Dah Sing Banking Group, the holding company of Dah Sing Bank, reported on Wednesday that the group’s first half net profit climbed 18.7 per cent to HK$1.2 billion. Expansion of the group’s balance sheet has accelerated. Total assets rose 1.9 per cent over the reporting period, reaching HK$188.9 billion. Profitability on the bank’s loan growth has seen some healthy increase. Interest income was up by 4.1 per cent. It has managed to hold down interest expenses – the figure was down by 2.4 per cent compared to the first half of 2014. The bank’s net interest income was up by 8.3 per cent over the period. Earnings per share was at 89 Hong Kong cents. Aside from its loans and deposit activities, fee and commission income stemming from other activities such as credit cards, insurance distribution, brokerage, retail investment and wealth management activities chalked up strong growth in 2015. Total fee-related income was up by 21.5 per cent, pulling in to HK$629 million over the first half of the year. Meanwhile, buoyed by the high turnover in the market over the period, Dah Sing’s net trading income was up by some 74 per cent, amounting to HK$179.6 million, compared to the HK$103 million figure the same time last year. Driven by increases in staff costs, the group’s operational expenses have slightly accelerated at about the same pace as its revenue growth of 8.5 per cent. In contrast with the general trend of rising bad debt in the market, impairment losses went down by 14 per cent at the bank, amounting to HK$193 million. The bank demonstrated its risk control prowess by bolstering its rate of recovery. At the same time, it has had to increase its provision coverage by a slight 2 per cent. Dah Sing’s biggest exposure is related to property investments, of which lending is up to 97 per cent backed by collaterals. Unlike other banking peers, the bank’s corporate lending remains relatively unscathed by the general slowdown. Exposure related to manufacturing is at 10 per cent and about 12 per cent to retail and wholesale businesses. Such loans are 90 per cent backed by collaterals. Dah Sing’s balance sheet exposure to mainland lending exposure rounds out to 16 per cent of its total assets. The bulk of these loans are made out to central government-related entities and to personal lending. The bank has a 2.7 billion exposure to local government and local government-related entities.