SINGAPORE (Oct 31): CIMB Investment Bank Research sees Wing Hang Bank, now renamed OCBC Wing Hang, and 20%-owned associate Bank of Ningbo to contribute 80% of OCBC Bank’s profit growth of $503 million next year.

The former Hong Kong-based OCBC Wing Hang and China-based Ningbo will come in “handy” as growth drivers given the weaker Singapore market, said the research house.

Hence, CIMB has tweaked earnings per share by 0% to 2% to account for Ningbo’s associate contributions.

On a normalised basis, OCBC Wing Hang is expected to contribute quarterly profit ranging from $70 million to $75 million.

OCBC’s third quarter net profit of $841 was in line with house and consensus expectations, according to CIMB IB research analysts Kenneth Ng and Jessalynn Chen.

“Operationally, the differences in revenue and costs came mostly from the consolidation of OCBC Wing Hang,” they said in a note yesterday.

Ng and Chen kept their “add” rating for OCBC, but lowered price target to $11.44 from $11.70, to account for share dilution following OCBC Wing Hang’s acquisition.

OCBC was up 10 cents to $9.79 at 12.08 pm today.