The Bank Of East Asia, Limited (BEA, HKEx: 0023, OTCBB: BKEAY) Is A Financial Company Listed On The Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its Main Business Is To Provide Banking And Related Financial Services, As Well As Business, Corporate And Investor Services. The Company Was Established In 1918 And Is Registered In Hong Kong. The Current Executive Chairperson Is Li Guobao, And The Co-chief Executives Are Li Minqiao And Li Minbin.

It Is The Largest Hong Kong-funded Bank And The Largest Independent Chinese Bank In Hong Kong. As Of December 31, 2019, Its Consolidated Assets Amounted To HK $865.2 Billion, Total Deposits Amounted To HK $573.5 Billion, Total Shareholders' Equity Amounted To HK $109.6 Billion, And Net Profit Was HK $3.336 Billion.

History

Second Generation Bank Of East Asia Head Office Building (Spire Building) At 10 Des Voeux Road Central

Third Generation Bank Of East Asia Head Office Building In Central

Bank Of East Asia Centre In Kwun Tong

Bank Of East Asia Tseung Kwan O Centre Branch

In 1918, Chinese Businesspeople Such As Jian Tung Pu, Li Guanchun, Li Zifang, Zhou Shouchen And Fung Ping Shan Incorporated Bank Of East Asia In Hong Kong, And The Head Office Was Completed At 2 Queen's Road Central In Hong Kong A Year Later. In 1920, Branches Were Opened In Shanghai And Saigon, Vietnam, Respectively. In The Same Year, The Head Office Moved To Its Current Location At 10 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong. In The 1930s, Bank Of East Asia's Shares Began To Be Traded On The Hong Kong Stock Market.

In 1975, Bank Of East Asia Partnered With Bank Of America To Launch The East Asia Bankamericard, And In 1979, It Partnered With Bank Of China Guangdong Branch To Launch The East Asia Credit Card. The East America Credit Card Became The First Credit Card To Be Used In The Chinese Mainland.

Bank Of East Asia Successfully Acquired United Bank Of China And First Pacific Bank In 1995 And 2000, Respectively, And Merged In 2001 And 2002.

In 2003, Bank Of East Asia Spent 1.30 Billion Yuan To Acquire The 15-storey Office Building With A Total Of More Than 400,000 Square Feet In Phase 5 Of Kwun Tong City Of Innovation As The Logistics Headquarters Of Bank Of East Asia, And Obtained The Naming Rights For The Office Building. It Contains Various Departments Such As Information Technology Department, Human Resources, Training And Development Department, Audit Department, Financial Control Department And Facilities Management Department, Which Can Accommodate About 2,000 Employees. The Office Lobby Is Located On The Second Floor. The Building Has A 368-seat Lecture Hall And A 300-seat Lecture Foyer For Bank Of East Asia Staff Training Activities And Customer Investment Seminars.

The Bank Of East Asia Centre (Stage 5) Was Completed In 2004 (the Shopping Mall Was Completed In 2005). It Is Located At 418 Kwun Tong Road And Consists Of Office Buildings And Apm. The Office Building Area Is Over 740,000 Square Feet, And The Shopping Mall Area Is Also 600,000 Square Feet. The Upper Floors Of The Office Building Offer Views Of Victoria Harbour And Lei Yue Mun, While The C-level Of The Shopping Mall Has An Air-conditioned Footbridge Connecting Kwun Tong MTR Station, HKMC And Yue Man Square. See Apm For Details Of The Shopping Mall.

December 5, 2012 Bank Of East Asia Allotted And Issued 111.57 Million New Shares To Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Of Japan At An Issue Price Of HK $29.59 Per Share To Raise HK $3.30 Billion (US $426 Million) To Strengthen The Capital Base After The Transaction Is Completed, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank's Shareholding In The Bank Will Increase From 4.7% To 9.5%

December 16, 2014 Bank Of East Asia Acquired The Mortgage Loan Assets Of Essence Credit For HK $6 Billion From A Consortium Of China Travel Financial Holdings, Australian Financial Institution Group Pepper Australia And US Hedge Fund York Capital.

