Chart of the Week: Singapore banks' customer spreads 'stubbornly subdued'

They were 1.95 to 2.14% in Q1.

Maybank Kim Eng analysts previously reported their concern that lending spreads for Singapore banks have been stubbornly subdued throughout this credit cycle. Singapore banks’ customer spreads were 1.95-2.14% at 1Q17 against 2.38-3.04% at 1Q10 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

"While we have recently started to see a slight improvement in customer spreads for UOB, we believe Singapore banks still lack the ability to price up their lending yields due to lending to high quality credit and competitive pressures."