MAYBANK Singapore's third quarter profit before tax soared 15.4 per cent to $112.8 million on the back of a 14.6 per cent jump in net income to $177.6 million.

Net income for the nine months to Sept 30 was $511 million, down 3.2 per cent from a year earlier owing to an accounting adjustment for effective interest.

Without the adjustment, net income would have risen by about 1 per cent to $533 million.

Loans in Singapore grew 5.6 per cent, on an annualised basis, to $28.4 billion for the nine months to Sept 30, it said on Thursday.

This was driven by a 9.7 per cent rise in credit card and housing loans as well as a 3.8 per cent rise in business loans to the building and construction sector, non-bank financial institutions as well as term loans among others.

The bank, which is not listed in Singapore, did not provide more detailed figures on its net profit for local operations.

Across Maybank's wider operations, third quarter net profit surged 16.3 per cent to RM1.75 billion.

Net profit for the nine months to Sept 30 was RM4.82 billion, up 12.5 per cent from a year earlier.

Maybank president and chief executive Abdul Farid Alias said in a statement: "Our emphasis on cost management, enhancing productivity and adherence to sound risk management practices have clearly helped us in consistently creating value for stakeholders."

He added that Maybank Group believes there are windows of opportunity in the different markets it serves and will remain agile to tap into those segments.

"At the same time, our focus will be on finalising our strategy to take Maybank Group to the next level and beyond 2015," he said.