On March 18, 2015, Bank Of East Asia Announced That It Had Placed 222 Million New Shares To Sumitomo Mitsui Bank At A Price Of HK $29.5576 Per Share, Representing 9.53% Of The Existing Issued Shares And Increasing Its Shareholding To 17.5%. On 18 July 2016, Elliott, One Of The Shareholders Of Bank Of East Asia, Announced That It Had Filed A Lawsuit In Hong Kong Under Section 724 Of The Hong Kong Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) Against Bank Of East Asia And The Majority Of Its Directors, Including The Chief Executive Officer And Chairperson, David Li, For Unfair Damages. The Lawsuit Petitioned That The Bank Had Serious Deficiencies In Corporate Governance That Allowed Management To Strengthen Its Position At The Expense Of Minority Shareholders, Whose Shareholding Ratio Had Been Unreasonably Diluted Over The Past Few Years. The Court Seeks To Find That Certain Resolutions Made By The Board Of Directors Of Bank Of East Asia In Connection With The Unilateral Issue Of New Shares To SMBC, Which Was Completed In March 2015, Were Improper In Purpose And Did Not Properly Consider A Number Of Material Matters, And To Find That Bank Of East Asia Took Steps To Discharge Any Contractual Obligations Undertaken By Kaixa Bank And SMBC In Favour Of Bank Of East Asia, Including Restricting Kaixa Bank And SMBC's Freedom To Increase Or Decrease Their Shareholdings In Bank Of East Asia.

Bank Of East Asia Immediately Issued A Statement Strongly Opposing Elliott's Petition And Maintaining That Elliott's Petition And Actions Were Contrary To The Interests Of The Bank And Its Shareholders. Bank Of East Asia Pointed Out That Elliott's Purpose Was Clearly To Try To Force The Bank To Sell. Elliott Had Proposed To Sell Bank Of East Asia Through A Competitive Bidding Process In February 2016, But Was Unanimously Opposed By The Bank Of East Asia Board. Bank Of East Asia Criticized Elliott For Using Tactics To Achieve Its Own Short-term Interests, And Pointed Out That Elliott Relied Heavily On "inference" To Make Its Argument. Even Though The Bank Had Provided All Relevant Confidential Documents At Elliott's Request Last Year, Elliott Had Failed To Produce Concrete Evidence To Prove That The Placement To Sumitomo Mitsui Was Based On Improper Purposes.

On 5 October 2016, Bank Of East Asia And NWS Group Sold All Interests In Tricor Group, A Business, Corporate And Investor Services Provider With 75.61% And 24.39% Interests, For HK $6.4697 Billion Cash To Trivium, A Subsidiary Of Permira, A Private Equity Fund. For The Financial Year Ended 31 December 2015, Tricor Reported Net Assets Of HK $1.9926 Billion And Net Profit After Tax Of HK $292.80 Million.

On 30 October 2020, Bank Of East Asia Singapore Branch Entered Into A Certificate Of Transfer With Sumitomo Mitsui Bank. Under The Certificate Of Transfer, BEA Singapore Agreed To Acquire The Loan Amount, Rights And Obligations From Sumitomo Mitsui Bank For US $30 Million.

In March 2022, Bank Of East Asia Sold 100% Of Blue Cross Insurance And 80% Of Healthcare Company Blue Care To AIA For US $278 Million (approximately HK $2.168 Billion), And Entered Into A 15-year Distribution Agreement With AIA For General Insurance Products.

Suspected Accounting Fraud (2008)

On September 18, 2008, Bank Of East Asia Disclosed That A Trader Of The Bank Was Suspected Of Manipulating The Value Of Equity Derivatives Transactions And Concealing Losses On Derivatives Investments Without Authorization. The Bank Suspected That The Incident May Have Involved Fraud. It Filed With The Commercial Crime Bureau Of The Hong Kong Police Force And Notified HKMA, And Appointed KPMG To Conduct A Special Review And Provide Advice On Internal Control Systems And Procedures. Affected By This, Bank Of East Asia Was Required To Restate Its Accounts For The First Half Of The Year. The First Half Of The Equity Derivatives Transaction Was Reclassified From A Profit Of HK $38 Million To A Loss Of HK $93 Million. The Bank's Pre-tax And After-tax Profits For The First Half Of The Year Were Also Reduced By HK $131 Million And HK $109 Million Respectively After The Restatement. The Bank Said That The Restatement Had No Material Impact On Its Balance Sheet Or Capital And Maintained A Standard That Exceeded The Regulatory Rules.

