, Columnist
Singapore's Spreading Oil Slick
The pace at which energy loans are going bad at OCBC and UOB suggests there is more pain to come.
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Oil is still causing Singapore banks to lose their footing. The city-state's three biggest lenders posted another spike in nonperforming loans because of souring advances to energy companies. Given the rate of deterioration, it may be wishful thinking to predict the worst is behind them.
While United Overseas Bank Ltd. and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. were sanguine about the increase, their latest results show just how much pain the oil and gas industry is inflicting.