The Singaporean bank's net profit came in at S$1.63 billion ($1.20 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with S$1.41 billion a year earlier and an average estimate of S$1.57 billion from five analysts, according to Refinitiv data.

Net interest income rose 8% to S$2.46 billion in the quarter, while net interest margin came in at 1.90%. The company expects its margin to fall by about 7 basis points in 2020.

Singapore's banks face a challenging outlook as interest rates soften and lending moderates after robust growth in recent years.

Last week, peer Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp posted its weakest quarterly profit this year after booking a one-off charge at its Indonesian banking unit.

DBS's wealth management fees jumped 22% to S$357 million.

The lender also said it made extra allowances of S$61 million given "ongoing political and economy uncertainty."

It added that the performance of its business in Hong Kong was "resilient", but reported a 13% decline in net profit from the second quarter because of higher allowances and weaker trading income.

(Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Nikhil Kurian Nainan; Editing by Peter Cooney)