Runaway Incident (2008)

Main Entry: Bank Of East Asia Runaway Incident 2008

On September 24, 2008, There Was A Runaway At One Of The Bank Of East Asia Branches

Although Bank Of East Asia Has Taken Measures To Address The False Accounting Incident, There Are Still Concerns About The Financial Situation Of Bank Of East Asia, And Even Create Rumors. On September 24, 2008, At Noon, Bank Of East Asia Ran Out Of Several Branches In Hong Kong. The Bank Issued A Statement In The Afternoon, Referring To The Incident As Malicious Rumors And Slander, And Emphasizing That The Bank's Financial Position Is Sound. The Financial Secretary's Office And The HKMA Also Stressed That Hong Kong's Banking System Is Safe And Sound, With Abundant Capital, Sufficient Liquidity And Good Asset Quality. According To Bank Of East Asia's Statement, As Of June 30, 2008, The Bank's Total Consolidated Assets Were HK $396.6 Billion, And The Capital Adequacy Ratio Reached 14.6%, Far Exceeding The International Required Level. The Bank's Loans To Lehman Brothers And American International Group, Which Were In Financial Difficulties, Were Only HK $422.8 Million And HK $49.9 Million Respectively.

Bank Of East Asia Downsizing (2016)

On June 2, 2016, Bank Of East Asia Announced The Reduction Of 180 Employees, Accounting For 3.8% Of The Total Workforce In Hong Kong, After A Detailed Review Of Its Business And Operating Processes In Hong Kong. In Addition, Bank Of East Asia Securities Will Close All 22 Retail Outlets In Hong Kong.

Improper Disposal Of Cheque Deposit Boxes During Renovation (2017)

On October 3, 2017, Bank Of East Asia Said That During The Renovation Works At Castle Peak Road Branch On September 30, Due To A Procedural Error, Customer Cheque Deposit Boxes Were Improperly Disposed Of, Resulting In The Loss Of All The Cheques In The Boxes. It Is Estimated That More Than 10 People Were Affected. Bank Of East Asia Apologizes To Those Affected By The Incident.

Removed From Constituent Stocks Of The Hang Seng Index (2018)

Bank Of East Asia Was Included In The Constituent Stocks Of The Hang Seng Index For More Than 34 Years, Until It Was Removed From The Constituent Stocks Of The Hang Seng Index In 2018.

100th Anniversary Celebration (2018)

The Year 2018 Marked The 100th Anniversary Of Bank Of East Asia. Bank Of East Asia Held A Series Of Celebrations. From October 25th To November 1st, 2018, Bank Of East Asia Held A 100-Year Achievement, 100-Year Achievement Roving Exhibition At The Central International Financial Centre Mall. In Addition, The Bank Established A Special Centennial Website To Introduce All The Activities Related To The Centennial Celebration.

Bank Account Manager Illegal Acceptance Of Benefits To Help Clients Open Accounts Using False Documents (2022)

Lai Ci Wai, Senior Account Manager Of Admiralty Branch, Resigned After It Was Revealed That He Illegally Accepted Benefits From Two Intermediaries To Assist Non-Hong Kong Residents In Opening Accounts Using Forged Documents During 2019-21. The Three Were Arrested By The Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption In January 2022. The Case Is Still Under Trial On Charges Of Taking Bribes, Paying Bribes And Using False Documents.

Removed From The List Of Local Systemically Important Authorized Bodies (2021)

In December 2021, HKMA Completed Its Annual Assessment Of The List Of Local Systemically Important Authorized Bodies (D-SIB), And Considering The Systemic Importance Of Bank Of East Asia Relative To Other Institutions, Bank Of East Asia Was Removed From The List Of Local Systemically Important Authorized Bodies, Reducing The Total Number Of Listed Authorized Institutions From 6 To 5.