Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., the lender that owns Singapore’s biggest life insurer, said third- quarter profit rose 27% on increased loan income and a jump in fees.

Net income climbed to $570 million in the three months to Sept. 30 from $450 million a year earlier, the Singapore-based company said in a statement today. That beat the $551.8 million average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

 

Oversea-Chinese, led by Chief Executive Officer David Conner since 2002, is benefiting from a revival in credit demand and wealth advisory business in Asia. Singapore’s economy grew 10.3% in the third quarter from a year earlier and the number of millionaires in the city-state has surged in the past year, bolstering private-banking income.

 

The bank is “expanding not just in commercial banking, but also in terms of life insurance and, most recently, private banking,” Anand Pathmakanthan, a Singapore-based analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a research note on Oct. 20. He recommended buying Oversea-Chinese stock over local rival United Overseas Bank Ltd., which last week also reported earnings growth that exceeded analysts’ estimates.

 

Oversea-Chinese bought ING Groep NV’s private banking assets in Asia last year. The company’s shares rose 1.8% today in morning trading before the earnings announcement.