Post by Kit Yu

We expect wealth management (WM) fee income to remain robust in 2Q26, despite expectations for a modest slowdown sequentially given the seasonally weaker quarter and drag from the Iran war into the early parts of 2Q. Market activity remained supportive, with SGX and HKEX ADT up 6% and 5% qoq, respectively, on an already high base following strong 1Q26 growth of 39% and 20%. IPO activity in the US, including transactions such as SpaceX, should also have supported client activity. This remains relevant given the historical correlation between wealth activity and exchange turnover. Broader market conditions were also supportive, with continued strength in the STI and S&P 500, which typically supports wealth management activity with a lag, although there were pockets of weakness in the HSI during the quarter. In addition, management commentary continues to point to healthy momentum across wealth management activities and NNM growth through 2Q26. This suggests activity levels have remained resilient despite concerns around recent China cross border regulations. As such, we raise our 2Q forecast for WM across the banks which translates to positive fee income growth of 3-35% yoy and stable qoq performance across the Singapore banks.