(May 7): Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. shares fell the most in a month after the Singaporean bank posted first-quarter profit growth that relied largely on a drop in loan provisions as lending margins stagnated.

Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank slid as much as 3.2% in Singapore on Monday morning after Chief Executive Officer Samuel Tsien signalled that last quarter’s decline in loan allowances may be as good as it gets this year. Analysts expressed concern that OCBC’s loan margins failed to widen from the previous quarter -- unlike those at DBS Group Holdings and United Overseas Bank -- even as benchmark interest rates rose.

“Investors probably expected a stronger performance” in net interest margins, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Diksha Gera said.

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