Bank loans in Singapore grew at a faster rate last month, driven by higher demand from businesses.

Preliminary data released today by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed that total bank lending in October increased by 1.4 per cent to $554.3 billion compared with the previous month.

In September, $546.6 billion of bank loans were disbursed, an increase of 1.1 per compared with August's $540.8 billion of loans.

Overall business loans in October went up by 2 per cent compared to the previous month to $332.1 billion, thanks to higher lending to financial institutions and general commerce.

Lending to financial institutions rose by a strong 3 per cent to $72.2 billion, while general commerce loans went up by 2 per cent to $70.5 billion.

On the consumer segment, total loans crept up by just 0.6 per cent compared to the previous month to $222.2 billion.

Housing and bridging loans rose 0.7 per cent to $164.9 billion, the largest single type of loan across all categories and the tenth straight month of increase.

Headed in the opposite direction was car loans, which declined for the tenth straight month to $11.1 billion.

MAS data also showed that total bank loans in October rose by 15.6 per cent compared with the same period a year ago.