Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (SGX:O39), or ocbcis set to release its first quarter 2026 (1Q2026) results on May 8, 2026, and fellow investors have good reason to pay attention. The bank’s FY2025 figures tell a story of two halves pulling in opposite directions – with net interest margin (NIM) shrinking sharply despite fee, trading and insurance income hitting record levels. Management has since prepared a playbook for FY2026 that relies more on the latter. The upcoming Q1 release is the first data point against that plan, and the first read on whether the S$0.99 per share paid last year still holds firm.
Net interest margin: is the floor in sight?
The anchor metric to watch is NIM, which has declined by 29 basis points to 1.91% in FY2025, with asset yields reevaluating faster than funding costs. That pressure caused net interest income (NII) to decline 6% year-on-year to S$9.2 billion, partially offset by a 9% increase in customer loans to S$341 billion in constant currency terms….
