Singapore  - Singapore's DBS Bank, the biggest lender in South-East Asia, said Friday its net profit for the third quarter of 2009 rose 40 per cent year-on-year as revenues increased and bad debt charges declined.

For the three months through September, net profit excluding one-time gains and charges reached 563 million Singapore dollars (404 million US dollars), up from 402 million Singapore dollars a year earlier, DBS said in a statement.

Including one-time items of 23 million Singapore dollars - like restructuring costs and impairment charges for a Thai investment - the jump in net profit was 49 per cent.

Net interest income in the third quarter came up to a quarterly record high of 1.14 billion Singapore dollars, a rise of 6 per cent compared to the same period 2008, DBS said, while allowances for credit and other losses fell 17 per cent to 265 million Singapore dollars.

"This is a solid set of results that reflects the strength of the DBS franchise and our ability to capture opportunities in a challenging environment," DBS chairman Koh Boon Hwee said.

"I believe DBS is well positioned to take advantage of the nascent economic recovery; we will emerge fitter and stronger," he added.

DBS was the last of Singapore's leading banks to report strong results for the third quarter, indicating that the city-state's banks managed to ride out the global financial crisis in good shape.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) last week had posted robust quarterly figures.

OCBC, ranked second in Singapore, and UOB reported a 12-per-cent rise and a 5.3-per-cent rise, respectively, in net profit for the third quarter. (dpa)