Singapore's bigegst bank DBS Group said on Friday its net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2014 surged 17 per cent to $1 billion from 862 million a year ago.

This was above an average forecast of $971 million from five analysts polled by Reuters.

Total income rose 17 per cent to a record $2.51 billion as net interest income and fee income reached new highs while trading income improved. For the nine months, net profit rose to a record $3.21 billion, including net one-time gains of $198 million.

DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said, "Despite some slowdown in the region, we continued to see very strong earnings momentum in the third quarter, fuelled by broad-based growth across businesses. Net interest margin has also been steady."

"In addition, we are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of Societe Generale Private Banking Asia earlier this month, which will further bolster our wealth franchise."

Costs grew 17 per cent to $1.11 billion with increased headcount and more investments in technology.

The non-performing loan rate was 0.9 per cent, unchanged from the previous quarter and lower than the 1.2 per cent in the year ago period.

Specific allowances however, rose to $177 million, up 15 per cent from $151 million last year and an increase of 38 per cent from the second quarter's $128 million.

Earnings per share was $1.61 at the end of the third quarter, up from $1.40 in the same period last year, while net book value stood at $14.46 at the end of the third quarter, up from last year's $13.26.