Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong’s
third-biggest lender by market value, has said first-half profit
rose 49 percent.
Net income in the six months ended
30 June rose to HK$1.17 billion ($151 million) from a restated
HK$785 million in the first half of 2008.
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The BEA Group recorded net interest income of
HK$3.23 billion, a decline of 7.2 percent from the same period last
year. Non-interest income was up to HK$1.72 million, 7.5 times
higher than the HK$202 million recorded for the same reporting
period last year.
The sharp rise was mainly due to an increase
in trading profits, said the bank, as well as a decrease in net
loss from financial instruments designated at fair value through
profit or loss.
The BEA Group instituted a series of measures
to contain costs during the first half of the year. As a result,
operating expenses rose by only 0.9 percent to HK$3.04 billion,
compared to that recorded for the six months to December 2008.
The cost-income ratio fell from 75 percent for
the first half of last year to 61.4 percent for the same period in
2009.
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By GlobalDataDue to the global economic environment, BEA
registered impairment losses of HK$493 million for the first half
of 2009, an increase of 56.2 percent.
However, overall loan quality remained
“satisfactory”, with the impaired loan ratio standing at 1 percent
as of the end of June 2009.
