Amidst great expectations of bonus shares or special dividends like its DBS counterpart, the share price of UOB (SGX: U11) has corrected from the high of $29.68 in past days to test short term support level of $28.50 at 1.14 times its book value of around $25. UOB has announced a record $6.1 billion profit for the financial year 2023 early this morning, underpinned by strong net interest income, trading and investment income. This is a 26% increase from FY 2022. If factoring in the Citigroup integration costs, net profit is S$5.7 billion, also a landmark high. Most notably, net interest income rise 16% to S$9.7 billion. Net interest margin rose 23 basis points to 2.09% and loan growth of 2% in constant-currency terms. Net fee income increases 4% to S$2.2 billion as credit card fees surged to S$382 million. However core operating expenses rose 15% to…
