCBC’s loan book; portfolio remains ‘resilient’

[SINGAPORE] Current trade tariffs are expected to have a “first-order impact” on 3 per cent of OCBC’s loan book, group chief financial officer Goh Chin Yee said at the bank’s first-quarter earnings call on Friday (May 9).

“We further stress-tested our portfolio for potential vulnerabilities and assessed that our portfolio remains resilient,” Goh said.

OCBC’s customer loans stood at S$322 billion as at Mar 31, 2025, up 7 per cent from S$301 billion a year ago.

On Friday, the bank posted a net profit of S$1.88 billion for the first quarter, down 5 per cent from a year earlier due to lower net interest income and higher operating expenses, though the result narrowly beat the S$1.86 billion consensus forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

Total allowances rose 25 per cent year on year to S$212 million, largely due to S$118 million set aside for non-impaired assets on a pre-emptive basis, amid heightened macroeconomic uncertainties stemming from US tariffs.

Customer sectors currently facing tariff impacts include manufacturing and goods production, excluding certain industries such as pharmaceuticals and semiconductors that have been exempted, OCBC group chief executive officer Helen Wong said.

Other directly affected industries include international transport, storage of goods, raw materials, and commodities.

“These are very subject to the tariff impact, (and) so we say that together, this is about 3 per cent of our loan book,” Wong said.

The “second category” of impact would affect wholesale traders and industries like pharmaceuticals if they come under tariffs, she added. The “third category” would be clients with a domestic focus, who would be less exposed.

Said Wong: “Yes, maybe the supply chain (will) be impacted, but those who are very much focused on domestic (sales) also mainly source domestically as well.”

These include customers in the services and utilities sectors, local construction, real estate and data centre players, as well as financial intermediaries.