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Bank of East Asia
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The Bank of East Asia Limited () often abbreviated to BEA, is the largest independent local bank and the third largest bank in Hong Kong. Its chairman and chief executive is Sir David Li.
It was founded in Hong Kong in 1918 and has since grown to a HK$19.4 billion (US$2.5 billion) market capitalization, with consolidated assets of US$50.85 billion (as at 30 June 2008). It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as BEA. The Bank of East Asia has 91 retail branches in Hong Kong, as well as 60 in mainland China and around 30 in the United States, Canada and Britain.
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Encyclopedia
The Bank of East Asia Limited () often abbreviated to BEA, is the largest independent local bank and the third largest bank in Hong Kong. Its chairman and chief executive is Sir David Li.
It was founded in Hong Kong in 1918 and has since grown to a HK$19.4 billion (US$2.5 billion) market capitalization, with consolidated assets of US$50.85 billion (as at 30 June 2008). It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as BEA. The Bank of East Asia has 91 retail branches in Hong Kong, as well as 60 in mainland China and around 30 in the United States, Canada and Britain. Worldwide, the bank employs more than 10,800 people.
In 1995, BEA acquired United Chinese Bank, which was fully merged with the bank in 2001. In 2000 it acquired First Pacific Bank.
Mainland operations
On 20 May 2008, Bank of East Asia became the first foreign bank to issue yuan-denominated debit cards in mainland China, taking advantage of the recent removal of a key restriction on foreign banks' retail business in the country. The bank will issue the debit cards jointly with China UnionPay, the country’s only bankcard network operator. The company claimed that the launch of debit cards would help attract retail banking customers by giving them greater convenience in accessing their deposits.
Rumours of capital inadequacy
On 24 September 2008, Bank of East Asia issued a statement to counter "malicious rumours" about its stability, as queues of customers seeking to withdraw funds formed outside some of its Hong Kong branches. It condemned the rumour mongers, declaring that it had sufficient funds to meet customers' requests, and noting that its capital adequacy ratio was above the industry average, at 14.6 percent. A statement by Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, dismissed the rumour and strongly supported the bank, adding that funds would be made available to the bank if required but that no request had been made. Earlier in the week, the bank had been forced to restate its previous half-year's earnings downwards by nearly 12 percent after it was revealed that one of its staff had conducted unauthorised trades and then buried the losses.
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